Conduct disorders is a term that has a certain ambiguity in terms of special education eligibility for public school services. Part of this ambiguity stems from problems inherent in the current school definition of Serious Emotional Disturbance (SED) and part from the fact that conduct disorders are often found to coexist with other identifiable diagnoses in the spectrum of emotional and behavioral disorders. Comparison of SED identification rates with other special education categories and examination of selected studies on comorbidity subtypes of conduct disorders illustrate the scope of current problems in special education eligibility for children with conduct disorders. A new substitute SED definition and specific early identification techniques are suggested as possible solutions.
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