An Investigation of the Language Skills of Students With Emotional Disturbance Served in Public School Settings

The purpose of this cross-sectional study, conducted with a random sample of 166 students with emotional disturbance (ED), was to establish, with attention to age and gender differences, the extent to which students with ED served in public school settings experience language skill deficits. This study also examined particular types of problem behaviors related to language skills. Students with ED showed moderate to large language deficits, which appeared to be more pronounced in the expressive language domain. The language deficits of a majority of the students were clinically significant. These language deficits appeared to be relatively stable across age and gender. Furthermore, externalizing behaviors were related to receptive and expressive language skills, whereas internalizing ones were not.