[WS:] Actually, they make a distinction between learning disability
(e.g. Down syndrome) and emotional disability (e.g. AS or autism.)
>From what I hear from my wife, the latter are much harder cases to
work with, especially that behavioral problems are often coded as
"emotional disabilities." Public schools, especially those in
wealthier neighborhoods, often do this to get rid of disruptive
students whom they cannot legally expel. My wife works in an ED
program in a low income school (by choice, since she prefers not to
deal with rich people who feel entitled) and says that most of her
students' problems originate in their households and communities
(usually some kind of abuse or neglect), but a typical school response
to those problems is "more discipline." Teachers who try a
non-confrontational, non-disciplinarian approach with "problem kids"
are often seen as wimps by their peers and administrators, and often
can result in negative evaluations.
Wojtek