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A Web of Risk: Homelessness and the Special Education Category “Emotional Disturbance”

Children placed in the special education category Emotional Disturbance can struggle with everything from depression and anxiety disorders to disruptive, oppositional and argumentative behavior. Image from istockphoto.com

Students who receive services under the special education category Emotional Disturbance have particularly poor outcomes, both in educational attainment and other indicators of life success. The children who have been diagnosed under this category provide an example of how poverty, other demographic variables, and educational practices all interact to influence not only school success, but special education placement.

More Barriers to Learning: Homelessness and the Special Education System

From school supplies for children who can’t afford them to recess and a sense of “home,” schools provide many things to many children. Their services and supports are especially important to children and families experiencing homelessness. Image from pixabay.com

Children who are homeless face numerous barriers to accessing the special education system, even as they’ve been found to need services at two to three times the rate of children who are housed. In this fourth part of our series on homelessness in the classroom, Perry Firth examines why children who are homeless and have disabilities sometimes don't receive the special education services for which they are eligible.

Homelessness and Academic Achievement: The Impact of Childhood Stress on School Performance

Describing how she gets her homework done even though her family’s power was cut off, a young girl profiled on 60 Minutes’ “<a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/homeless-children-the-hard-times-generation-20-06-2011/4/">Homeless Children: The Hard Times Generation</a>” says, “[I] just light candles and sit around in a circle of candles.” Image from pixabay.com — Describing how she gets her homework done even though her family’s power was cut off, a young girl profiled on 60 Minutes’ “Homeless Children: The Hard Times Generation” says, “[I] just light candles and sit around in a circle of candles.” Image from pixabay.com

Students who are homeless face a variety of difficult challenges, not the least of which is finding a calm, quiet place to do homework. However, it isn’t always the physical obstacles presented by poverty and homelessness that can be the most destructive. In this continuation of our series about homelessness in the classroom, Perry Firth explains why the biggest obstacle to academic success can be the effects of toxic stress — the potentially lasting impact of the deprivation that can accompany poverty and homelessness.

Homelessness, Poverty and the Brain: Mapping the Effects of Toxic Stress on Children

Children born to healthy moms do better in life. With moms who are eating well, getting enough rest and supported by a caring family, they are brought into the world ready to thrive. Image from istockphoto.com

Early inequality sets the stage for intergenerational poverty. Chronic intense stress during the sensitive developmental period of childhood can permanently alter how the brain responds to stress, holds memory and learns. In this second post in our "Homelessness in the Classroom" series, Perry Firth explores the effects of stress on children's development and health.

Hungry, Scared, Tired and Sick: How Homelessness Hurts Children

Almost half of the 30,000 students who are homeless in Washington state are in fifth grade or below. This trend holds nationally. This means that these very
young children are less likely to get the developmental supports they need to learn and function
well during middle childhood. Image from Children’s Defense Fund. — Almost half of the 30,000 students who are homeless in Washington state are in fifth grade or below. This trend holds nationally. This means that these very young children are less likely to get the developmental supports they need to learn and function well during middle childhood. Image from Children’s Defense Fund.

Impoverished children are climbing mountains before they can walk. From lack of housing to hunger and violence, poverty places adult demands on child-sized shoulders. Stability is crucial to the health and well being of a child. But in this post, this first part of our series on homelessness in the classroom, we’ll see how poverty and homelessness create an unstable world for children.

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