Special education workforce crisis

 The special education workforce in the United States has faced a persistent and worsening shortage of qualified professionals in recent years. A University of Kansas researcher has co-edited a first-of-its-kind volume designed to unify workforce recruitment, preparation, retention and leadership in special education to collectively improve outcomes for students with disabilities.

Lisa Dieker, Williamson Family Distinguished Professor in Special Education at KU, is a co-editor of “Transforming the Special Education Workforce: Research and Complex Systems Perspectives,” published by the American Educational Research Association. As schools across the country have faced chronic vacancies, high turnover and an increasingly unprepared workforce, the volume shares a collective strategy to address the issue.

“Addressing this crisis is critically important because special education teachers play a central role in ensuring students with disabilities receive access to high-quality instruction, inclusive learning environments and legally mandated services,” Dieker said. “When systems fail to recruit, prepare and retain qualified educators, students with disabilities experience disruptions in services, reduced instructional quality and diminished educational outcomes. This need for highly qualified and prepared teachers is not only an instructional issue but a civil rights issue tied directly to access and opportunity.”

The book was edited by Marcia Rock of the University of North Carolina Greensboro, Bonnie Billingsley of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Melinda Leko of the University of Florida and Dieker. The editors and chapter authors argue that the special education workforce crisis has not been and cannot be solved by disconnected, piecemeal strategies. Instead, it offers an analysis of the crisis and a strategy to fix it.

“Transforming the Special Education Workforce Crisis” aims to reverse the ineffective attempts to address the crisis’ contributing factors separately by pairing whole-systems thinking with implementation science and improvement science. The volume is organized into four sections to address special education workforce development.

• Section one addresses systems thinking, implementation and improvement sciences and strategic recruitment.
• Section two provides evidence-based strategies to cultivate a capable and diverse workforce.
• Section three addresses retention by focusing on working conditions, mentoring, professional development and compensation.
• Section four looks to the future by covering workforce data systems, challenges in the special education workforce, personnel preparation and evolving educator roles.

While the book is designed for educators, education leaders and policymakers, it maintains a focus on children and youth with disabilities throughout, especially those in rural and urban settings who are most affected by teacher shortages, turnover and inadequate preparation.

“The book is intentionally written to speak to multiple audiences. Teachers will see their experiences validated through the discussion of working conditions, role complexity and burnout, while also gaining insight into how systems shape those experiences,” Dieker said. “Education leaders and policymakers will find frameworks and examples that help them redesign preparation pathways, staffing models and support structures. Importantly, the volume bridges theory and practice by illustrating how research, policy and day-to-day teaching are interconnected rather than separate silos. That dual focus makes it useful across roles.”

Dieker and Rock presented the volume and its supporting research at the AERA annual conference April 9 in Los Angeles.

The special education workforce crisis has often been framed as a problem of scarcity, or too few people entering the field and addressing it with temporary interventions. Dieker said the book shifts the focus to an integrative, full-systems approach that considers how educators are prepared, supported and how they can innovate and collaborate in the field.

“I hope education leaders walk away with two key understandings. First, that the special education workforce crisis is solvable, but only if we move beyond isolated solutions and address root causes embedded in systems, policies and conditions of work. Second, leaders play a pivotal role in creating environments where special educators can thrive,” Dieker said. “The volume offers concrete examples, tools and frameworks leaders can use to rethink staffing models, support preparation partnerships, invest in education and continuous learning and leverage innovation responsibly. The message is not simply to work harder but to work differently and design systems that sustain educators and students over time.”

Alcohol use in young men and women: clues to effective, sex-specific prevention strategies

 New research shows that the threat-response in the brain’s amygdala (which processes emotions) is linked to different patterns of drinking by sex. In young males, heightened amygdala reactivity was linked to increased depressive symptoms, which in turn predicted heavier alcohol consumption. In young females, no such pathway existed. Instead, greater amygdala reactivity was associated with lower levels of problematic drinking. The findings from the study in Biological Psychiatry, published by Elsevier, address a critical gap in our understanding of the underlying neurological mechanisms that lead to harmful drinking patterns in males and females, which is increasingly important for designing effective prevention and intervention programs.

