A special indicator of child well-being from the America's Children report shows that 12.3 percent of America's children from ages 5 through 17 have difficulty performing everyday activities, such as communicating, understanding school work, eating, dressing, and walking (see page 56 of the report).

At 10.6 percent, learning disabilities were the most common of these limitations. This indicator also shows that 5.5 percent of America's children had a limitation in the ability to communicate. These two categories overlap to some degree, since many children with a learning disability also have difficulty communicating, and vice versa.

In addition, about 1.3 percent had limitations in mobility, and 0.9 percent had difficulty with such self-care activities as eating and dressing.

Overall, boys (16 percent) are more likely than girls (9 percent) to have one of these four activity limitations.

The Report noted that children who have such limitations have a very high use of the health care system, and many of them receive special services at school. Activity limitations may be due to childhood illnesses, injuries, and low birthweight.

Moreover, improved methods for detecting activity limitations have allowed service providers to identify larger numbers of children with special needs. Medical treatment, rehabilitation, and other services may remove barriers that determine whether children with a specific activity limitation can perform everyday tasks.

The new indicator measures whether children have difficulty performing specific activities, such as bathing, eating, communicating, or understanding school materials. For this reason, a child with a specific activity limitation, such as attention deficit disorder, may have difficulty with a specific task, such as concentration, but may be able to carry out a more general activity, such as going to school, if he or she receives proper medical treatment.

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