The social maladjustment exclusionary clause has been a source of contention and confusion for the last 50 years. Social maladjustment has never been defined at the federal level, leaving creating the definition to local and state agencies. Social maladjusted was not included in the original definition created by Eli Bower in the 1960s. It was added into the Emotional Disturbance criteria in the 1970s by the Committee of Interstate and Foreign Commerce as a way to protect limited special education resources and to keep behavioral issues within the juvenile justice system. It has been commonly associated with DSM conditions such as conduct disorder and oppositional defiant disorder. Students across the United States have been denied access to special education due to being determined to be socially maladjusted. Research has shown that students who present with externalizing behaviors are largely underserved by the school system. Case law indicates that the biggest factor to whether or not a student can be found eligible for special education with a social maladjustment is if there is a negative impact on their academic performance, specifically grades. There has also been little consistency between legal outcomes due to the lack of definition of social maladjustment. A comprehensive evaluation is needed in order to determine if a student qualifies for special education, even if they have a social maladjustment. Students are often qualified as ED because school districts do not know how else to help them. Due the all the confusion, it's time to consider removing the social maladjustment exclusionary clause. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]