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Each year a number of youth with a school identified disability are placed in residential care. It has been well documented that these youth enter with elevated rates of behavioral, emotional, educational, mental health, and familial challenges. However, the physical and medical condition of these youth remains unstudied.

The prevalence of weight problems among youth in general and youth in out-of-home care has been well documented; however, the prevalence of obesity/overweight among youth with high-incidence disabilities in more restrictive settings, such as residential care, has not been assessed. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the prevalence of weight problems in 245 youth with learning disabilities or emotional disturbance at entrance to residential care. Youth intake files were examined to evaluate the association between youth demographic characteristics, medical conditions, prior placements and placement settings, medication usage, and internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems and clinical weight problems. Findings revealed that over one half of the youth were overweight or obese (50.6%), and weight problems were associated with gender, medical conditions, and age. Study limitations, future research efforts, and treatment implications are discussed.

This review examines interventions intended to improve the literacy functioning of adolescent students with emotional and/or behavior disorders. Seventeen studies met inclusion criteria and included a variety of interventions designed to affect a variety of literacy areas, including spelling, writing, and reading fluency. Findings from these studies indicate that, overall, several different intervention types produced increases across areas of literacy functioning. However, both participant and setting characteristics were poorly described and were not representative of the population with emotional and/or behavioral disorders. The lack of research on interventions to increase adolescent literacy limits the generalizability of the results to a broader population. Considerations for practice implications and future research are discussed.

As prevention and early intervention opportunities for young children at risk of emotional disturbance (ED) increase, questions regarding the effectiveness of these programs for specific subpopulations of children have emerged. To date, few investigators have examined young children entering early school prevention/intervention programs to determine if clear subpopulations can be identified, and if so, which characteristics are most distinguishing. This study examined the risk factors of 140 kindergarten and first-grade students, identified by teachers as at risk of ED, to determine if distinct profiles exist. Cluster analysis procedures using teacher, child, and parent reports of family, academic, and social/emotional data revealed five distinct clusters: Parent nominated (n = 24), Elevated risks (n = 43), Primarily behavior (n = 25), Primarily academic (n = 27), and False positives (n = 21). Validation techniques revealed that the five clusters were distinguished by clear profiles, which differed across level of severity (i.e., high or low levels of risk per domain) and primary focus of risk (i.e., academic, social/emotional, or familial). Similarities and differences across cluster groups, possible implications for targeted prevention or early intervention programs, study limitations, and directions for future research are presented.

Although students with or at risk for emotional disturbance present significant academic challenges, few researchers have studied the outcomes of interventions designed to improve the reading skills of this population. In this study we assessed the outcomes of a supplemental daily Direct Instruction reading curriculum, Reading Mastery I., and fluency building program, Great Leaps, on the reading skills of students at risk for emotional disturbance and reading deficits. Over a period of 7 months, 6 students received a supplementary reading intervention and 12 students (6 control at-risk and 6 norm-referencing students without disabilities) received their regular classroom instruction. Curriculum-based measures assessing early phonemic awareness and basic reading skills (i.e., letter sounds, blends, and high-frequency sight words) were collected biweekly to assess student performance. The results of this study revealed that at-risk students receiving the Direct Instruction curriculum intervention met or outperformed their control at-risk and norm-referencing peers in all three reading measures. Implications of these findings and areas of future research are discussed.