Contributing Factors in Special Education Referrals for Emotional or Behavioral Problems.

Special education referral decisions for emotional or behavioral problems were investigated. A survey distributed to regular education elementary school teachers examined differences in referral decisions for internalized and externalized behavior patterns. The survey also looked at teacher gender and years of teaching experience as variables affecting referral decisions. Results were inconclusive but suggested that teachers may be as likely to refer for internalized behavior problems as they are for externalized behavior problems. No clear link was shown between teacher gender and the likelihood of referring students for emotional or behavioral difficulties. Teachers of both genders appeared equally likely to refer students for most behaviors; however, females may be more likely to refer for certain externalized behaviors. The influence of years of teaching experience was also unclear, but teachers’ likelihood of referring students for various internalized and externalized behaviors did not appear to be impacted by this variable in a majority of cases. Special Education Referrals 3 Contributing Factors in Special Education Referrals for Emotional or Behavioral Problems Within the field of education, there has been much debate about special education programming. The identification of increasingly large numbers of students with emotional or behavioral disorders has been criticized (e.g., Caseau, Luckasson & Kroth, 1994; McIntyre & Tong, 1998). Many students, the majority of them male, are referred for special education for behavioral disturbances. Some critics believe that male students are being overidentified due to inherent tendencies to display behavior that may be seen as disruptive. Female students, on the other hand, are less likely to act out, but often exhibit internalized difficulties that are not always apparent to teachers. In addition to behavioral differences, some question whether disparity in teacher tolerance is a factor in referral decisions. There have been several theories proposed as to why males have consistently outnumbered females more than three to one in the special education category of emotional or behavioral disorders. Caseau, Luckasson, & Kroth (1994) list a number of possibilities. They suggest that schools may be worried about discrimination charges if they were to overidentify females. Another possibility is parents’ reluctance to place their daughters in classrooms for emotionally or behaviorally disturbed children, filled with boys who are acting out. The abundance of female teachers in general education who lack tolerance for misbehavior may also contribute to the gender discrepancy. Shinn, Tindal & Spira (1987) propose that because the special education system cannot realistically serve every student in need, it is designed primarily to serve those who are the most disruptive to school order. Much of the research on the disproportionate numbers in special education focuses on behaviors. Some people believe that biological factors form the basis for the discrepancy. Others Special Education Referrals 4 feel it is due to differences in behavior, as males have a greater tendency to act out in school. Recently, more research has focused on possible biases in teacher perceptions. Behavior may result from biological factors and in turn affect bias. We will discuss the relevant literature on classroom behavior and teacher referrals in an attempt to clarify why so many students are identified as behaviorally disordered. Brain researchers and psychologists have discovered the “boy brain the kinetic, disorganized, maddening and sometimes brilliant behaviors” (Tyre, 2006, p. 48) that are not learned, but hard-wired. Boys’ behaviors become more apparent in elementary school where an emphasis is placed on language and sitting still. According to Thompson, girls’ behavior becomes the standard; thus, boys are treated like defective girls (as cited in Tyre). Adolescents are known for a lack of impulse control, and brain research indicates that boys have an especially hard time keeping their thoughts and feelings to themselves (Walsh, 2004). The way students behave, as well as the way teachers perceive this behavior, can have a direct effect on special education referrals. It is well known that males and females think, communicate and behave differently. Girls are more likely to cooperate, hold in their emotions and comply with authority. Boys, on the other hand, are more likely to compete, question authority, display aggression and have a difficult temperament (Furlong, Morrison & Jimerson, 2004). In the classroom, female teachers may perceive this as disrespectful and inappropriate (McIntyre & Tong, 1998). This lower tolerance for male behavior is commonly thought to lead to more boys being referred for special education. Within special education, the category of emotional disturbance is the most disproportionate, with males comprising 76.4% of all identified students. Many researchers theorize that boys are often mistakenly labeled emotionally and/or behaviorally disordered when they are not. Special Education Referrals 5 McIntyre and Tong (1998) believe many special education referrals occur because of crossgender misunderstandings; that is, female teachers do not relate to the male style of communication and consider it unacceptable, leading to the belief that the student needs special education. They go on to state that this overidentification of males is harmful not only to boys, but to girls as well. Researchers commonly believe that many emotionally disturbed female students are not receiving services because their problems go unnoticed in classrooms where boys’ behavior tends to monopolize the teachers’ attention (McIntyre & Tong, 1998; Rousso & Wehmeyer, 2001; Wehmeyer & Schwartz, 2001). Murray and Myers (1998) add that students with the most disruptive behaviors also tend to exhibit worse cognitive, academic, and social functioning than do children with more internalized problems. This lends further support to the idea that students who act out are referred sooner while those with internalized problems may be overlooked. Teachers clearly have varying standards regarding tolerance for problem behavior. Kaufman (2001) and Walker & Severson (1992) have suggested that in school settings, teachers typically under-refer students with internalizing behavior problems, compared to students with externalizing behavior patterns. Gresham and Kern (2004) describe externalizing behaviors as overt and obvious to others, whereas internalizing behaviors are subtle and often go unnoticed by others. It is the externalizing behaviors such as noncompliance, aggression, and disruption that are the least tolerated behaviors among teachers. Students’ internalizing behaviors such as social withdrawal, anxiety, and depression do not challenge teachers’ authority and ability to effectively manage their classroom like the externalized behaviors do. Many studies (e.g., Stuart, 1994; Hill, Baldo & D’Amato, 1999; Chang & Sue, 2003) have investigated whether low teacher tolerance leads to hasty or inaccurate special education Special Education Referrals 6 referrals. Ritter (1989) studied behavioral ratings of regular classroom and special education teachers to compare the level of agreement in teacher perceptions. The teachers rated students identified as seriously emotionally disturbed on problem behavior. The results showed that the teachers agreed upon ratings for internalizing behavior, but the regular education teachers rated externalizing behaviors as more problematic. In addition, special educators did not differ in their ratings of boys’ versus girls’ problem behavior, but regular classroom teachers rated the boys’ behavior as more troublesome. Ritter also found a significant relationship between teacher gender and ratings of problem behavior. The trend was for female teachers to rate problem behavior more negatively than male teachers. This suggests that female teachers are more sensitive to externalizing behaviors and less tolerant of difficult to manage students. Other studies have also found differences in teacher tolerance between male and female teachers. McIntyre (1988) asked 64 teachers to consider students with problem behavior for special education referral. The results showed that female teachers made the decision to refer twice the expected frequency while male teachers referred only half as frequently as expected. The author points out that these patterns may lead to false negative errors when male teachers are not referring students who have learning disabilities that coexist with the problem behavior. False positives may also occur when female teachers refer students who may display some problem behavior but do not actually have learning disabilities. McIntyre (1990) later reanalyzed his data, categorizing student behavior by severity. Interestingly, he found that even though the students of male teachers displayed higher levels of problem behavior, male teachers made fewer referrals than did female teachers. The author attributes this to female teachers lacking confidence with students who show high levels of Special Education Referrals 7 aggression, whereas male teachers are motivated to uphold the expectancy that they can handle difficult students and are therefore hesitant to make referrals. Yoon (2004) explored teacher characteristics such as empathy, self-efficacy and perceived seriousness that influence teacher responses to bullying. The results indicated that these variables are important factors in predicting the likelihood of teacher intervention in response to bullying behavior. Teachers were more likely to intervene if they exhibited empathy and selfefficacy. Although some research has been conducted on teacher variables and their possible effect on referrals, questions remain regarding how this impacts the students identified with an emotional or behavioral disorder. Teache