FEMALE BIAS in Special Education
Female Bias in Special Education By Brenna Fallon ABSTRACT Special Education programs are meant to aid students in receiving a quality education. The balance between males and females in classrooms is fairly even, as is the proportion of male and female students in need of Special Education support. However, male students tend to outweigh the number of female students in Special Education programs. This paper examines previous studies pertaining to the differences of symptom expression in male and female students, the discrepancy in referral rates, and possible reasons for this bias. Throughout the research it becomes clear that a lack of understanding, gendered differences in symptoms, and stigmatization are contributing factors to this imbalance. Further research into this topic is needed to improve the situation.
The possibility of gender bias in the modern classroom has been a long-debated topic among parents and scholars alike. As society at large works to address gender biases in daily life, academic research has dived into the topic to explore the causes and effects of gender bias within the classroom. Recently, scholars have begun to investigate the role of gender in the world of special education in response to the highly disproportionate numbers of boys enrolled in special education services compared to girls. This paper will explore the research on this topic, looking into likely causes of this disproportion and its effects on young girls, as well as anecdotal reflections as a girl with late participation in special education programs. Special Education can refer to a variety of educational programs and settings within different schools that includes support for gifted students and those with disabilities, mental illnesses, or learning impairments that require individualized levels of accommodations to help students succeed in their education. The research cited in this paper focuses primarily on students in grades K – 12 who require Special Education for learning disabilities and/or mental illness. Additionally, the available research at the time of writing focuses on students identifying within the binary of male and female biological sex. As such, this paper is limited to these identities and does not include the experiences of students with other gender identities. Though there is no absolute measure of the exact number or proportion of students with learning disorders or disabilities, what is known of these populations would suggest that the ratio of boys to girls afflicted is much more proportional than what we see in the Special Education classroom (Beaman et al., 2006). According to data from the 2017-2018 school year in grades K - 12, 67% of students in Special Education are males (Schaeffer, 2020). The likely reasons for this disproportion are unfortunately simple –lack of understanding, behavioral differences, and stigmatization of female students with learning disabilities–and greatly disadvantage girls in need of special education support. One main cause of underdiagnosis of female students is an unfortunate self-perpetuating cycle. As research shows, boys and girls often present symptoms of learning disabilities differently (Rice et al., 2008). Because most students identified as having learning disabilities are boys, most studies on the symptoms presented are, therefore, conducted on groups of young boys. As a result, most teaching professionals only know how to identify symptoms in young boys. It is only recently that research in the symptomatology of girls has made headway, and this has yet to be common knowledge in the teaching profession (Quinn, 2005). This problem will hopefully decrease with time, but as long as the majority of scientific research on the matter is centered around young boys, young girls will struggle to be as easily identified as needing support by those teaching them. This common difference in symptom expression prevents girls from being referred to special education services in the first place. As noticed in the mainstream classroom, male students are much more likely to create disruptions in the classroom that require teacher intervention (Beaman et al., 2006). This is particularly true for boys with learning disabilities. Symptoms in young boys are more often externalized, taking the form of yelling, physical action, or general acting out. This behavior disrupts a class environment and is quick to be noticed by education professionals, especially when reoccurring (Arms et al., 2008). Girls, meanwhile, frequently have polar opposite reactions to the exact same problems as their male counterparts. According to a 2008 study on gendered differences in expression of mental and behavioral disabilities, young girls in need of support in the classroom often turn their expression inward, becoming quiet and withdrawn (Rice et al., 2008). This behavior is far less likely to be noticed by teachers, especially because female students, as noted by the many studies analyzed by Beaman et al.(2006), are generally more quiet than male students in regular classroom settings. This may cause teachers to miss the signs of a young female student expressing difficulties in the classroom. In a similar fashion, social pressures surrounding gender roles are particularly stressful for young girls with learning disabilities. These social constructs contribute to the reasoning for girls’ underrepresentation in Special Education, the struggles they face within Special Education, and the negative effects of not receiving learning support (Arms et
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