Gender and Special Education

There is a myth that boys have more incidence of disability than girls, but the issue is more complicated than that. While statistics prove this idea to be true, the statistics may be missing some key information. These stats only show students that have been identified with a disability, not those who have gone mis- or undiagnosed. Boys are more likely to have autism than girls, but this is a large problem for girls and boys and special education. Girls may be severely underrepresented in special education, but boys are also overrepresented in the category.

There are many resources online that deal with this issue directly. The first article deals with how to effectively teach girls in special education, and how boys and girls are different, in terms of how their disability is displayed, and how much research (or lack thereof) we have on girls with disabilities. The second resource is a short, but incredibly informative study, deals with issues of culture, violence, abuse, and how these issues play into gender and special education. For each issue they bring up, they give resources, and promising programs and strategies to use.