The number and percentage of youth receiving special education services have increased nearly every year since 1976–77. From 1976–77 through 2005–06, the percentage receiving services for a specific learning disability increased threefold.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), first enacted in 1975, mandates that youth with disabilities are provided a free and appropriate public school education. Data collection activities to monitor compliance with IDEA began in 1976.

Since the inception of IDEA, the number and percentage of youth ages 3–21 enrolled in public schools receiving special education services have increased nearly every year (see table 7-1). In 1976–77, some 3.7 million youth were served under IDEA, and these youth made up 8 percent of total public school enrollment. By 2005–06, some 6.7 million youth received IDEA services, corresponding to 14 percent of total public school enrollment. Among these students served under IDEA in 2004–05, about 1 percent were American Indian/Alaska Native, 2 percent were Asian/Pacific Islander, 20 percent were Black, 16 percent were Hispanic, and 60 percent were White (U.S. Department of Education 2006).¹

Among youth ages 3–21, specific learning disabilities were the most prevalent disability and had the largest increase in percentage of the population served (see table 7-2). Specific learning disabilities involve one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations, including conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. From 1976–77 through 2005–06, the percentage of youth 3–21 receiving special education services for a specific learning disability increased threefold (from 2 to 6 percent of enrolled youth). In comparison, the prevalence of speech or language impairments remained fairly constant with variations of less than 1 percentage point between 1976 and 2005.

¹ Data presented in source document only. Detailed enrollment data by race/ethnicity are not yet available beyond 2004–05. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity. (back to text)