Behaviourally Disordered Children: Current Issues and Future Direction

Abstract

Children and young persons with severe behavioural disorders are attracting an increasing amount of political attention and publicity due to the disruption which many of them cause in community and educational settings. In this paper the authors examine definitions of behavioural disorders and summarize recent literature in the area. Other issues raised relate to prevalence data, and the apparent growth of the problem of disruption, the stability of behavioural disorders across time into adolescence and adulthood, and the increase in stress in teachers attributable to the presence of children with behavioural disorders in schools. Management approaches are described which hold promise of alleviating the problem for pupils, teachers and the wider community.