Students in Discord fills a void in the professional literature concerning adolescents with emotional and behavioral disorders by providing theoretical information about psychiatric and psychological diagnoses with practical information about actual public school students who show both externalizing and internalizing disorders. In the process, the book provides understanding about disorders in childhood and adolescence and enhances understanding of federal guidelines on emotional disturbance, specifically those provided in the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act. The author provides suggested educational strategies that represent behavioral, psychological, sociological, and environmental models and that aim to both decrease undesirable behaviors and increase desirable ones.

Theoretical issues covering disorders related to personality, disruptive behavior, eating, mood, anxiety, and development are illustrated by 57 adolescents whose feelings and behaviors are presented through anecdotal material, direct quotes from them and their teachers, life facts, and student writings. Additional perspectives are provided by comparing federal and practical definitional characteristics of emotional disturbance and discussing concerns about the inability of students with emotional and behavioral disorders to detach, the inclusion of socially-maladjusted students in the ED (emotionally disturbed) category, and the interrelation of emotional and behavioral disorders.