STUDENTS AT RISK - TOWARD A NEW PARADIGM OF MILD EDUCATIONAL DISABILITIES

Students with mild educational disabilities are characterized by cogni tive and behavioral deficiencies. Such students are diagnosed, labeled and provided with special educational support. In contrast, at-risk s tudents are characterized by risk factors, that is, attributes and cir cumstances associated with increased probability of academic, personal and social difficulties. Such students require a broad range of inter disciplinary intervention and prevention efforts. Review of the litera ture reveals that students with mild educational disabilities are rema rkably similar to at-risk students in terms of characteristics and lif e experiences. Given that intervention for at-risk students is compreh ensive, less stigmatizing and potentially more effective, it is recomm ended that conceptual foundations associated with mild educational dis abilities be replaced with the theoretical underpinnings of students a t risk.