Are the Health Services for Children with Special Health Care Needs Met

The Maternal and Child Health Bureau recognizes children with special health care needs (CSHCN) as “those with chronic physical, developmental, behavioral, or emotional conditions that require health and related services of a type or amount beyond that required of children generally ” (Kuhlthau et al., p.136). These children may need medication, medical care, mental or educational services, or special therapy in order to maintain functionality (Houtrow, Okumura, Hilton, & Rehm, 2011). Nationally, 98 % of children attend school daily and 16 % of those students have additional healthcare needs (DurRant, Gibbons, Poole, Suessmann, & Wyckoff, 2010). In North Carolina, 195,416 students with one or more disabilities are enrolled in the 2013-2014 school year (“Exceptional children”, 2013). Federal law requires schools to adapt their services to accommodate children with special needs, but many schools struggle to adapt programs because of costs associated with personnel and resources (Murphy & Carbone, 2008). Seventy-five percent of elementary, middle, and high schools nationwide exempted students with disabilities from activities primarily due to their cognitive or physical disabilities (Murphy & Carbone, 2008). Therefore, CSHCN are more likely to have unfavorable outcomes in school such as repeating grade, lack of engagement, and increased absences when school services are not fully available to them (Reuben & Pastor, 2013). It is important to understand how schools provide comprehensive programs for CSHCN in order to improve both their academic and health outcomes