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Sex bias in the diagnosis of learning disabled students
Author(s) -
Clarizio Harvey F.,
Phillips S. E.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
psychology in the schools
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.738
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1520-6807
pISSN - 0033-3085
DOI - 10.1002/1520-6807(198601)23:1<44::aid-pits2310230108>3.0.co;2-l
Subject(s) - psychology , learning disabled , socioeconomic status , learning disability , special education , referral , developmental psychology , academic achievement , intelligence quotient , clinical psychology , demography , mathematics education , psychiatry , cognition , medicine , population , family medicine , sociology
Studies of special education students consistently indicate a preponderance of males in classrooms for the learning disabled (LD). To determine whether the overrepresentation of males and underrepresentation of females constitutes sexual discrimination, an objective index involving the discrepancy between expected and actual achievement was calculated for each student. Factors such as intelligence, socioeconomic status, and reason for referral also were investigated to help explain the large disparity of boys to girls diagnosed and placed as LD. Data were collected on 235 LD students and 290 students referred for special education who were declared not impaired (NI). No evidence was found to indicate that group membership in a sexual class was related to diagnostic and placement practices. Approximately one half of the students labeled as LD did not show a reliable discrepancy between expected and actual achievement.