The Course of Elementary and Secondary School Students with SED Through Their Special Education Experience

Students who entered special education for children with serious emotional disturbance (SED) during elementary or secondary school were followed up 8 years later on average to learn characteristics of the course of their SED: duration, placement settings, and educational disposition at the time of discontinuation of their SED services. The 78 elementary students with SED averaged slightly more than 4 school years of SED services, and a majority experienced placement in SED classrooms both in general education schools and in separate SED centers. The 95 secondary students with SED averaged a little over 2 school years of placement, primarily in SED centers. At follow-up, 74% of the younger students had experienced either a successful outcome (47%) or were still in SED programming (27%). In the secondary group, the students were more likely to have an unsuccessful (58.9%) rather than a successful (40.0%) outcome. Given the serious problems of students with SED at enrollment, SED classrooms may improve their educational prognosis more than anticipated.