Georgia and the Nation Grapple With ‘Emotional Disturbance’ Label in Special Education
Why It Matters
Across the country — including in Georgia — hundreds of thousands of students carry a special education classification known as emotional disturbance, a designation that can simultaneously open doors to needed support and close doors to mainstream academic opportunity. The label is one of the most contested categories in American public education, raising questions about how schools balance classroom order with the long-term interests of struggling children.
Unlike other special education categories, emotional disturbance does not require a medical or psychological diagnosis. That distinction has significant consequences for the students who receive it — and for the families navigating a system that is often difficult to challenge.
What Happened
A recent report from GPB News profiled Walter, a 19-year-old student in Minnesota whose story illustrates the national scope of the emotional disturbance classification. Walter was flagged for behavioral issues before kindergarten and spent the entirety of his K-12 education in classrooms segregated from his general-education peers — all under the emotional disturbance label.
Walter’s mother, Crystal Deramus, described a household marked by instability, including domestic violence and a serious car accident that left her a paraplegic when Walter was five years old. By kindergarten, Walter’s behavior had escalated to the point that school officials sent him to a high-security public school. He was eventually placed at River Bend Education Center, a public school in Minnesota designated for students labeled EBD — emotional or behavioral disorders.
Walter is now a high school student at Central Senior High School in St. Paul, where veteran teacher Jesse Kwakenat — known as Mr. K — leads a specialized classroom for EBD-labeled students. Kwakenat, who has built deep trust with his students, acknowledged the tension at the heart of his work.
“The whole goal should be to have that student be able to exit special education at some point, because we’ve done our jobs,” Kwakenat said, according to the report. “However, what we see is the lion’s share of students that receive services in special education for EBD — they rarely exit.”
By the Numbers
More than 15% of students nationwide currently qualify for special education — nearly 8 million children — a figure that has climbed steadily since the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was passed in 1975. Approximately 4% of those students, or roughly 300,000 children, carry the emotional disturbance label specifically.
Federal data show that students labeled with emotional disturbance are more likely than peers in other special education categories to be educated in separate schools. They are also more likely to come from low-income families of color. In Kwakenat’s own high school classroom, all but one of the students are students of color — most of whom were first identified as EBD in first, second, or third grade.
The Double-Edged Sword
The emotional disturbance category is the only special education classification that does not require a diagnosis from a medical or psychological professional. Its criteria are broadly defined and subjective, including language such as “an inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships” and “a pervasive feeling of unhappiness.”
Critics argue that this subjectivity leaves room for bias, while supporters contend that the label provides access to specialized instruction and behavioral support that troubled students would otherwise not receive. The law requires schools to educate students in the “least restrictive environment” possible — but federal data suggest that students labeled EBD are routinely placed in the most restrictive settings.
Kwakenat himself acknowledged that grouping students together in isolated classrooms can undermine the stated goal of special education. “Usually, their story is based on being identified in first, second or third grade,” he noted, describing how early labeling often locks students into a separate academic track for the duration of their schooling.
Zoom Out
The debate over emotional disturbance classifications reflects broader national tensions over government spending on domestic programs, school accountability, and parental rights in education. Georgia and other states are not immune to these pressures, as school districts manage rising special education enrollment against tightening budgets and increasing scrutiny of how federal education dollars are allocated.
The IDEA, now 51 years old, entitles every student with a disability to a free public education under an individualized education program (IEP). But the quality and scope of those programs vary widely across states and districts, and the emotional disturbance category remains one of the most inconsistently applied classifications in the system.
What’s Next
Policymakers at the state and federal levels face mounting pressure to revisit how emotional disturbance is defined, diagnosed, and applied within public schools. Advocates are calling for clearer diagnostic standards, stronger oversight of placement decisions, and better tracking of student outcomes under the EBD label.
For students like Walter — and for the families and educators working alongside them — the path forward depends heavily on whether schools can shift their focus from managing disruptive behavior to building the academic and social foundations students need to exit special education entirely. As Kwakenat’s experience shows, that goal remains far from routine. Families navigating complex financial and logistical challenges alongside special education decisions may also benefit from resources on practical financial planning conversations to ensure long-term support for their children.