ODD is overdiagnosed in Black and brown children. It doesn't explain their behavior. It blames them for it.

School reports are shaped by racism. Anger and adultification bias lead to misdiagnosis of Black children.

Parents have the right to ask providers how they use school reports. If they can't answer, that matters.

The first time I met Micah, a Black elementary school student, I was struck by his cherubic face, bright eyes, and nonstop knock-knock jokes that had me laughing out loud. He was warm and polite. His grandmother sat close by, gently encouraging his respectful tone. She described him as responsible and kind, and everything I saw affirmed that.

So I was puzzled—then troubled—by his school's mental health referral. Teachers had described him as a "behavior challenge" and asked for help managing his "defiance." His school records even falsely claimed his mother was a cocaine addict. None of it matched the child in front of me.

As I got to know him, the real story came out: Micah had watched his father collapse and die, and had tried to resuscitate him before help arrived. His grief had been misread as misconduct.

This is not an unusual story. And it raises a question every parent deserves to ask: What is your child's mental health provider actually doing with the information they receive from their school?

Schools are not neutral sources of information

Working with schools is a hallmark of child mental health. What is not standard is questioning whether that information is accurate, fair, or free from bias.

For Black children and other children of color, bias shows up in the following ways:

Anger bias leads teachers and other adults to misperceive Black children as angry, even when they're not—and their behavior is labeled accordingly.

Anger bias leads teachers and other adults to misperceive Black children as angry, even when they're not—and their behavior is labeled accordingly.

Adultification bias leads Black children to be seen as less innocent and more adult when compared to their white peers.

Adultification bias leads Black children to be seen as less innocent and more adult when compared to their white peers.

Overpunishment and the school-to-prison........

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