A Scoping Review of School-Based Sexuality Education for Children With Disabilities

Abstract

Individuals with disabilities often have limited access to school-based sexuality education (SE). This scoping review identified the characteristics of school-based SE intervention programs implemented for students with disabilities. Six electronic databases were searched for peer-reviewed articles: 30 articles published between 1969 and 2020 met inclusion criteria. Some interventions included children from multiple disability categories (n = 6) or were unclear about disability diagnoses (n = 3). Other interventions focused on specific disabilities, including intellectual and developmental disability (n = 8), learning disability (n = 4), autism (n = 3), physical disability (n = 3), emotional disturbance (n = 2), and hearing impairment (n = 1). Topics of instruction included comprehensive sexuality education (n = 8), the human body (n = 8), safety (n = 8), hygiene and menstrual care (n = 6), and social and relationship skills (n = 5). Few studies addressed students’ intersectional identities.