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PL 94-142 mandates that students who are seriously emotionally disturbed be provided with a free and appropriate public education. Embedded in the federal definition of serious emotional disturbance is a clause that excludes socially maladjusted students from the diagnostic category. Although socially maladjusted children may therefore not receive special education services, their presence in the schools may have implications for society and particularly for the educational system. However, there is little data concerning the prevalence of socially maladjusted students in the schools. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of social maladjustment in two rural/suburban school systems in the southeastern United States. Results of the study indicate that the percentage of students reported as exhibiting characteristics of social maladjustment is sufficiently high to indicate that services beyond special education may be necessary to meet their educational and social needs.

Attribution theory recently has been applied to school psychology practice in general and to school-based consultation in particular. Previous research has shown that consultants characteristically attribute responsibility for consultation outcomes, and particularly for failed consultations, to teacher consultees. However, these attributions may be a function of differential experiences. In this study, we hypothesized that the teaching experience of school psychologists is related to causal attributions of consultation outcome. A randomly selected national sample of school psychologist practitioners completed a questionnaire concerning reasons for successful and unsuccessful consultation outcomes. Results of the study showed that the teaching experience of school psychologists may mediate attributions of causality in consultation.