Lori Stern

was, and his mom, Crystal Doremus, she's a big personality.

I met her at the small house she was renting in a working-class neighborhood of St.

Paul.

A few of Walt's nine siblings also live there.

Crystal is paraplegic, so she guided me up the walkway in her wheelchair.

I don't think it's the push, it's the flippery.

When we got inside, I could hear the smoke alarm going off, and I asked her if we could do anything about it.

She said no, she was used to it, along with all the other issues in the house.

We talked more about her housing situation, and I got to know her preschooler, Deshai.

How is it being five?

And meeting Deshaie put things in perspective for me.

Remember, Aisha, Walt was around Deshaie's age, just five, when he started acting out.

Yeah, you're right.

It's really complicated.

She didn't like the padded timeout rooms and the heavy-handed way the school enforced discipline, but she also felt it was a bit of a safety net.

And you know how you were talking about your daughter's classmate needing some help?

Well, Walter did too, and he actually got some help outside of school.

You know, this is where we get back to how hard it is to measure EBD.

and progress for students with that label.

Other special ed designations have measurable goals, but EBD doesn't have goals that are straightforward to measure.