Social Maladjustment: An Interpretation

Abstract

The exclusionary term social maladjustment in the definition of serious emotional disturbance, used for Public Law 94–142, has been an enigma for special education. This article is an attempt to make a reasonable and limited interpretation of social maladjustment. It is important that the interpretation of this term be limited because there is a growing effort to interpret social maladjustment in a very broad way to include all disorders of social behavior. The recent Honig v. Doe (1988) decision appears to be adding impetus to this effort. Exclusion of students with antisocial behavior problems from special education apparently appears to some to be a readily available way of retaining the power of expulsion over students with antisocial behavior. This article argues that such an interpretation is not appropriate and is not consistent with the intent of the serious emotional disturbance definition. In making this argument, the article also addresses some additional issues related to the current label and definition and briefly discusses identification and programing.