Safety issues in the lives of children with learning disabilities.

• Author: Briggs, Freda

Abstract

Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 116 special education students aged 11-17 years (61 females and 55 males) who had been identified as 3 or more years behind their peers in all aspects of the curriculum. The study confirmed the vulnerability of children with learning disabilities to the risks of drugs, violence, psychological bullying, pornography and sexual abuse. Significant levels of violence were found in both schools and homes. The study also showed the need for special attention for the protection of boys. It is possible that children with learning disabilities were targeted because they were less likely than others to (a) recognize abuse as wrong, (b) understand their rights and report abuse, and (c) be regarded as competent witnesses for court proceedings. On the other hand, it is possible that they were learning-disabled as a result of abuse. The findings suggested that children with learning disabilities require more vigilant and more intensive, explicit forms of protection than other children.

INTRODUCTION

The particular vulnerability of children with disabilities to all forms of abuse was brought to public notice in the 1980s. American and Canadian studies suggested that these children are up to seven times more likely to be sexually abused than their non-disabled peers (Sinn 1988, Kennedy 1989, Monty and Fetter man 1989, Sullivan et al. 1987).

The literature suggests that children with disabilities are at highest risk of all forms of abuse because they are devalued by society in general (Subset 1994). They were found to be the least well informed about their rights, their sexuality and the limits of acceptable social behaviour (Subset 1994, Sinn 1988). They are inadequately protected by the justice system and child welfare agencies and lack self-esteem and the confidence to complain (Sobsey 1994, Briggs 1995). Furthermore, there is a high risk that abuse will continue into adulthood (Subset 1994). Research by Kennedy (1990) showed that the victimization of children with disabilities compounds the low self-esteem, emotional problems, sense of helplessness, frustration, anger, depression, fearfulness and withdrawal associated with their disabilities.

In the 1980s, many countries introduced child protection curricula following the initiatives of some Canadian and American education departments. Victoria Police and South Australian education authorities adopted the Wisconsin Protective Behaviors programmed in May 1985. Michelle Elliott's Kids cape was made available in the United Kingdom in 1986 offering "good sense defense" for 5-11-year-olds to counter bullying and dangerous strangers. Canadian academics, teachers and parents had already created the CARE Kit, which was independently evaluated with young children.

New Zealand Police and the Ministry of Education rightly rejected "'packaged" overseas programmers and worked together to produce a developmentally and culturally appropriate curriculum, Keeping Ourselves Safe, which now caters for all ages from kindergarten to school-leaving. It also incorporates parent information and opportunities for their participation, videos and other teaching resources covering all aspects of safety. This national school-based curriculum is delivered by teachers. They are supported by health coordinators and 138 specialist trained police education officers who provide several safety programmers for schools.

Briggs and Hawkins (1996b) evaluated the curriculum with 252 intermediate school children aged 11 and 12 years and their parents in both North and South Islands. Children identified as having severe learning problems were at greatest risk of all forms of abuse and exposure to illegal drugs, pornography (63% versus 24% of others), drug abuse (50% versus 12%) and sexual abuse (81% versus 4%). Eighty-one per cent of girls in special education groups for learning disabilities had previously reported substantiated sexual offences committed by from two to 10 offenders before the age of 11. In all cases, students had been shown pornography to stimulate their curiosity, desensitize them and normalize deviant sex. Disclosures were made following their participation in Keeping Ourselves Safe.

Although the school programmed has parent participation built into it, children with learning disabilities were the ones least likely to have had any conversations with parents about personal safety issues (44% versus 82% of others). Clearly, it is more difficult for staff to communicate effectively with parents if children travel by school bus. Communications are even harder to achieve if parents also have learning disabilities and are illiterate. Most abuse was committed by mothers' boyfriends, siblings and uncles. Only one student in this group was sexually abused by her biological father. The low rate of father-daughter incest could possibly be explained by the fact that most students in this group had little or no contact with their fathers.

The researchers were concerned about the safety of boys, many of whom stated that child protection programmers were irrelevant to them because only girls and homosexuals are sexually abused. A previous study of safety issues for New Zealand secondary students (Briggs and Hawkins 2001) supported these concerns and also showed that boys would be afraid to disclose abuse by males because of confusion about their sexuality, embarrassment and the fear of (a) being disbelieved; (b) violent retribution and (c) being labeled as gay and bullied by peers.

Because of the finding that girls with learning disabilities were so highly vulnerable to drug and sexual abuse and violence, the present study was extended in 2003/2004 to examine more closely safety issues affecting children with learning disabilities (both boys and girls).

METHOD

One hundred and sixteen subjects (all the available students) were interviewed individually in special education centers using the 1996 questionnaire designed for intermediate school children. Issues for boys (N = 55) were then compared with issues for girls (N = 61).

The period of time that subjects had spent in special education ranged from five weeks to two years. Before that, all subjects previously attended mainstream schools in both the North and South Islands of New Zealand. A few older respondents continued to attend the local mainstream school in a part-time capacity. All participants had an individually designed curriculum to cater for the fact that they were at least three years behind their chronological age group in all areas. Some were diagnosed as having ADD or ADHD, one with Down Syndrome, and one was brain damaged as a result of physical abuse in infancy. Some had minor intellectual disabilities. The ages of respondents ranged from 11 to 17 years (mean age = 13.8, SD = 1.3). There were slightly more girls (61, or 53%) than boys (55, or 47%). Almost half the respondents were of European descent (51%), with 24% Maori and 23% Maori/mixed race.

RESULTS

Students' Views on Who Should Teach Personal Safety Skills

Nearly all of the students (96%) said that personal safety skills should be taught in schools to help children to stay safe from the risk of sexual abuse. Police Education Officers were chosen as the best people to conduct this teaching.

The popularity of Police Education Officers was attributed to their knowledge of the world of adolescents, their experience of abuse and abusers, and the belief that they can be trusted with confidential information. Some students explained that teachers were remote from the world of adolescents and could not be trusted to maintain confidentiality.

Violence at School

Students were asked to assess and compare the levels of violence experienced in special education units versus mainstream schools. Although some had anger management problems requiring medication, children with learning disabilities said they experienced more violence in mainstream schools (47%) than in separate single-sex special education centers (34%). There were no sex differences on this variable.

Violence at Home

One-quarter of respondents thought there was a lot of violence in their own...