Two studies on young children are reported, addressing the psychometric characteristics of the Scale for Assessing Emotional Disturbance (SAED), a standardized, norm-referenced instrument based on the federal definition of emotional disturbance (ED). The main purpose of the SAED is to assist in identifying children with emotional disturbance by operationally defining ED as stated in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1997. The first study investigated the long-term test—retest reliability of the SAED over a 7-month period. The second study examined the convergent validity of the SAED by comparing it with several subscales of the Systematic Screening for Behavior Disorders, a multigate screening system to identify children at risk of behavior problems. The results indicate that the SAED is a reliable and valid instrument for identifying young children who may qualify for the federal definition of ED.
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