Problematic alcohol use is most prevalent during young adulthood, a period characterized by increased frequency of drinking and elevated rates of binge consumption. While alcohol use often declines with increasing age (“maturing out”), early and frequent alcohol use in adolescence is associated with an increased risk of developing Alcohol Use Disorder later in life.

Previous findings on sex differences in depression-related drinking have been inconsistent. “Some studies found depressive symptoms more predictive of alcohol problems in women, others in men, and nobody really had a good explanation as to why,” explains lead author Annika Rosenthal, PhD, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy CCM, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, and Department of Psychology, MSB Medical School Berlin. “We thought that looking at the underlying neuroscience, specifically at how the brain processes negative emotions, might help clarify things. The amygdala was an obvious candidate given its established role in both mood disorders and alcohol use.”

Previous research has linked amygdala reactivity to both depression and alcohol use separately, but biological sex was rarely examined as a formal moderator. This study addresses that gap.

Researchers analyzed data from 958 19-year-olds in the IMAGEN study, a large European multisite research project that tracks adolescent brain development. Participants underwent functional MRI (fMRI) while viewing video clips of faces displaying threatening expressions. Amygdala activation in response to these stimuli was then measured. The investigators tested whether this neural measure predicted hazardous drinking, with depressive symptoms as a mediator and biological sex as a moderator.

The study found that male participants reported higher levels of problematic drinking, while female participants reported more depressive symptoms. The research team was surprised to find that despite higher depression scores, females did not show the neural pathway linking brain responses to drinking that was found in males. Specifically, the path from amygdala activation to depressive symptoms was significant in males but not in females.

“Additionally, we observed a highly significant negative association specifically in females: greater neural threat sensitivity was linked to lower alcohol risk scores. This suggests a ‘threat-avoidance’ profile in young females, where a more reactive amygdala may actually act as a protective factor against hazardous drinking. While the overall statistical difference between biological sexes for this specific direct link was just above the traditional threshold, the effect within the female group was striking,“ notes Dr. Rosenthal.

Importantly, the sex difference emerged in the link between amygdala reactivity and depressive symptoms, rather than in how depressive symptoms related to drinking.

John Krystal, MD, Editor of Biological Psychiatry, concludes, “We can now point to a specific neural mechanism in the relationship between amygdala activation and heavy drinking: the amygdala's response to social threat appears to feed into depressive symptoms much more strongly in young males than in young females. This adds to growing insights into differences in the drivers of pathological drinking in men and women, which can help to develop more targeted prevention and intervention.”

Based on these findings, the study’s authors suggest that while targeting depressive symptoms is important for everyone, the neural origins of those symptoms may differ by biological sex. These findings highlight the importance of considering sex-specific mechanisms, while warranting further research to better understand their implications.

 

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Journal

Biological Psychiatry

DOI

10.1016/j.biopsych.2026.02.007 

Teens are becoming concerned about their attachment to AI chatbots

 t’s estimated that more than half of all of U.S. teens are regularly using companion chatbots powered by large language models and generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology. The programs, such as Character.AI, Replika and Kindroid, are intended to provide companionship, according to the companies that make them. But a recent study from Drexel University suggests that teens are concerned that these attachments are becoming unhealthy and affecting their lives offline.

The study, which will be presented at the Association of Computing Machinery’s conference on Human Factors in Computing in April, looked at a sample of more than 300 Reddit posts from users, identifying themselves as 13 to 17 years old, who had specifically posted about their dependency and overreliance on Character.AI. It found that in many cases, teens began using the technology for emotional and psychological support or entertainment, but their use evolved into dependency and even patterns associated with addiction. Some reported their overuse disrupted sleep, caused academic struggles and strained relationships.

“This study provides one of the first teen-centered accounts of overreliance on AI companions,” said Afsaneh Razi, PhD, an assistant professor in Drexel’s College of Computing & Informatics, whose ETHOS lab, which studies how people’s interactions with computing and AI systems affects their social behavior, wellbeing and safety, led the research. “It highlights how these interactions are affecting the lives of young users and introduces a framework for chatbot design that promotes healthy interactions.”

