Fast Facts

Question:
How many students with disabilities receive services?

Response:

From 2001� to 2006�, some increases occurred in the numbers and percentages of children being served in programs for those with disabilities. During the 2001� school year, 13 percent of students were served in these programs, compared with 14 percent in 2006�. Some of the change since 2001� may be attributed to the increasing percentage of children identified as having other health impairments (limited strength, vitality, or alertness due to chronic or acute health problems such as a heart condition, tuberculosis, rheumatic fever, nephritis, asthma, sickle cell anemia, hemophilia, epilepsy, lead poisoning, leukemia, or diabetes), which rose from 0.7 to 1.2 percent of enrollment; autism, which rose from 0.2 to 0.5 percent of enrollment; and developmental delay, which rose from 0.5 to 0.7 percent of enrollment.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (2009). Digest of Education Statistics, 2008 (NCES 2009-020), Chapter 2.

Children 3 to 21 years old served in federally supported programs for the disabled, by type of disability: Selected years, 1976-77 through 2006-07
Type of Disability	1976-77	1980-81	1990-91	2000-01	2001-02	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07
Number served (in thousands)
All disabilities	3,694	4,144	4,710	6,296	6,407	6,719	6,713	6,686
Specific learning disabilities	796	1,462	2,129	2,868	2,861	2,798	2,735	2,665
Speech or language impairments	1,302	1,168	985	1,409	1,391	1,463	1,468	1,475
Mental retardation	961	830	534	624	616	578	556	534
Emotional disturbance	283	347	389	481	483	489	477	464
Hearing impairments	88	79	58	78	78	79	79	80
Orthopedic impairments	87	58	49	83	83	73	71	69
Other health impairments¹	141	98	55	303	350	521	570	611
Visual impairments	38	31	23	29	28	29	29	29
Multiple disabilities	---	68	96	133	136	140	141	142
Deaf-blindness	---	3	1	1	2	2	2	2
Autism	---	---	---	94	114	191	223	258
Traumatic brain injury	---	---	---	16	22	24	24	25
Developmental delay	---	---	---	178	242	332	339	333
Preschool disabled²	�/td>	�/td>	390	�/td>	�/td>	�/td>	�/td>	�/td>
Number served as a percent of total enrollment³
All disabilities	8.3	10.1	11.4	13.3	13.4	13.8	13.7	13.6
Specific learning disabilities	1.8	3.6	5.2	6.1	6.0	5.7	5.6	5.4
Speech or language impairments	2.9	2.9	2.4	3.0	2.9	3.0	3.0	3.0
Mental retardation	2.2	2.0	1.3	1.3	1.3	1.2	1.1	1.1
Emotional disturbance	0.6	0.8	0.9	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	0.9
Hearing impairments	0.2	0.2	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2
Orthopedic impairments	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.1	0.1
Other health impairments¹	0.3	0.2	0.1	0.6	0.7	1.1	1.2	1.2
Visual impairments	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1
Multiple disabilities	---	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3
Deaf-blindness	---	#	#	#	#	#	#	#
Autism	---	---	---	0.2	0.2	0.4	0.5	0.5
Traumatic brain injury	---	---	---	#	#	#	#	0.1
Developmental delay	---	---	---	0.4	0.5	0.7	0.7	0.7
Preschool disabled²	�/td>	�/td>	0.9	�/td>	�/td>	�/td>	�/td>	�/td>

--- Not available.
� Not applicable.
# Rounds to zero.
¹Other health impairments include having limited strength, vitality, or alertness due to chronic or acute health problems such as a heart condition, tuberculosis, rheumatic fever, nephritis, asthma, sickle cell anemia, hemophilia, epilepsy, lead poisoning, leukemia, or diabetes.
²Includes preschool children 3-5 years served under Chapter I and IDEA, Part B. Prior to 1987-88, these students were included in the counts by disability condition. Beginning in 1987-88, states were no longer required to report preschool children (0-5 years) by disability condition. Beginning in 2000-01, preschool children were again identified by disability condition.
³Based on the total enrollment in public schools, prekindergarten through 12th grade.

NOTE: Includes students served under Chapter 1 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), formerly the Education of the Handicapped Act. Prior to October 1994, children and youth with disabilities were served under Chapter 1 as well as IDEA, Part B. In October 1994, funding for children and youth with disabilities was consolidated under IDEA, Part B. Data reported in this table for years prior to 1994-95 include children ages 0-21 served under Chapter 1. Counts are based on reports from the 50 states and the District of Columbia only (i.e., table excludes data for other jurisdictions). Increases since 1987-88 are due in part to new legislation enacted in fall 1986, which added a mandate for public school special education services for 3- to 5-year-old disabled children. Some data have been revised from previously published figures. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (2009). Digest of Education Statistics, 2008 (NCES 2009-020), Table 50.

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