Do More Boys Have Learning Disabilities Than Girls?

by | Last updated on January 24, 2024

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Do more boys have learning than girls?

Around two-thirds of kids with a specific learning disability (as defined by special education law) are boys

. And boys are more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with ADHD. The fact that boys are identified or diagnosed more often than girls is one thing.

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Why do boys have more learning disabilities than girls?

Many theories have been proposed to explain why more boys than girls are identified as having learning disabilities. Some experts propose that the difference has to do with

biological vulnerability

, meaning that boys really are more often born with or acquire a tendency for a learning disability early in life.

Are boys more likely to be in special education?

Approximately 50% of the student population is female, and 50% is male. Yet

the majority of students in special education tend to be male

, and 85% of educators in America are female.

What is the gender ratio of the specific learning disorder?

What percentage of special education students are male?

6The racial and ethnic makeup of the nation's special education students is similar to public school students overall, but there is a difference when it comes to gender. About two-thirds of disabled students are male (

67%)

, while 33% are female, according to data from the 2017-18 school year.

Why are boys overrepresented in special education?

Overrepresentation of minorities in special education is a growing problem in schools today. Research indicates that factors such as

test bias, poverty, poor general education instruction, and insufficient professional development for working with diverse students

can cause this overrepresentation.

Are males more likely to be disabled?

Prevalence of disability in men and women aged 50 and older


Prevalence of disability is higher among women than among men across all age groups

.

Does gender affect learning disabilities?

[15]).

Females are also less likely to have learning disabilities

. This is because the female brain “uses more cortical areas for more learning functions” . Thus, male and female brains are physiologically different, and these differences affect most of the learning processes [1,3].

Is intellectual disability more common in males or females?

Intellectual disability affects about 1% of the population, and of those about 85% have mild intellectual disability.

Males are more likely than females

to be diagnosed with intellectual disability.

Why do boys have more behavior problems?

One explanation for the current gender gap is that boys come to school with higher levels of behavioral problems than do girls,

due to a combination of physiological, biological, and social differences

(Belsky and Beaver 2011).

How many students have learning disabilities in the US?

There are approximately 56.6 million students in elementary and secondary schools in the United States (Educationdata.org). 20%, or 1 in 5, would represent

11.2 million

students with learning and attention issues.

What is the prevalence of learning disabilities?

Results: The lifetime prevalence of learning disability in US children is

9.7%

. Although prevalence of learning disability is lower among average developing children (5.4%), it still affected 2.7 million children compared with 3.3 million (27.8%) children with special health care needs.

Why are the number of students classified as learning disabled has increased dramatically in recent years?

Unsound reasons for the increase include

broad and vague definitions of learning disability, financial incentives to identify students for special education, and inadequate preparation of teachers by colleges of education

, leading to overreferral of students with any type of special need.

What is the most common disability in the world?

Worldwide, the most common disability in people under the age of 60 is

depression

, followed by hearing and visual problems.

Which is the largest disability group in US schools?

Of children in

special education

, the largest group — 34 percent — had a specific learning disability. Roughly 1 in 5 had a speech or language impairment and 14 percent were classified as having “other health impairment.”

What is the largest category of students with disabilities?


Learning disabilities

is the largest category of students with disabilities.

What race has the most disabilities?

At the national level,

Native Americans

have the highest disability rate among working-age adults (16 percent), followed by blacks (11 percent), whites (9 percent), Hispanics (7 percent), and Asians (4 percent). Yet disability rates by race and ethnicity also vary greatly among metro areas.

Why are more black students in special education?

Black students, on average, tend to post lower test scores.

Because low-achieving students are more likely to get diagnosed with a disability, such as an intellectual impairment

, the raw numbers for disabilities among black students are much higher than for white students.

Are black students overrepresented in special education?

Why are neurodevelopmental disorders more common in boys?

These findings suggest that

the female brain requires more extreme genetic alterations than does the male brain

to produce symptoms of ASD or neurodevelopmental disorders. The results also take the focus off the X chromosome for the genetic basis of the gender bias, suggesting that the burden difference is genome wide.

What's considered a learning disability?

Learning disabilities are

due to genetic and/or neurobiological factors that alter brain functioning in a manner which affects one or more cognitive processes related to learning

. These processing problems can interfere with learning basic skills such as reading, writing and/or math.

What percentage of school age population consists of students with disabilities in special education?

In the U.S. overall,

14.4 percent

of all students were special education students (ages 3-21) in 2019-20. Data from the previous year shows that the percentage varied by state from 9.8 percent in Texas to 19.5 percent in New York.

What percentage of children with learning disabilities do recent estimates indicate also have attention problems?

About

20 percent

of children with learning disabilities also have attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Is ADHD a disability?


Yes

. Whether you view attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as neurological — affecting how the brain concentrates or thinks — or consider ADHD as a disability that impacts working, there is no question that the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) covers individuals with ADHD.

What is the difference between a learning disability and an intellectual disability?

An intellectual disability is not the same as a learning disability, and these two terms have very different meanings. An intellectual disability refers to when someone has a developmental disorder such as autism, whereas a learning disability is referring to when someone has a learning disorder like dyslexia.

Who are more disciplined in school boys or girls?

From elementary school through college,

girls are more disciplined about their schoolwork than boys

; they study harder and get better grades. Girls consistently outperform boys academically. And yet, men nonetheless hold a staggering 95 percent of the top positions in the largest public companies.

Do boys have more behavior problems than girls?


Male children significantly had higher odds for being at risk of Overall Behavioral problems, internalizing problems, and co-occurring behavioral issues, as compared to female children

. The study concludes that the prevalence of overall behavioral problems is at the higher end of the global range.

How does a girl differ from boy in behavior?

Boys were around 10% more likely to show what we call “externalising behaviours” such as destructiveness and aggressiveness.

Girls, on the other hand, were more likely to have “internalising problems” such as anxiety

.

What percentage of kids have learning disability?

Which are the three most common disabilities?

What are the 3 types of learning disabilities?

Understanding the learning skill sets of others allows you to communicate and teach more effectively. Underneath the learning disability umbrella, many disabilities are categorized as one of three types:

dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia

.

What are the top 5 learning disabilities?

How many kids have learning differences?


One in five

children in the U.S. have learning and attention issues such as dyslexia and ADHD, but as noted in the new State of Learning Disabilities: Understanding the 1 in 5 (www.ncld.org/StateofLD), 48 percent of parents believe incorrectly that children will outgrow these brain-based difficulties, and 33 percent of …

What are the causes of learning disabilities?

  • the mother becoming ill in pregnancy.
  • problems during the birth that stop enough oxygen getting to the brain.
  • the unborn baby having some genes passed on from its parents that make having a learning disability more likely.
  • illness, such as meningitis, or injury in early childhood.

Is intellectual disability more common in males or females?

Intellectual disability affects about 1% of the population, and of those about 85% have mild intellectual disability.

Males are more likely than females

to be diagnosed with intellectual disability.

Why are the number of students classified as learning disabled has increased dramatically in recent years?

Unsound reasons for the increase include

broad and vague definitions of learning disability, financial incentives to identify students for special education, and inadequate preparation of teachers by colleges of education

, leading to overreferral of students with any type of special need.

Carlos Perez
Author
Carlos Perez
Carlos Perez is an education expert and teacher with over 20 years of experience working with youth. He holds a degree in education and has taught in both public and private schools, as well as in community-based organizations. Carlos is passionate about empowering young people and helping them reach their full potential through education and mentorship.