Special Education and Gender

Special education in the United States operates under the legislative provisions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) that was passed in 1990 and reauthorized in 1997 and again in 2004. IDEA defines 13 categories: autism, deaf-blindness, deafness, emotional disturbance, hearing impairment, mental retardation, multiple disabilities, orthopedic impairment, other health impairment, specific learning disability, speech or language impairment, traumatic brain injury, and visual impairment. The legislation also includes three other categories: infants and toddlers with disabilities, persons with developmental delays, and persons at risk of experiencing developmental delays due to biological or environmental factors. The U.S. Department of Education reports to Congress annually on the state of special education; however, the department stopped including data about differences for disability incidence by gender in 2003. Therefore, the challenge is increased for researchers and practitioners who want to explore gender and disability.

Federal data sources prior to 2003 reveal that boys were twice as likely as girls to be identified as having a disability. Incidence rates by gender differ by type of disability. For example, males were more likely to be identified as being autistic, or as having a serious emotional disturbance, a learning disability, or a speech impediment. These differences by gender are more pronounced when race/ethnicity is considered. Black males were much more likely to be identified as mentally retarded or emotionally disturbed than either White males or Black females. This underscores the importance of considering not only gender but also race/ethnicity in special education placement decisions.

This raises a number of questions: Is this an accurate depiction of the incidence of disabilities by gender? Is there an overidentification of boys, and, if so, what variables contribute to that [Page 2062]overidentification? Do girls manifest the indicators of disabilities differently than boys do? Does this lead to the underidentification of girls and the consequent failure to provide the supportive services necessary for girls to achieve success in school and later life pursuits? What is the role of race/ethnicity in diagnosis and placement of children in special education?

Boys tend to act out their frustrations and thus tend to create greater disturbances in classrooms than do girls. Girls tend to internalize their frustrations and thus may appear to be quiet, docile students. The majority of children in special education are referred by their classroom teachers. This difference in manifestation of behaviors that would be considered problematic and disruptive could account for the difference in initial diagnosis of disabilities between males and females.

Different consequences in terms of academic programs and school completion are noticeable between males and females with disabilities. Girls with disabilities are more likely to be enrolled in life skill courses; boys are more likely to be enrolled in vocational education programs. Consequently, male graduates are more likely to be employed than females. If females are employed, they tend to have lower paying jobs in the service industry.

Students with disabilities are twice as likely to drop out of high school as students without disabilities. Females with disabilities are less likely than those without disabilities to graduate from high school (26.3% vs. 15.3%). For males, the difference in high school graduation rates is 30.1% as compared to 19.1% for those without disabilities. Among females with disabilities, 23% drop out of school because of marriage or parenthood, whereas only 1% of males with disabilities leave school for these reasons.

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