A Health and Well-being Reframing for the Persistent Issue of Disproportionality in Special Education

The association between chronic health conditions and Serious Emotional Disorders has been established in health research (Byles et al., 2013; Combs-Orme, Heflinger, and Simpkins, 2002; Egede & Dismuke, 2012; Gariepy, Wang, Lesage, & Schmitz, 2009). However, many of these studies have favored quantitative methodologies, been conducted outside of the United States with individuals over the age of 18, and limited its implications to the field of health. This study began to bridge these gaps between health and special education

by examining the current literature across the two domains and identifying areas where increased

interdisciplinary collaboration could occur. Secondly, this study expanded qualitative

understandings of school health, extended it beyond school nursing and immunizations, and

connected the multiple dimensions of health (e.g., physiological, mental, emotional) to learner perceived

instructional practices and outcomes. Moreover, it prioritized the learning-health and

well-being connection that is present, but often unacknowledged, as an evaluation criterion

across multiple special education policies, beyond just Section 504 (34 C.F.R. Part 104.4).

Finally, this study had implications for school health resources, which has typically focused on

building-wide cultural shifts rather than practices targeting learner educational performance or

instruction. By centering Black learners at the intersection of ableism and racism, this study

uncovered descriptive data that revealed unanticipated, intersecting health and education

considerations that should be proactively designed for. In doing so, I introduce possible

pathways to meet their converging interests, and potentially prevent the initial misinterpretation

and subsequent referral for-and identification into- detrimental special education categories, such

as Emotional Disturbance.