Abstract

The thought behind this research study was to explore the basic reasons for the over-identification of children in the special education department in Punjab. The population for the study was honorable teachers and the professionals working in this department. The research tool developed was a questionnaire created to record the opinions of the special education professionals and teaching staff against the tentative reasons. The sample who participated and provided their valuable opinions were 249 teaching staff and professionals from all over Punjab. The major reasons for the over-identification of children recorded are professional inefficiency, poor family background, some behavioral, Social or Psychological issues, Substandard diagnostic process, Shortage of human resources, Mis-evaluation of the poor health of the student, and lack of strong advocacy by a professional organization to reduce over-identification. Key recommendations made by the researchers are aware of the identification process, hiring the professionals, and timely and updated training should be conducted to reduce the over-identification of children in Special education in Punjab.

Key Words

Identification, Over-Identification, Special Education, Reasons of Over Identification, Under-Identification, Policy of Special Education, Children with Special Needs, Disabilities in Pakistan, SED Punjab

Introduction

When a racial or traditional group has a higher presence in special education than in the general population, this is referred to as "over-identification." It must differentiate from 'over-identification,' in which cases a child is inadequately disabled and put in special education. This includes over-identification (Maydosz, 2014).

Over-identification is perhaps the most significant and discussable issue in special education, especially in Pakistan. Plenty of students are distinguished as they need special education in our special schools, yet some of them are those students who are extremely difficult to separate from ordinary children. These are the students who are being over-distinguished. This welcomes an exceptionally negative effect on the youngster just as at school and society at a more significant level. In special education, over-identification resembles obstruction. It very well may be found in the number of cases in districts and different schools. Over-identification creates extraordinary separation for everybody. Students with special requirements couldn't get their proper administration because of this issue. It likewise causes social issues in students and labels the students with the particular disgrace that totally influences school exercises. The students who are over-identified couldn't appropriately utilize the current assets, and staff additionally need overtime for these students (Pino, 2012).

Children from culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) families are being over-identified with special education. Unconscious prejudice toward certain ethnic cultures, inadequate placement tests, and insufficient reading exposure at home, according to previous studies, lead to over-identification of CLD in special education. Furthermore, the special education recognition and diagnosis paradigm fail to detect disabilities in a timely manner; to apply for special education programs such as Learning Disability, students must "fall significantly behind their peers in academic achievement" (Fuchs & Fuchs, 2006).

One specific trouble in the process of identification is that students with special needs' common advancement isn't considered when choosing whether or not their advancement might be sufficient. The student will, in general, be thought about in companions instead of against different offspring of the equivalent ordered age. For a student with special needs beginning school, being brought into the world toward the finish of the scholarly year can make them 20% more youthful than a student brought into the world toward the start of the scholarly year. This implies that their social and scholastic abilities will all be a lot lower as though they had general formative defer had they been a similar age as the most established student with special needs. This leads to a checked month of birth (MOB) impact on the identification proof of a student with SEN (Crawford et al., 2011).

The study was to identify the reasons for identification in special education in Pakistan. It provides a base to overcome reasons for a future researcher in the life field. The study also explores the effects of identifications. The major objective of the research study is to recognize the reasons for over-identification of children in special education in Pakistan. Moreover, this research was conducted to provide the answer to the following questions; 1) what is the reason that progress of special education children is not at the level that is expected, or for what investment has been made? 2) what are the blemishes left behind during the process of identification of children in special education in Pakistan? and 3) what are the after-effects of over-identification of children?

Literature Review

Identification

Identification requires that we fail to recall on one's own and look right at the others that we assumed for ourselves to associate with the presence of our identification. Freud (1989) explained identification as a senseless visionary procedure that outcome from the psychological process due to the oedipal complex, remuneration, the loss of object affection, envy, or humiliation. It is a procedure that concludes in the form of cognition and emotional nature in which individuals do not acknowledge of him or themselves as an audience members.  It is a process that might be started from production features that adopt the individuals to acquire character's aspect (Wilson, 1993), an individual's tenderness for a particular character (Cohen, 2007).  Results of Identification would be enlarged in liking or simulation but also revolve around the negative impacts. The concept of identification would be useful to differentiate the relationship that individuals evolved with them (Cohen, 2001). 




