THE MARKET FOR RESIDENTIAL AND DAY SCHOOLS FOR CHILDREN WITH SEVERE EMOTIONAL DISTURBANCE

This article describes the market for residential and day programs tha t provide education and treatment services on sire for children with s evere emotional disturbance (SED) in terms of the market's size, cost, and ownership mix. As policymakers encourage integration of services across sectors, this research fills a gap in the mental health service s literature by providing a baseline of information on facilities from the education secret: Data are used from a national, stratified sampl e survey of separate day and residential schools for children with han dicaps conducted by the Department of Education. There are 1,523 facil ities providing educational and treatment services to 117, 720 childre n with SED. Over half of the facilities are nonprofit, one-third are p ublic, and less than one-tenth are for-profit. These programs represen t a significant market of services for children with SED. Substantial differences in cost exist across ownership form that cannot be attribu ted to differences in size of facility or case mix of children enrolle d.