Students with disabilities are among the students who need increased access to qualified mental health counselors in schools. Programs that increase training and understanding of other school staff often offer value, but are not a substitute for greater access to qualified mental health staff on campuses. Additionally, while remote counseling programs may offer a valuable resource for increasing access to counselors in schools that don’t have them, it is inadequate to assess dangerousness or threat without.
Unfortunately, proposals involving increased criminal justice involvement in schools are likely to have a disproportionately harmful impact on students with disabilities. Students with disabilities are even more likely to be misunderstood than their peers, increasing the need to rely on sound threat assessments that help differentiate between substantive threats and other behaviors. In most cases, rushing to psychiatric hospitalization or criminalization is unnecessary and inappropriate. But, that doesn’t mean action isn’t needed. Students with disabilities are often victims of bullying, which can be a cause of school violence. Those root causes need to be addressed.