About a quarter of the posts suggested that the teens were using Character.AI for some sort of emotional or psychological support, ranging from coping with distress to loneliness and  isolation or seeking advice for mental health struggles. Just over 5% reported using it for brainstorming, creative activities or for entertainment.

And while the posts seem to indicate these interactions started as harmless, or even helpful, they evolved into a stronger attachment that became as difficult to break as an addiction, according to the researchers.

“By mapping teens’ experiences to the known components of behavioral addiction, we were able to see clear patterns like conflict, withdrawal and relapse showing up in their posts, which suggests this is more than just frequent or enthusiastic use” said Matt Namvarpour, a doctoral student in the department of Information Science and ETHOS lab, who is the first author of the research. “Many teens described starting with something that felt helpful or harmless, but over time it became something they struggled to step away from, even when they wanted to.”

Within the 318 posts they analyzed, researchers found evidence of all six of the components associated with behavioral addiction:

• Conflict –– competing desires to continue interacting with the chatbot while feeling bad about excessive use.
• Salience — feeling a deepening emotional attachment to the bots in place of people.
• Withdrawal — feeling sad, anxious or incomplete when not interacting with the bots.
• Tolerance — developing a pattern of escalating use and a need to continue using the bots more to feel satisfied or emotionally grounded.
• Relapse — attempting to stop only to return to using the bot days or weeks later.
• Mood modification — turning to the bots during moments of stress or loneliness to improve their mood or find temporary relief.

“What makes this especially tricky is that chatbots are interactive and emotionally responsive, so the experience can feel more like a relationship than a tool,” Namvarpour said. “Because of that, stepping away is not just stopping a habit, it can feel like distancing from something meaningful, which makes overreliance harder to recognize and address.”

While addiction to technology, such as video games, has been studied and identified as a psychological condition, the unique interactivity of AI chatbots makes users particularly susceptible to forming problematic attachments, according to the researchers. And because of this, they suggest that extra care must be taken with their design in order to protect users.

“Personalization, multimodality and memory set AI companions apart from earlier technologies and make overreliance harder to disentangle from authentic-feeling relationships,” the researchers wrote. “This underscores the need for further research on the unique characteristics of these relationships and how challenges specific to companion chatbots should be addressed.”

The team offered a design framework to help address this concern. It focuses on understanding the needs of chatbot users, how and why they may form attachments and how the bots can be trained to curtail them while being respectful and supportive. They also recommend that the programs provide an easy and clean exit for users.

“It’s important for designers to ensure that chatbots are offering guidance that helps users build confidence in their abilities to form relationships offline, as a healthy way of finding emotional support, without using cues that may lead them to anthropomorphize the technology and develop attachments to it,” Razi said. “Our framework also calls on designers to provide a variety of off-ramps for users to easily disengage with the program on their own terms and without a sense of abruptness or finality.”

Including features like usage tracking, emotional check-in prompts and personalized usage limits could also be effective ways to carefully curtail use, the researchers suggested. They also recommended including input from users and mental health professionals in the design process.

“Designers now carry the responsibility to build systems with empathy, nuance and attention to detail to not only protect teens from harm, but also help them cultivate resilience, growth and greater fulfillment in their lives,” they concluded.

To expand on this research, the team pointed to studying larger communities of users from a wider demographic range, potentially though surveys or interviews, as well as users of other chatbots and from messaging platforms other than Reddit.

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DOI

10.1145/3772318.3790597 

High Schools and the Uneven Rise in American Opportunity

 Between 1850 and 1910, the share of young Americans living in towns with high schools increased from 17% to 46%—the fastest expansion of school access in U.S. history. Using new data on every high school in the United States, this study shows that this expansion transformed economic opportunities for many young adults but widened class and racial inequalities. 

There were sharp increases in school attendance rates for high school-aged children in towns that opened a high school relative to children in nearby towns without one.  

High schools increased women's labor force participation and job quality, while reducing the probability of early marriage and childbearing. Increased access to high school accounts for a third of the increase in women's labor force participation between 1870 and 1930. 

