Addressed in this article are the identification, differential diagnosis, and treatment evaluation of emotionally disturbed preschoolers. Specific disorders and differentiating behavior were defined (a) within a borad normative context to provide for generality in reporting assessment data to other professionals and (b) within specific settings to provide for a determination of severity and the ecological specificity necessary for treatment. Conclusions were that practitioners must begin to assess disorders in order to assume the role of professionals in the treatment of disorder. Early treatment is critically important in the area of emotional disorders because the longer the child displays inappropriate behavior, the more intractable the problem becomes.
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