Under-Identification

Students behaving outstanding in their current setting are over-identified, and behaving below the average is under-identification. The effects of under-identification are the same as over-Identification in the progress and learning development of the student with special needs. Under-identification is a condemning issue in emotionally disturbed students in the world. Because the actual cause of emotionally disturbed students is not identified easily. So, most of the students with EBD are under-identified. Due to under-identification, the student cannot chase his goal in his life. Reasons for under-identification are (Landrum & Kauffman, 2013).  

? Absence of teacher criterion 

? The test system of identification is poor 

? Student aim

While some researchers have reported a hardly any case that they examine incorrect or effective (Klingner et al., 2006), a huge number of researchers certified and committed that a great number of students identified by the school identification committee having emotional behavior disorders do they are affected by different impairments in behavioral, academic, and social issues (Mundschenk, & Simpson, 2014).




Over Identification

Over identification of the students with special needs for special education is harmful to mutually the unlawfully and lawfully recognized learners. Improperly identified students are disconnected from their common education peers, everywhere they may not have the right of entry to inspiring theoretical morals. This also proliferates caseloads, manufacturing it stiffer to sufficiently serve lawfully recognized students. The over-identification of students with special needs for special education has been the main matter among teachers and special education experts. (Dr. Frances Stetson debated it in her greatest current webinar with Presence Learning). The matter is smooth existence observed at the central equal. The U.S. Department of Education has controlled below Part B of the IDEA that situations are obligatory to use a normal approach to measuring and reportage the demonstration and over-representation Districts must also address areas of over-and under-identification (Stetson, 2017). 




Difference between Under-identification and Over-identification

In the United States, there is overwhelming concern about the dilemma of either overidentifying learners or either under identifying learners. It is sometimes judged by their academic progress if it is not quite enough as other children, and they may have some behavioral issues as well as some linguistic issues. So, they often are referred for special education evaluation. They are evaluated by the people who are quite qualified but have not had much experience around working with learners and can automatically happen that students can be misidentified disproportionately having the disability toward one swing of the pendulum as over-identifying having a disability and then the pendulum swings exactly the opposite direction which is maybe it not have any disability, but the student may have some language issues that lead to under-identification. The student has been challenged in school, and he is misjudged by the less experienced professionals toward under-identification or over-identification (Zacarian, 2011).




Effects of Over-identification in Different Disabilities

Over-identification of children for special needs education has diverse effects on the life of children socially and educational outcomes. Students having low achievements generally get benefits in this sitting having good performance in this siting but later on the drawbacks are much more which adversely ruins the lives of children when he is exposed to the bitter reality of life facing community. Majorly at-risk children are more suspected of getting over-identification during the process of identification (Cohen, 2007).




Process of Identification

The main purpose of identification is to facilitate the child with some sort of disability to the special services provided by the Government, which is the right of this person because he is unable to compete in the world in a normal setting and normal environment. There is a proper process which is followed by the world, or we can say followed by developed countries to judge that either the child needs special services or not. This process is discussed below (US Department of Education, 2000).

1. If the parents or the school teacher feels that the child is not normal or has some sort of disability, then the parents of the children will move forward with a written application to the Special Education department for proper identification.

2. There is a multi-disciplinary team according to the disability of the child

3. in each school to identify the child and the level of severity.

4. The multidisciplinary team accessed the data of the child and his academic record (if any) and all the strategies and interventions attempted for the child.

5. After the suitable evaluation of the child's disability, it is decided to facilitate the child with special needs if he or she is found eligible.




Resources of Identification

Families and parents are the key resources that play an active and important role in the identification of the child as a need of some sort of special services with the help of professional which use standard procedures to identify the child. Professionals act like a team in which parents are also involved to assess the real needs or services of the special children. The child may need special services in different areas like how the children think (cognitive development), physical issues, hearing and vision issues, language and communication issues, emotional development issues, and adaptive skills issues (Mensah & Badu-Shayar 2016). 




Screening Tests to Identify the Special Needs of Students

There are some standard tests used at different ages of children to identify the special needs. Some of the important and frequently used screening tests in the world are discussed below (Smith, 2005).




Screening of Children for Reading

Reading to Learn (A Dyslexia Screener): This assessment is done by the teachers and reading specialists and also accompanied by the psychologists.

Pre-Reading Inventory of Phonological Awareness (PIPA): This phonological awareness is done by the teachers in the schools.