High schools had the largest effects on children from already-wealthy families, and did not, on average, benefit Black children. While the high school movement substantially narrowed gender gaps in labor market outcomes, it also widened existing race- and class-based disparitie

Earlier ADHD diagnosis linked to better education

A new study from Finland reveals that receiving an ADHD diagnosis earlier rather than later is associated with better academic performance and lower school dropout rates.

Young people diagnosed earlier with ADHD had a higher grade point average at age 16, were more likely to pursue academic degrees, and had a lower likelihood of school dropout by age 20 than those who were diagnosed towards the end of compulsory education.

In the study, 580,132 individuals born in Finland between 1990 and 1999 were followed until age 20, using high-quality national registry data. Age at first ADHD diagnosis was identified with the first record of clinical diagnosis or ADHD medication purchase between ages 4 and 20.

The study found that boys typically received an ADHD diagnosis earlier than girls. Boys were diagnosed more often in primary school, whereas the diagnoses increased among girls after age 13.

"Reasons for the sex differences in the age at diagnosis have been explained by differing ADHD traits observed in boys and girls. Easily detectable hyperactive and impulsive behaviours are more typical among boys, while girls’ ADHD traits may be less visible," explains doctoral researcher Lotta Volotinen from the University of Helsinki.

Early ADHD diagnosis is often recommended, as previous studies have suggested that treatment can improve short-term educational outcomes. However, the current study is the first to show differences in later educational attainment by age at ADHD diagnosis at the population level.

"Our findings support the recommendations for a timely diagnosis of ADHD. However, further research is needed to confirm a causal relationship between age at diagnosis and educational outcomes," states Volotinen.

Poorest educational outcomes for those diagnosed in adolescence

The study also found that girls and boys diagnosed between ages 13 and 16 had the poorest educational outcomes, with close to one-third not studying or having completed any upper secondary education by age 20. This may increase the risk of long-term unemployment and social exclusion.

"It is crucial that young people who are diagnosed with ADHD in adolescence are also provided with the necessary support to continue their studies after compulsory education," emphasizes Volotinen.

The study was published in the prestigious journal JAMA Psychiatry.

 

Kids most in need of dental care least likely to benefit from school programs

 

Children who don’t go to the dentist are less likely to participate in school-based cavity prevention programs, according to research published in JAMA Network Open.

“Our study suggests that children who may need these services the most are the ones least likely to receive them,” said health economist and study author Shulamite Huang, an assistant professor of epidemiology and health promotion at NYU College of Dentistry.

In addition, the study found that improving participation in state-wide school dental programs to reach those at high risk for tooth decay could yield significant savings for state Medicaid programs and health care systems, averting up to $2.4 million in emergency department charges annually in New York. 

Children miss more than 34 million hours of school each year to receive emergency dental care. In recent years, hospitals have seen a sharp increase in emergency room visits for pediatric dental issues. 

To prevent tooth decay and the related pain and infections that land kids in the ER, some schools offer cavity prevention programs. New York State recently announced a $10 million initiative to expand access to school-based dental programs and improve children’s oral health.

Research shows that school dental programs, which use non-invasive treatments like sealants, are effective at preventing cavities. But parents must opt in for their kids to receive care in school, and it’s unclear if these programs reach those who are most in need. 

Huang and her colleagues evaluated data from more than 63,000 children living in the Bronx and covered by Medicaid, including more than 1,000 children who participated in school-based cavity prevention programs in local elementary schools. They looked at Medicaid claims data to see whether children had visited a dentist outside of school or received emergency dental care.

 The researchers found that kids who already had a history of dental care were more likely to participate in school-based cavity prevention programs. In contrast, children with no prior dental visits were 18 percent less likely to participate in these programs. Children with a history of dental emergencies (and probably at high risk for tooth decay) were also less likely to participate in school-based programs. 

The researchers then calculated the potential cost savings of expanding school-based dental care across New York State and improving participation among the children most at risk for tooth decay. They estimate that optimizing recruitment to enroll high-need children in school programs could save the state up to $2.4 million annually in dental-related emergency department costs (not including dental care related to accidents or injuries).

“This has staggering implications for Medicaid costs,” said Huang. “As New York expands access to school-based dental care, improving recruitment strategies and reorienting outreach to high risk-children could save the state millions and offset some of the costs of expanding care.”

