Psychiatric disorders, performance level at school and special education at early elementary school age

We assessed the relationship between psychological deviance and performance level at school among S-year-old children. The use of special education am ong children with psychiatric disorders was also studied. In Stage 1, 5813 children were studied using the Rutter Parent Questionnaire (RA2), the Rutt er Teacher Questionnaire (RB2) and the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI ). In Stage 2, a subsample (n = 424) of these children were interviewed, us ing the Isle of Wight Interview In Stage 1, mon children defined as low ach ievers (LAs) came from low SES families than did average (NAs) and high ach ievers (HAs). They also had more psychiatric symptoms, and they scored abov e the cutoff (13 points on the RA2, nine points on the RB2 and 17 points on the CDI) more commonly than other children. In Stage 2, two thirds of chil dren who received special education had some psychiatric disorder. The prob ability of a child with psychiatric disorder obtaining some extra tutoring or special education was 3.1-fold when compared with children without psych iatric disorders. Depressive children and children with attention deficit d isorders most commonly had extra tutoring (4.8-fold) when compared with chi ldren without psychiatric disorders. The probability of getting special edu cation was highest for attention deficit disorders (6.2-fold), thereafter f or anxiety (3.1-fold), and for oppositional/conduct disorders (2.8-fold).