Early Reading Diagnostic Assessment (ERDA): This assessment is done by the teachers for the children of Grades 3. 

Early Reading Success Indicator (ERSI): These indicators are used by the Psychologists and Educational diagnosticians in the schools for the children of ages 5 to 10. 




Screening of Children for Developmental Delays

Greenspan Social-Emotional Growth Chart (GSEGC): This chart is used by the teachers and specialists for children of ages 0 to 3.5 years. It is used to indicate developmental deficits in children.

First STEp/primer PASO: Specialists use this test for children of ages 3 to 6 years which indicates the cognition, social-emotional, communication, and adaptive behavior of children. 




Screening for Language Delays

Bracken School Readiness: This test is used to identify underlying language deficits by specialists for children of ages 2.5 to 8 years. 

Pre-school Language Scale (PLS): This test evaluates the early language development for the ages of children 0 to 7 years.




Screening for Behavior Discrepancies 

Brown Attention Deficit Disorder Scales: These scales are used by the Child assessment specialists and psychologists for the children of ages 3 years to adulthood stage for the evaluation of ADHD / ADD. 

Adaptive Behavior Assessment System (ABAS): This test is used by Specialists and school psychologists for children of ages 0 years to adulthood stage. It determines the social, conceptual, and adaptive behavior of children. 




Reasons for Identification

The various reasons for this over-identification and some are following; (Panagos, 2013)

1. Professional in-efficiency: Professional in-efficiency is one of the greatest vital reasons for over-identification. Because professional is not efficient and up to date according to the need of the children with special needs. They could not identify the level of disability and judge the exact placement of the children with special needs, and students are over-identified. The field of special education in Pakistan is not well equipped to provide proper channel and professional for the identification process.   

2. Poor government policies toward the person with special needs in Pakistan: The policy system for the person with special needs in Pakistan is very unfortunate. Different policies are assumed for the person or student with special needs, like the national policy for persons with disabilities (2002,) the national plan of action for the person with disabilities (2006), special citizens Act (2008,2009). All these policies are not specified to correct the method of identification of a student with special needs. Because there is an immense difference between the mind of policymakers and the ground realities, so, this has become the reason for over-identification. For example, most of the autistic children are not identified accurately in our special education system and any policy. 

3. At-risk students: All those students with special needs who are at risk is mostly over-identified, like low vision student is identified as complete blind, and driller level of MCC student is identified as sever level of MCC, and the same procedure is functional in hearing-impaired students.

4. Behavioral, Social or Psychological issues: In Pakistan, the behavior of the society toward the person with special needs is not respectable. So, this performance is creating social and psychological issues for the student with special needs and their families also. Families feel overprotected in this situation and children. This becomes the reason for over-identification (Sattler & Hoge, 2006).   

5. Privation of responsiveness of international standards: International standards are not meeting the national standards because there is a huge difference between the lifestyle and social activities of each social setup; this situation is also one of the major reasons for over-identification.

6. Over-placement of minority students: Over-placement of the minority student is one of the reasons for over-identification (Arnold & Lassmann, 2003)  

7. Poor family background: Socio financial state of Pakistan is not virtuous, so the scarceness level of the families is exact in height when parents receive the child with special needs didn't deliver the conveniences of medical and appropriate treatment, thus sapper disability is not measured at the right time than the disability level is upsurge and child is plummet in sever disable category. So, lack of money becomes the reason for over-identification.   

8. Lack of timely treatment: Timely treatment of disability is necessary for the student with a disability. But in Pakistan, the ratio of population is very high. Mother has more than seven to eight babies and they don't take interest in the health of a child individually especially those children are at the stage of miner disability due to lack of mother interest and facilities reach sever level of disability and over-identified in our school.   

9. Low confidence and shyness of children: A student with special needs is typically shy and confused. This confusion is due to illiterate society's behavior and torture. The student didn't show any ability during the identification, and the student would be over-identified (Coveney, 2019).  

10. Administrative pressure over the professional team: These days, schools of special education are facing a different type of pressure from the department to increase the strength of the student with special needs and enrolled the maximum students; this pressure is create over-identification. 

11. Substandard diagnostic process: The diagnostic process for the student with special needs is local at the school level. Admission of the student with special needs is depending on the reports of the doctor and the medical specialist standard diagnostic process is not available in the current special education system, and student with special needs is over-identified.

