What advice can you provide for programs serving children with social and emotional disabilities when interpreting DESSA results?

Overview

This article will answer the frequently asked question: What advice can you provide for programs serving children with social and emotional disabilities when interpreting DESSA results?

By definition, children with emotional disabilities, as a group, are going to have lower social and emotional competence. In our criterion validity study included in the DESSA-mini Manual, the average T-score across the four minis for a seriously emotionally disturbed (SED) sample was 39 with a standard deviation of about 6. However, it is not uncommon for students who have been identified as having social and emotional disabilities to have one or more scale scores that fall in the typical or even the strength range. These strengths are important in the planning process.