Special Education Services for Girls with Serious Emotional Disturbance: A Case of Gender Bias?

Abstract

Despite the fact that boys greatly outnumber girls in receiving services under the category Serious Emotional Disturbance (SED), the possibility of bias against girls with SED has received relatively little attention. Data on three groups of adolescent students were analyzed: (a) students served as SED by the public schools (ED Sch, n=53), (b) students identified by the schools as SED but served as inpatients at a private psychiatric hospital (ED Psy, n=24), and (c) students not identified as SED by the public schools but who received services at a private psychiatric hospital (NI Psy n=40). Girls were a small proportion of the ED Sch and ED Psy groups, but the majority of the NI Psy group. These preliminary data indicate that some girls with serious emotional problems are not identified by the public schools yet are being served by private psychiatric hospitals. Possible reasons for this potentially inequitable allocation of school special education resources are suggested. Consideration and further study of the gender issues and identification and services to students with SED are discussed.