12. Over-lapping of disability symptoms: Some students appear with multiple disabilities, but the system of Pakistan couldn't identify hidden disabilities. Symptoms of different disabilities are the same as a student with learning disabilities is completely over-identified in Pakistan. Because there is no tool for the assessment of a student with learning disabilities.

13. Shortage of human resources: Human resources are the group of persons who prepare the staff that can control an organization. The shortage of human resources could cause over-identification.

14. Disable siblings: Disable siblings have become the major cause of over-identification because if the child has some minor psychological problems, but it is considered a major disability due to his/her disabled sibling

15. The communication gap between the child, professional team, and parents: There is no proper system of meetings for communication between the professional team and parents in Pakistan. And through this screening process of a child, this communication gap causes over-identification of a child (Anastasiou & Polychronopoulou, 2009). 

16. Lack of variety of valid and computerized testing procedures: In Pakistan, there are no proper testing procedures. And lack of variety of valid and authentic procedures of computerized testing is also a cause to over-identification of a child.

17. Acquisitive parents about benefits of disability: Parents have no awareness about the benefits of disability and policies that are made for the rights of the disabled child. 

18. Mis-evaluation of the poor health of the student: Evaluation is a process in which decisions are taken. So, misevaluation of a child about his health issues also leads to over-identification   

19. Lack of up-to-date inclinations of identification of children with disabilities: It is very necessary to have updated inclinations in the identification process for a child with a disability, but unluckily there are no updated inclinations in Pakistan that cause over-identification (Barnes & Mercer, 2010).

20. The gap of cultural difference: Cultural differences are the various beliefs, actions, languages, and applies of a community. The cultural differences gaps change the thoughts or opinions of people about disability that become the cause of over-identification.    

21. Missing professional efficacy: Efficacy is the capacity to achieve a task to an anticipated degree, but this efficacy is missing in professionals that are the main cause of over-identification in Pakistan. 

22. Continuing misidentification of children: Continuous misidentification of a child due to untrained staff could cause over-identification. 

23. Malpractices of over-identification: Negligence to work out a regular degree of professional expertise or wisdom by one (such as a doctor) interpreting professional services which result in damage, harm, or loss.  All of these malpractices could be led to over-identification.

24. Lack of strong advocacy: In Pakistan, no sound arises in the favor of the disabled child and no one strongly advocates all these. This poor advocacy also causes over-identification 

25. Out of date and incorrect portfolio: Sometimes portfolios of students become the reason for over-Identification of children if it is out of date or incorrect in the record.

26. No child left behind the pressure: IDEA states that NCLB (No child left behind) policy should be strictly followed which sometimes exerts pressure on the identification team to over-identify the suspected children for special education.

27. Deficiency of lab work facilities: Unfortunately, in Pakistan, there is no lab work or fieldwork due to which we produce educated people, not professionals. This is also a cause of over-identification of children due to non-professionalism. 

28. Dearth of Expertise: There is a significant difference between professionals and experts. The deficiency of experts in the field caused the misdiagnosis of children for special education.

29. An inadequate number of specialists: There must be adequate numbers of specialists in the identification team; otherwise, it is solicitous that over-identification will be done.

30. Inadequate professional training: Training plays an important role to nourish the professional's specialties in their fields. If inadequate professional training is done, then the outcome may come in the shape of over-identification (Anastasiou & Polychronopoulou, 2009).

31. Incorrect eligibility criteria: Eligibility criteria should be very clear, and they should clearly define the rules that who will be declared as a special person. Incorrect eligibility criteria may mislead the professionals and could cause the over-identification. 

32. Classifying children too early: Classifying the children too early could mislead the identification process and could cause over-identification of students.

33. Nonexistence of acquaintance: Lack of knowledge about the identification process could also cause the over-identification of children.

34. Lack of Sensitivity of parents: Parents are the key personnel to the children who can earliest identify the child and guide the identification process. Lack of sensitivity of parents could over-identify the children. 

35. Defective instruments or computer: If the instruments used in the diagnostic process or computers are defective then this could mislead the specialists toward over-identification. 

36. Govt. pressure to enroll children in special education: Sometimes, the policies of the Government pressurize the identification team to increase the number of students in special education, which could cause over-identification (Artiles et al., 2002).

