Read the article and say how emotional or behavioral disorders are classified

Because emotional or behavioral disorders are evidenced in many ways, it seems reasonable to expect that individuals could be grouped into subcategories according to the types of problems they have. Still, there is no universally accepted system for classifying emotional or behavioral disorders for special education. Psychiatric classification systems have been widely criticized for several decades. Those found in publications of the American Psychiatric Association have little meaning for teachers. Many psychologists and educators have recommended relying more on individual assessment of the child's behavior and situational factors than on the diagnostic classifications used by psychiatrists.

An alternative to psychiatric classifications is the use of statistical analyses of behavioral characteristics to establish dimensions of disordered behavior. Using sophisticated statistical procedures, researchers look for patterns of behavior that characterize children who have emotional or behavioral disorders. Researchers have identified two broad, pervasive dimensions of disordered behavior; externalizing and internalizing. Externalizing behavior involves striking out against others. Internalizing behavior involves mental or emotional conflicts, such as depression and anxiety. Some researchers have found more specific disorders, but all of the more specific disorders can be located on these two primary dimensions.

Individuals may show behaviors characteristic of both dimensions; that is, the dimensions are not mutually exclusive. A child or youth might exhibit several behaviors associated with internalizing problems (e.g., short attention span, poor concentration) and several of those associated with externalizing problems as well (e.g., fighting, disruptive behavior, annoying others). Actually, comorbidity—the co-occurrence of two or more conditions in the same individual—is not unusual (Cullinan, 2004; Tankersley & Landrum, 1997). Few individuals with an emotional or behavioral disorder exhibit only one type of maladaptive behavior. The federal government estimates that about one third of children with emotional or behavioral disorders have another disability as well (U.S. Department of Education, 2000).

Furthermore, children may exhibit characteristic types of behavior with varying degrees of intensity or severity. That is, either dimension of behavior may be exhibited to a greater or lesser extent; the range may be from normal to severely disordered. For example, an individual might have a severe conduct disorder, an externalizing problem defined by overt, aggressive, disruptive behavior or covert antisocial acts such as stealing, lying, and fire setting. Severe emotional or behavioral disorders include the extremes of any externalizing or internalizing problem. Individuals with schizophrenia have a severe disorder of thinking. They might believe that they are controlled by alien forces or might have other delusions or hallucinarions. Typically, their emotions are inappropriate for the actual circumstances, and they tend to withdraw into their own private worlds. Childhood schizophrenia is a disorder that typically begins after a normal period of development during early childhood. It is distinguished from autism or autistic spectrum disorders:

1. Children with schizophrenia usually have delusions (bizarre ideas) and hallucinations (seeing or hearing imaginary things), whereas children with autism usually do not.

2. Children with schizophrenia tend to have psychotic episodes interspersed with periods of near-normal behavior, whereas children with autism tend to have more constant symptoms.

3. About 25 percent of children with autism have epileptic seizures, whereas children with schizophrenia seldom have seizures (Rutter & Schopler, 1987).