1. How do we approach boys in the counseling and teaching professions other than as problems?

2. Many of the challenges boys face are the result of a loss of contact with themselves and their surroundings.
BAM! groups work to create contact through strategic storytelling and physical challenges

3. We present these slides with the hope that they may be helpful for people to advocate for boys. We use these slides in our workshops and expect that they would be most useful to people who have attended our workshops.

4. “I note the obvious differences between each sort and type,
but we are more alike, my friends,
than we are unalike.”
Human Family
Maya Angelou, 2004

5. Part of the issue is disconnection
In a national survey of 1,195 youth, students were placed in categories of successful students, strivers, and alienated students. 70% of the students in the alienated group were male. (Kleinfeld, 1999)
Boys account for 80% of all youth suicides (US Dept of Justice)
Boys account for three fourths of the discipline referrals in middle and high school (Pollack 1998).

6. Boys are overrepresented in special education

7. Special Education Enrollment
US Dept. of Ed. Office of Civil Rights (1988)
Grades K-12, By Sex (2000)
1.9 million girls (33%)
3.8 million boys (67%)
Notice: The more subjective the criteria for services,
the wider the gender gap.

8. Special Education Enrollment
Count of Oregon Special Education Students Ages 5-21 (School Age)
Primary Handicapping Condition
Total
Female
Male %
Orthopedic Impairment
803
389
414 52
Hearing Impairment
847
396
451 53
Deaf/Blindness 13 6 7 54
Mental Retardation
4264
1954
2310
Vision Impairment
323
143
180 56
Traumatic Brain Injury
272 97
175 64
Speech/Language Impairment
17663
6145
11518 65
Specific Learning Disability
28997
10064
18933
Other Health Impairment (e.g. ADHD)
8212
2278
5934 72
Emotional Disturbance
4688
1193
3495 75
Autism
5752
909
4843 84
Grand Total
71834
23574
48260 67

9. “Autism is an empathy disorder…
Males outnumber females 4 to 1 regarding diagnoses of Autism Spectrum Disorders.
Fombonne, E. (2003)
“Autism is an empathy disorder…
Those with autism have major difficulties in ‘mindreading’ or putting themselves in someone else’s shoes, and responding appropriately to someone else’s feelings.”
Simon Baron-Cohen
The Essential Difference:
The truth about the male and female brain (2003)

10. Percent of Youth 4-17 ever diagnosed with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: CDC, National Survey of Children's Health, 2003
• Boys more likely to be referred and diagnosed with AD/HD (Barkley,1998) • 20% of boys in some schools receive psychostimulant meds (Castellanos, et al, 2002) • 90% of children taking Ritalin in the U.S. are boys (Pollack, 1998)

11. According to the following slides boys have no social skills (at least as they are typically defined). What does this say about how we view boys?

12. Social Skills Rating System (SSRS)• • •
Gresham and Elliot (1990) Sample of 800+ "yoked" forms (all three forms for same student) “F" or "M" represents a significant difference in higher Female or Male scores on the subtests

13. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BASC Behavior Assessment System for Children:+ _ _ _
BASC
Behavior Assessment
System for Children:
Teacher Rating Scale
Gender differences
in T score units
across subscales
14,000+ unit sample
Representative of US pop.
1998 _ + _ + + _ _ + _