37. Illiterate maternities: If the parents or caretakers of children are illiterate, then it is most likely to occurs that child is not getting the appropriate care as needed. So, it could be one of the reasons which could lead the child toward over-identification. 

In the view of Greek law, children with specific learning disabilities have the upright to be inspected of spoken communication all educational activities through high school and also participate in a competitive process, and apply for a high level of education. If schools provide facilities and modify the school environment according to the needs of the student with specific learning disabilities, then the student performs well and well like other non-disabled peers.

 The study sample of over-identification of specific learning disabilities contains 106 adults conference diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorder standard for SLD. Data was composed through records and self-reports, and case record information. That information consists of cognitive and learning evaluation. Most of the participants raise academic problems concerning different types of exams as the leading direction of the learning process (Goldstein et al., 2011).

The major kinds of specific learning disabilities (SLD)are the actual hindrances in reading, writing patterns, and counting pattern expression. After concluding, the studies of common female sampling show more ratio involved in mental illness. Therefore, as a result, their marriages lead to raising the male children population with specific learning disabilities (Goldstein et al., 2011).

To a worldwide extent, a job is necessary for a person with disabilities. Different researches have stated that three in four people with specific learning disabilities are finalized high school with the involvement of the special education department (Cortiella & Horowitz, 2014).

Braxton (2017) discussed the detail of over-identification in his article named "Over-Identification of special Education Students". He also explained why the students are sometimes not able to show their best in the setting where they exist because they are over-identified in this setting. Another hand in the article named "Identifying special educational needs: Putting a new framework for graded learning support to the test" which is written by seven authors in the leadership of Joseph Lebeer in November 2010 which describes the new way to the assessment of a special education need of children by a field test which is not directly determined medically but a new classification of the matrix. They resulted that about 20% of children in primary school age need special education services. (Reschly, 1997). 

Over-Identification is the major issue in special education as this labels the person with a disability in the mild to severe category. Its impact affects the student’s abilities and not has tried to give a chance for any opportunities to raise the tag. It's also refused the student's betterment in education as well as in their lives. But we must know how to find out the basic reasons for this type of stigmatization. Firstly, we understand what the process of over-identification is and how it is calculated (Reschly, 1997). 

Research Methodology

Research Design

In this paper, the researcher uses a quantitative method and questionnaire to collect information about the problem of over-identification effects of over-identification on a person with disabilities in Pakistan. The questionnaire was used to square the information of the teachers towards the problem of over-identification and checked the knowledge of teachers about the over-identification.it consists of different articles assortments and studied the over-identification.    

 

Population

The target population for this research is the overall special education institutions and teachers serving the special children. The registered data in special education Schools shows that hearing impairment children occupy the largest group (58%) tailed by “MRC” (20%), “slow learners” (8%), “VIC" (8%), and "PHC” (6%) (Figure.1). Data on comparative registration by disability is charted in the diagram below.




 

Table 1.

Categories of Children with Disabilities in Pakistan	Percentage
Hearing Impaired Children	58 %
Visually Impaired Children	8 %
Physically Handicapped Children	6 %
Mentally Challenged Children	20 %
Slow Learner Children	8%

 




In our target population, there is a total of 118 schools, including 18 schools for visually impaired children, 14 schools are mentally challenged children, 45 institutes for Hearing-impaired children, 5 schools for Physically disabled children, and 36 institutes for slow learner children. These institutes are spread out throughout Punjab and serving children with special needs. If we take 15 teachers per institute then there are about 1770 teachers which are our target population.

Sample & Sampling

The type of sample of this descriptive study is random sampling. Random sampling is probability sampling. The sample of the study consists of 316 teachers from Punjab institutions as mentioned population. The sample is calculated online keeping the confidence level 95%, the margin of error 5%, and population proportion 50% for the total size of population which is 1770.

 

Instrumentation

There were no hard and fast tools for this study, So researchers have designed a questionnaire under the supervision of experts in this field. This questionnaire contains two sections, the first section is the demographic and the second one is tentative reasons for Over-identification in special education. The demographic section contains the information about the personnel who is filling the questionnaire such as name, profession, gender, income, academic and professional qualification and nature of the job, etc. The second section contains the questions about the reasons for over-identification. There is a total of 40 items validated by connoisseurs of the pertinent field. The questionnaire was established on a five-point Likert scale to grow qualitative data. SPSS software was used for quantitative data analysis. 

