Identifying Skills and Behaviors for Successful Inclusion of Students with Emotional or Behavioral Disorders

Despite an increasing shift toward full inclusion of all students with disabilities, students with emotional or behavioral disorders (E/BD) remain in segregated placements and experience less successful outcomes in general education than do students in other disability categories. Special education teachers completed the Scales for Predicting Successful Inclusion (SPSI) and the Devereux Behavior Rating Scale-School Form (DBRS-SF) for 89 students with E/BD. Information about each student's level on the school's behavior management program was also collected. Compared to normative scoring samples, the students with E/BD exhibited severe skill deficits and moderate levels of emotional and behavioral disturbance. The SPSI and the DBRS-SF were inversely correlated, and the SPSI and behavioral levels were positively correlated. The SPSI successfully distinguished between students with severe emotional and behavioral problems and those with less severe behaviors. Results highlight the importance of teaching nonacademic skills necessary for inclusion to students with E/BD, using multiple measures to determine placement, and programming for inclusion in a systematic manner.