Students With Emotional Disabilities: Facts About This Vulnerable Population (Ed Week, March 21, 2018)

One school known nationally for its work for students with emotional disabilities and autism is Centennial School, in Lehigh, Pa. The school serves students from elementary through high school who are placed there by several surrounding school districts. The school serves about 100 students each year, with the goal of returning them to their home setting.

Centennial has been profiled for its elimination of restraint, seclusion, and time-out rooms. Instead, the school has clear behavioral expectations and works under the assumption that students will need to be explicitly taught those expectations, as they would be taught math or English.

When students act out, "we treat those behavior errors as if they're an academic error," said Julie Fogt, the director of Centennial School. "We need to teach them a better way. We're not going to punish it out of them."