Data Collection & Analysis

Table 2.

Demographics of Sample
Category	Respondents	Frequency (f)	Percentage (%)
Gender
	Male	75	30
	Female	174	70
	Total	249	100
Designation of the Respondents
	SET	122	49
	JSET	84	34
	Educator	16	6
	Lecturer	1	0
	Psychologist	19	8
	Audiometrist	3	1
	Speech Therapist	4	2
	Total	249	100
Area of disability
	Hearing Impaired	96	39
	Visually Impaired	43	17
	Mentally Retarded	54	22
	Physically Handicapped	36	14
	Slow Learner	18	7
	Psychology	2	1
	Total	249	100
School is in Rural or Urban Area
	Rural	68	28
	Urban	181	72
	Total	249	100
Academic Qualification of the Respondent
	Master	209	84
	M.Phil.	40	16
	Total	249	100
Monthly Income of Respondent
	20,000-40,000	14	6
	40,000-60,000	106	42
	60,000-80,0000	87	35
	80,000-100,000	42	17
	Total	249	100
Any Disability in Family
	Yes	44	18
	No	205	82
	Total	249	100

 




Table showed the description of demographic variables. Frequency analysis had shown that both males and females were included in the study and their distribution was not equal. There was an extremely overall quite sure reaction from the good teachers of the Special Education Department. Absolute respondents were 249 in which there were 248 substantial respondents who gave the full data as asked in the poll however, just a single respondent has missing data. On the off chance that we talk about the sex of respondents, there was an enormous number of females due to about 70% of portrayal of females in this division. Of these legitimate respondents of 248, there were 173 females and 75 guys. The females' reaction with respect to this poll was about 70% of the all-out reaction while the 30% reaction was determined by the guys.

 Then again, in the event that we talk about the classification of assignments, a productive outcome is found on the grounds that practically all the experts partook in presenting their reaction. SSET's, JSET's, Educators, Lecturers, Psychologists, Audiometrists, and Speech therapists have recorded their reactions. The significant amount who reacted was senior special education teachers which were 121 out of 248, which is 48%, and minimal number of respondents was lecturers because of few quantities of schools and least staff.

In the event that we talk about the deviation of reactions with respect to zones or locale, there are likewise extremely sure numbers on the grounds that the portrayal of regions was amazing as 32 areas out of an absolute 36. Through this, we can catch that the general contemplations of special education staff are resolved. Teachers from all regions of inability took an interest in the reaction wherein the most reaction recoded by the teachers of Hearing Impaired which likewise mirror the enormous number of Hearing weakened staff in Punjab. A short time later, the reaction was recorded by MCC teachers and afterward VIC teachers.

The reaction of Schools and Centres was additionally exceptionally acceptable. The complete number of Centres' portrayal was 165 and the school's portrayal was 77. The rate for Centres is 66% while for schools it was 31%. 71 % reaction of test determined was from metropolitan zones while 26% reaction was recorded from schools or Centres from country zones. 39 respondents were M.Phil. Degree holders who reacted likewise fortify the after-effects of the poll, while the 207 teachers who reacted were graduate degree holders in special education. From the aggregate, there were 44 respondents who have disabilities in their family. Their reaction has a key job since they are the people who can comprehend them well as a relative.




 

Table 3.