For toddlers active play w/parents, limit screen time and sufficient sleep= active lifestyle

 The numbers are sobering: nearly 80 per cent of the world's teenagers don't get enough physical activity, according to the World Health Organization. But a new longitudinal study from Université de Montréal suggests the seeds of that sedentary lifestyle — or an active one — may be sown much earlier than anyone realized. Like when a child is two and a half years old.

Led by doctoral researcher Kianoush Harandian and UdeM psycho-education professor Linda S. Pagani, in collaboration with internationally recognized physical activity expert Dr. Mark Tremblay of the University of Ottawa, the study finds that three simple movement habits in toddlerhood — active play with parents, limited screen time and sufficient sleep — significantly predict a more physically active lifestyle a full decade later.

"When we analyzed the data, we found that fewer than one child in ten naturally met all three daily movement recommendations: active play, limited screens and enough sleep," said Harandian. "And yet these early habits matter enormously. They lay the foundation for how children will choose to spend their time as adolescents."

Nearly 1,700 children, followed for over a decade

The study draws on data from 1,668 children — 849 boys and 819 girls — enrolled in the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development (QLSCD), a population-based cohort of children born in 1997–98 and coordinated by the Institut de la statistique du Québec.

At age 2.5, parents reported how often they engaged in active leisure with their child, how much time the child spent in front of screens each day — television, video, computers and video games — and how long the child slept on average, naps included. Those same children were then surveyed at age 12 about their outdoor play habits and physical activity levels during leisure time.

To rule out alternative explanations, the researchers controlled for a wide range of factors that could influence the results: the child's temperament, body mass index and neurocognitive abilities, as well as maternal depressive symptoms, education level, family structure and household income, among others. Analyses were conducted separately for boys and girls to account for their distinct developmental trajectories.

What sets this study apart

The question of whether early childhood habits predict adolescent lifestyle is not new. But the scientific evidence, until now, has been thin. Most previous studies offered only a snapshot in time, without following children over the long term.

What distinguishes this research is the strength of its case: a representative population cohort, more than ten years of follow-up, rigorous controls for individual and family factors, and sex-specific analysis. Together, these elements make it possible, for the first time, to say with confidence that movement habits formed at age 2.5 have measurable ripple effects a decade down the road.

Habits that hold — ten years on

The results are striking. Children who played actively with a parent every day, or who spent fewer than an hour in front of a screen, were significantly more physically active at the start of adolescence.

Concretely, each additional "good" movement habit at age 2.5 was associated with roughly five more minutes of outdoor play per day at age 12 — for both boys and girls. Among girls, active play, limited screen time and adequate sleep at two and a half were also linked to higher levels of leisure-time physical activity at greater intensity and frequency.

These associations held up even after accounting for all pre-existing individual and family factors — which substantially strengthens the findings.

"Active parent-child time — playing, moving, being physically engaged together — appears to be the single most powerful lever for establishing healthy long-term habits," said Harandian. "Those shared experiences help children associate movement with enjoyment, motivation and routine."

Girls in early adolescence: a window of particular vulnerability

The findings also illuminate a troubling reality: at adolescence, girls are especially at risk of becoming sedentary. By age 12, only 14.9 per cent of girls in the cohort were considered active in their leisure time, compared with 24.5 per cent of boys. By limiting their daughter's screen time early and engaging actively in her play, parents appear to lower the barriers to an active lifestyle — and plant the seeds of lasting physical engagement.

A clear message for families and policymakers

"Family habits breed individual habits across a child's entire development," said Pagani. "By encouraging active play, setting boundaries around screens and prioritizing quality sleep from the earliest years, parents exert a durable, measurable influence on their children's long-term well-being."

The study calls for broader dissemination of WHO guidelines for children under five — at least 180 minutes of physical activity per day, no more than one hour of sedentary screen time, and 11 to 14 hours of sleep — and makes the case for hospitals, schools and public health organizations to target family lifestyle habits from the very start.

About the study

"Active Parent–Child Leisure, Sedentariness, and Sleep in Toddlerhood Promise Later Active Lifestyle in Early Adolescence"