Sex differences in special education language services in U.S. schools

Under U.S. law, students with developmental language disorder (DLD) may qualify for special education services under the categories “speech-language impairment” or “specific learning disorder”. Girls receive these services ~50% less often than boys; however, community samples reveal near parity in DLD prevalence by sex. Using longitudinal data from >1.6 million students, we tested three hypotheses for this service gap. In part, the gap is justified: we found that fewer girls than boys need these services because, at the population level, girls presented with better academic achievement. Nevertheless, after controlling for achievement, girls remained 30–40% less likely than boys to receive services, a gap not explained by service type or grade of service receipt. Thus, referral or evaluation biases may limit the identification of girls with DLD. Given the prevalence of DLD, we estimate that >164,000 girls in U.S. schools may be without necessary language services in any given year.