ED not only means Erectile Dysfunction

Recently I was part of my first evaluation for a student with Emotional Disturbance. As I told the parent that her son qualified for services under Emotional Disturbance, the words sounded really awful coming out of my mouth. The mental health field has made tremendous strides by changing mental retardation into intellectual disability. Why hasn't there been a similar change in Emotional Disturbance? The term sounds very negative and contributes to the stigma of being in special education. Hearing that a student is ED conjures up images of the worst kind of student in the classroom. No one hears ED and has pleasant thoughts.

The student was the subject of my last post, "Stuck in a Corner." He's definitely ED, no question. His inability to regulate his emotions prevent him from meeting success in the classroom. In the PPT I described him as having 3 sides, 1 side is jovial and compliant, 1 side requires constant prodding to motivate him to perform, and 1 side is completely non-compliant. I have seen these different sides of him during the evaluation and observations. Now that he has been identified I hope that his new program for next year will help him find success.

BBC