Frequency Distribution of Reasons for Over-identification of Children with Disabilities in Pakistan
S. No	Items	SA	UND	SDA	M	SD
1	You are familiar about the process of identification	239(96%)	7(2.8%)	3(1.2%)	4.30	.60
2	You know about the term over-identification	240(96.4%)	9(3.6%)	0(0%)	4.32	0.64
3	Professional in-efficiency is major reason of over-identification	230(92.4%)	19(7.6%)	0(0%)	4.22	0.04
4	Difference between of the Federal and Provincial policies in the world	184(74.2%)	44(17.7%)	21(8.14)	3.91	0.90
5	At-risk students are more susceptible	211(84.8%)	22(8.8%)	16(6.4%)	4.05	0.83
6	Some behavioral, Social or Psychological issues of children could mislead the professional team	238(95.6%)	11(4.4%)	0(0%)	4.23	0.76
7	Privation of responsiveness of international standards	188(75.5%)	50(20.1%)	11(4.4%)	3.98	0.85
8	Over-placement of minority students	176(70.7%)	30(12.0%)	43(17.3)	3.82	1.07
9	Poor family background of children which could lead the minor disability of children as severe	235(94.4%)	4(1.6%)	10(4%)	4.32	0.70
10	Lack of timely treatment before identification process in achieving education services	132(93.2%)	11(4.4%)	6(2.4%)	4.29	0.66
11	Low confidence and shyness of children/ student during the assessment	223(89.6%)	8(3.2%)	18(7.2%)	4.16	0.83
12	Administrative pressure over the professional team to provide benefits related disability	205(82.4%)	20(8.0%)	24(9.6%)	3.99	0.88
13	Substandard diagnostic process	203(81.6%)	30(12%)	16(6.4%)	4.04	0.86
14	Over-lapping of disability symptoms could mislead the identification team	233(93.6%)	5(2.0%)	11(4.4%)	4.2	0.72
15	Shortage of human resources	226(90.8%)	15(6.0%)	8(3.2)	4.27	0.72
16	Disable siblings (family history)	217(87.2%	18(7.2%)	14(5.6%)	4.09	0.79
17	Communication gap between the child, professional team and parents	233(93.5%)	8(3.2%)	5(2%)	4.09	0.79
18	Lack of variety of valid and computerized testing procedures	235(94.5%)	9(3.6%)	5(2.0%)	1.07	0.41
19	Acquisitive parents about benefits of disability	207(83.2%)	25(10%)	17(6.8)	4.04	0.85
20	Misevaluation of poor health of student	219(88%)	15(6.0%)	15(6%)	4.92	0.79
21	Lack of up-to-date inclinations of identification of children with disabilities	226(90.8%)	16(6.4%)	7(2.8%)	4.17	0.70
22	Gap of cultural difference leads to over-identification of children with disabilities.	190(77.6%)	23(9.2%)	36(13.2%)	957	0.06
23	Missing professional efficacy	225(90%)	10(4.4%)	14(5.6%)	4.12	0.77
24	Continuing misidentification of children already placed in special education	219(77%)	9(3%)	21(20%)	4.09	0.84
25	Malpractices of over-identification of children with disability	217(87.2%)	20(8.0%)	12(4.8%)	4.92	0.78
26	Lack of strong advocacy by professional organization to reduce over-identification	215(85.5%)	22(8.8%)	12(4.8%)	4.15	0.80
27	Out of date and incorrect portfolio	216(84.7%)	29(11.6%)	4(5.6%)	4.15	0.80
28	No child left behind pressure and for best performance	197(79.2%)	29(11.6%)	23(9.2%)	4.0	0.95
29	Deficiency of lab work facilities in Pakistan	226(90.8%)	12(4.8%)	11(4.4%)	4.22	0.78
30	Dearth of expertise in field of special education	210(84.4%)	22(8.8%)	17(6.8%)	4.09	0.84
31	Inadequate number of specialists to make proper evaluation	220(88.4%)	13(5.2%)	16(6.4%)	4.15	0.82
32	Inadequate professional trainings to meet the needs of identification process according to need of time	222(89.2%)	18(7.2%)	9(3.6%)	4.21	0.74
33	Incorrect eligibility criteria formulation	208(83.6%)	21(8.4%)	20(8.0%)	4.07	0.85
34	Classifying children too early without trial intervention	209(83.9%)	18(7.2%)	22(8.9%)	4.05	0.56
35	Nonexistence of acquaintance about the placement of children	200(80.4%)	27(10.8%)	22(8.8%)	3.95	0.56
36	Lack of Sensitivity of parents toward children	224(90.0%)	8(3.2%)	17(6.8%)	4.17	0.83
37	Defective instruments or computer to check disability	211(84.8%)	18(7.2%)	20(8.0)	4.06	0.88
38	Govt. pressure to enroll children in special education leads to over-identification.	203(81.6%)	11(4.4%)	35(14%)	4.02	1.04
39	Illiterate maternities lead to over-identification of children with disabilities.	199(79.9%)	36(14.5%)	14(5.6%)	4.01	0.85
40	Lack of infrastructure leads to over-identification of children with disabilities.	203(81.6%)	30(12.0%)	16(6.4%)	4.04	0.83

 

Difference in the View among Teachers Almost the Reasons of Over-identification

Table 4. Difference in the View among Teachers Approximately the Reasons of Over-identification on the Basis of Gender

Gender	N	M	df	t	Sig.
Male	72	165.06	229	-.242	.388
Female	159	165.65	128
*P < .05 Level of Significance

 




The above table indicates that there is no significant difference in the view of the male and female respondents about the reasons of over-identification for the children with disabilities in the province of Punjab.




