Children at Risk: Biological Parent Disability and Childhood Disability

Abstract

The public education system is an ever-changing structure that is always on the quest for new and improved ways to educate students. When it comes to these new practices, school districts tend to focus on academic preparation and performance whereas identifying students who may be in need of special education services and supports continues to be a reactive process. Students wait until they are in the educational system to access special education supports and services that could be available to them and their parents at a much earlier age.

It is important to be able to identify students needing educational supports in the school setting as early as possible. By implementing new systems of early identification prior to entering school, students may be able to avoid excess problems stemming from poor academic performance. Currently, there is little research available that identifies the most effective ways to detect students at risk and provide these early intervention strategies. This study focused on the percentage of biological parents past participation in special education and their children's current special education status. This helped answer the question of if a biological parent's past participation in special education as a student impacts the child's likelihood of qualifying for special education in the same disability category. To help answer this question, a quantitative study was implemented to help identify the percentage of parent disability and student disability primarily focusing on the impairment categories of Emotional and/or Behavioral Disability (EBD), Learning Disability (LD), and Other Health Impairment (OHI).