There’s a category of special education that stands out from the rest. It’s designed for kids who struggle with their emotions and behaviors, known at the federal level as “emotional disturbance.” More than 300,000 students in the U.S. currently have this label. Often, these students are taught in separate classrooms or even separate schools. Today on The Sunday Story, reporter Laurie Stern shares how this disability label shaped the life of one student who she followed for nearly two years — and what his experience reveals about how the label can simultaneously support and limit students. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy
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Walter, a student who was labeled with EBD, emotional or behavioral disorders, sits next to his high school teacher Jesse Kwakenat. Yasmin Yassin for NPR hide caption
Yasmin Yassin for NPR
There's a category of special education that stands out from the rest. It's designed for kids who struggle with their emotions and behaviors, known at the federal level as "emotional disturbance." More than 300,000 students in the U.S. currently have this label. Often, these students are taught in separate classrooms or even separate schools.
Today on The Sunday Story, reporter Laurie Stern shares how this disability label shaped the life of one student who she followed for nearly two years — and what his experience reveals about how the label can simultaneously support and limit students.
This episode was produced by Rhaina Cohen and edited by Jenny Schmidt. It was fact-checked by Greta Pittenger and the engineer was Kwesi Lee.
We'd love to hear from you. Send us an email at TheSundayStory@npr.org.
Listen to Up First on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
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