Children with cognitive, emotional disabilities more likely to be suspended, expelled

Key takeaways:

• Children with these disabilities were 16% to 18% more likely to be suspended or expelled from school.
• Those with emotional disabilities were 28% more likely to be suspended or expelled.

Children with emotional or cognitive disabilities were more likely to report being suspended or expelled from school compared with children with physical disabilities or no disabilities, according to findings in Academic Pediatrics.

“Our study draws attention to the alarmingly large disparities for use of serious school discipline with youth who have disabilities vs. those who do not,” Christine James, PhD, LSW, adjunct professor at Rutgers University School of Social Work and director of the Community Health Worker Collective at Jefferson Collaborative for Health Equity in Philadelphia, told Healio.

“The use of exclusionary discipline has serious consequences for all youth and is particularly concerning for youth of color and youth with disabilities, who are disproportionately experiencing serious school discipline,” she said.

Research published last fall came to a similar conclusion, and the AAP released a policy statement advocating against exclusionary punishment and adopting a trauma-informed approach to address behavioral issues in schools.

Although previous research has reported that children with disabilities are more likely to be suspended or expelled from school, few studies have investigated whether there are disparities among children with hidden disabilities like ADHD or other behavioral disorders, James and Lenna Nepomnyaschy, PhD, a professor at Rutgers University School of Social Work, wrote.

James and Nepomnyaschy conducted a secondary analysis of data from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study, which included 5,000 children born between 1998 and 2000 in large cities in the United States. The study followed up at ages 1, 3, 5, 9 and 15 years.

They identified the children’s disability status up to age 9 years, which they categorized into physical, cognitive and emotional/behavioral disabilities. Then they calculated participants’ odds for being suspended or expelled from school by age 15 years.

In total, their study included 2,504 youth (50% boys). One-third of participants had a disability — 19% physical, 16% cognitive and 19% emotional — and 28% were suspended or expelled from school, according to their parents.

In an adjusted analysis, the researchers reported that children with disabilities were 16% to 18% more likely to be suspended or expelled from school, compared with children without disabilities. Based on parent reports, youth with emotional or cognitive disabilities 28% and 21% more likely to be expelled or suspended, compared with youth without disabilities (P < .001 for both). The researchers did not find a significant association between physical disabilities and serious school discipline.

“Our study uncovered a key new finding — that youth with emotional conditions, such as ADHD or anxiety, were more likely to experience serious school discipline than youth with physical health conditions and those with no such conditions,” James told Healio. “Untangling the different types of disabilities rather than grouping them together allowed this more nuanced finding to be revealed.”

James said health care providers can get involved directly by screening and assessing youth for cognitive and emotional disabilities and referring their families to services for assistance.

She said future research should look into how policy changes, like removing zero-tolerance policies in schools, could affect how many children with emotional disabilities experience serious school discipline.

“We advocate for increased funding for school social workers and school-based mental health services, given the finding in our study that it is youth with emotional conditions who are impacted most,” she said.