Exposure to potentially traumatic life events in children with special needs.

A series of studies of potentially-traumatic life-events (PTLE) in children and youth with special needs (CSN) was conducted after parents of 102 CSN from interdisciplinary pediatric clinics listed PTLE at significantly higher rates on the Pediatric Emotional Distress Scale (PEDS) compared to parents 58 students with no diagnoses. Subsequent studies replicated this disparity in 213 5-15 year-olds sampled through school-distributed parent PTLE checklists instead of PEDS. Results from school samples suggested significantly more PTLE in CSN, t (211) = -3.