Clinical Diagnosis and Emotional Behavioral Characteristics Study of Children in a Special Education Class in Korean Elementary School

초등학교 특수학급아동의 임상적 진단 및 감정 행동특성 연구

Objectives : The special class has been made, bringing rapid increase quantitatively. The authors carried out the child psychiatric interview and evaluation for 9 special-classed children in Asan city to find out clinical diagnosis and emotional/behavioral characteristics. Methods : The child psychiatrists evaluated special class children by DSM-IV and K-SADS-PL. Tools for the evaluation were Child Behavior Checklist- Korean version, Korean Personality Inventory for Children, Children's Depression Inventory, Abbreviated Conners Parent-Teacher Rating Scale-Revised, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children, Vineland Social Maturity Scale, Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III, and Childhood Autism Rating Scale. Results : Ultimately 53 children, consisting of 35 boys(67.9%) and 18 girls(32.1%), participated, and the average age was $10.5{\pm}1.3$ years old. Their measure of Vineland Social Maturity Scale was $78.7{\pm}20.0$, Childhood Autism Rating Scales was $25.4{\pm}9.0$, Child Depression Inventory was $22.2{\pm}5.2$, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children was $35.2{\pm}8.2/36.5{\pm}6.2$, and Abbreviated Conners Parent-Teacher Rating Scale was $11.0{\pm}4.6$. In the clinical diagnosis evaluation, the prevalence rate of learning disorder was decreased compared to early research, ADHD had been newly appeared and depression disorder and anxiety disorder had been increased. Conclusion : This result suggests that a lot of children in a special class have complex emotional and behavioral problems in addition to educational problems.