SEDNET 7A serves students classified with an Emotional/Behavioral Disability or students who are at risk of that classification. This includes General Education students with complex mental health needs and those involved in the following systems:

• Protective Services
• Foster Care
• Juvenile Justice
• At risk for or involved in residential treatment

In accordance with Rule 6A-6.03016, F.A.C., a student with an emotional or behavioral disability has persistent and consistent emotional or behavioral concerns that are not sufficiently responsive to implemented, evidence-based interventions. This adversely affects the student's performance in the educational environment and cannot be attributed to age, culture, gender, or ethnicity.

In accordance with Rule 6A-6.03016(4)(a) and (b), F.A.C., a student must exhibit one or more of the following factors/characteristics that constitute an emotional/behavioral disability:

• Feelings of sadness, or frequent crying, or restlessness, or loss of interest in friends and/or school work, or mood swings, or erratic behavior.
• The presence of symptoms such as fears, phobias, or excessive worrying and anxiety regarding personal or school problems.
• Behaviors that result from thoughts and feelings that are inconsistent with actual events or circumstances, or difficulty maintaining normal thought processes, or excessive levels of withdrawal from persons or events.
• An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers, teachers, and other adults in the school setting.
• Behaviors that are chronic and disruptive, such as noncompliance; verbal and/or physical aggression; and/or poorly developed social skills that are manifestations of feelings, symptoms, or behaviors found in the first three factors of this list.

The eligibility determination is based upon the student’s response to interventions, etiology of the emotional and/or behavioral difficulties, and the need for special education services. In accordance with Rule 6A-6.03016(4), F.A.C., a student with an emotional/behavioral disability has an inability to maintain adequate educational performance that cannot be explained by physical, sensory, sociocultural, developmental, medical, or health (with the exception of mental health) factors; demonstrates one or more of the internal or external factors that constitute an emotional/behavioral disability for more than six months and in multiple settings; and needs special education as a result of the emotional/behavioral disability.