Abstract
The effects of inpatient vs. outpatient status on change in educational placement were examined for a sample of 185 inpatients and 351 outpatients evaluated at a psychiatric facility. Within thesame diagnostic categories, inpatients tended to receceive higher percentages of changes to more-restrictive educational settings than outpatients following evaluation, although such a downward trend was noted for the latter sample as well. The limitations of psychiatric diagnosis to school personnel when making educational placement decisions was discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Achenbach TM: DSM III in light of empirical research on the classification of child psychopathology.J Am Acad Child Psychiatr 19: 395–412, 1980.
Forness S, Cantwell DP: DSM III psychiatric diagnosis and special education categories.J Special Education 6: 49–63, 1982.
Petti TA, Law W: Borderline psychotic behavior in hospitalized children: Approaches to assessment and treatment.J Am Acad Child Psychiatr 21: 197–202, 1982.
Spitzer RL, Cantwell D: The DSM III classification of the psychiatric disorders of infancy, childhood, and adolescence.J Am Acad Child Psychiatr 19: 356–370, 1980.
Mattison RE, Humphrey FJ, and Handford HA: Classification of behavioral and emotional disorders of elementary school children in SED classrooms.School Psychol Review, in press.
American Psychiatric Association: Diagnostic and statistical manual (Third edition). Washington, DC. 1983.
Federal Register: The right to education for all handicapped act,42 (163), 42474–42518.
Sinclair E, Forness SR and Alexson J: Psychiatric diagnosis: A study of its relationship to school needs. J Special Education, in press.
Barnes T, Forness SR: Learning characteristics of children and adolescents with various psychiatric diagnoses.Monographs Behavioral Disorders 5: 32–41, 1981.
Forness SR, Barnes T and Mordaunt J: Brief psychiatric hospitalization: A study of its effect on special education placement.Monographs Behavioral Disorders 6: 66–75, 1983.
Forness SR, Bennett L and Tose J: Academic deficits in emotionally disturbed children revisited.J Amer Acad Child Psychiatr 22: 140–144, 1983.
Forness SR, Frankel F, Caldon P and Carter M: Achievement gains of children hospitalized for behavior disorders. In Rutherford R, Prieto A eds.),Severe Behavior Disorders Children and Youth. Reston, VA: Council for Chidren with Behavior Disorders Monographs, 1980.
Hodges K, Horwitz E and Kline J: Comparison of Various WISC-R summary scores for a psychiatric sample.J Clinical Psychol 38: 830–837, 1982.
Sinclair E and Alexson J: Creating diagnostic related groups: A manageable way to deal with DSM III.Amer J Orthopsychiatr, in press.
Forness SR, Sinclair E, Alexson J, Seraydarian A and Garza M: Towards DRG's in child psychiatry: A preliminary study. J Amer Acad Child Psychiatr, in press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Acknowledgment: This study was supported by U.S. Office of Education Grant G0080036 to the UCLA Mental Retardation and Child Psychiatry program. The authors would like to acknowledge Dr. Donald Guthrie of the Computer Resources Group for his valuable assistance with this study.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Alexson, J., Sinclair, E. Psychiatric diagnosis and school placement: A comparison between inpatients and outpatients. Child Psych Hum Dev 16, 194–205 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00706175
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00706175