Treating Emotional and Behavioral Disorders in Children and Adolescents. Quality Care for Special Kids: Profiles of Children with Chronic Conditions and Disabilities. Update 3.

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Twelve percent of all children enrolled in commercial plans have special health care needs. Almost 40 percent of them have an emotional or behavioral disorder. These conditions are in many ways more limiting than chronic physical conditions, more difficult to diagnose and treat, and can more severely compromise a child's quality of life. For many children, these conditions co-occur with other chronic physical or developmental conditions. Left untreated, they can impede personal, social, and cognitive development. This data update is the third in a series designed to keep commercial health plans abreast of the critical issues involved in caring for children with special health care needs. (Contains 1 table, 2 figures, and 1 footnote.)