 

Table 5. Difference in the View among Teachers about the Reasons of Over-identification on the Basis of Type of Area in Urban or Rural (Independent Sample T-test)

Type of Area	N	M	S.D.	t	Sig.
Rural	58	159.65	16.23	-3.087	.522
Urban	168	167.40	16.56
*P < .05 Level of Significance

 




The above table indicates that there is no significant difference in the view of the rural area and the staff working male and female accused concerning the reasons of over-identification for the children with disabilities in the target province.




 

Table 6. Difference in the Opinion among Teachers about the Reasons of Over-identification on the Basis of Type of School or Centre (Independent Sample T-test)

School or Centre	N	M	S.D.	t	Sig.
School	71	170.92	17.07	3.329	.248
Centre	154	163.18	15.80
*P < .05 Level of Significance

 




The above table indicates that there is no significant difference in the opinion of the school and the staff working male and female accused concerning the reasons of over-identification for the children with disabilities in the target province.




 

Table 7. Difference in the Opinion among Teachers about the Reasons of Over-identification on the Basis of Academic Qualification (Independent Sample T-test)

Academic Type	N	M	S.D.	t	Sig.
Master	194	166.91	16.92	3.036	.126
M.Phil.	34	157.50	15.15
*P < .05 Level of Significance

 




The above table indicates that there is no significant difference in the view of the academic type of master the staff working male and female accused concerning the reasons of over-identification for the children with disabilities in the target province.

Findings & Conclusions

The motivation behind this study was to discover the purposes behind the over-identification of children with disabilities in the Special education department Punjab. For this reason, a survey was conducted on a five Likert scale including the potential purposes behind the over-identification of children with special needs. In this study to see the impression of teachers, psychologists, audiologists, and lecturers were included to pay their significant proposal about the reasons generated for over-identification in special education. Various assessments were recorded, yet the tendency of perspectives stayed in the courtesy of reason referenced in the survey. About 96% of teachers knew about the process of identification and the term over-identification. 92% of experts have concurred that professional in-efficiency is the fundamental explanation behind over-identification. 94.4% of teachers and different experts concurred that the poor family background of children is likewise an integral purpose behind over-identification in light of the fact that generally, the populace in Punjab has a place with poor families. 17.3% of experts differ that the situation of minority students is certifiably not a main reason behind over-identification in Punjab which demonstrates the positive conduct of Punjab toward minorities. To put it plainly, the overall reaction of experts stayed in the courtesy of reasons given by the researchers.

Discussion

This study was steered to analyze the reasons for over-identification in special education in Punjab. The researchers in the guidance of experts in the field of special education made a fruitful discussion at the explored and suggested reasons of over-identifications of children in special education in Punjab. Artiles et al. (2002) suggest that because poverty rate is higher among people, some experts argue this is the main basis of overrepresentation in special education. Poverty definitely may have a terrible influence on people's lives. Therefore, at the most general level, we ought to invest in poverty avoidance. The discussion of the study indicated that institutions did not have the proper training, lack of professionals, absence of awareness and policies regarding over-identification, illiterate parents with lack of interest in children with special needs as disability is the source of their stress. Lack of interest and traditional mindset of policymakers and difference between the ground reality and policies is a major reason for over-identification. In short, there is no policy and law which advocate the rights of children with special needs regarding over-identification. 

Recommendations

Against the explored reasons of over-identification of children in special education the researchers recommended the basic recommendations with the fruitful discussion of experts are discussed below;

1. Timely and subjective training are recommended to polish the competencies of professionals involved in the process of identification.

2. The strong coordination between the special education professionals and the medical professionals is needed.

3. After the first identification at the time of admission of children there must be a re-identification process of the children after a specific time period (e.g., 2 or 3 years) to recheck the severity of disability and should be compared with early identification results. 

Over-identification is a multi-faceted problem; thus, study is always more and better. Future investigations should be extensive, interdisciplinary, and exceed investment figures analysis. At least two broad areas should be the focus of efforts: (a) structural background and mediating forces and (b) particular special educational context and activities.

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