Table 50.

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	1995–96	1996–97	1997–98	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04	2004–05	2005–06	2006–07
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16
	Number served (in thousands)
All disabilities	3,694	4,144	4,710	5,572	5,737	5,908	6,056	6,195	6,296	6,407	6,523	6,634	6,719	6,713	6,686
Specific learning disabilities	796	1,462	2,129	2,578	2,651	2,727	2,790	2,834	2,868	2,861	2,848	2,831	2,798	2,735	2,665
Speech or language impairments	1,302	1,168	985	1,022	1,045	1,060	1,068	1,080	1,409	1,391	1,412	1,441	1,463	1,468	1,475
Mental retardation	961	830	534	571	579	589	597	600	624	616	602	593	578	556	534
Emotional disturbance	283	347	389	437	446	454	462	469	481	483	485	489	489	477	464
Hearing impairments	88	79	58	67	68	69	70	71	78	78	78	79	79	79	80
Orthopedic impairments	87	58	49	63	66	67	69	71	83	83	83	77	73	71	69
Other health impairments1	141	98	55	133	160	190	220	253	303	350	403	464	521	570	611
Visual impairments	38	31	23	25	25	26	26	26	29	28	29	28	29	29	29
Multiple disabilities	—	68	96	93	98	106	106	111	133	136	138	140	140	141	142
Deaf-blindness	—	3	1	1	1	1	2	2	1	2	2	2	2	2	2
Autism	—	—	—	28	34	42	53	65	94	114	137	163	191	223	258
Traumatic brain injury	—	—	—	9	10	12	13	14	16	22	22	23	24	24	25
Developmental delay	—	—	—	—	—	2	12	19	178	242	283	305	332	339	333
Preschool disabled2	†	†	390	544	555	565	568	581	†	†	†	†	†	†	†
	Percentage distribution of children served
All disabilities	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Specific learning disabilities	21.5	35.3	45.2	46.3	46.2	46.2	46.1	45.7	45.5	44.7	43.7	42.7	41.6	40.7	39.9
Speech or language impairments	35.2	28.2	20.9	18.3	18.2	17.9	17.6	17.4	22.4	21.7	21.6	21.7	21.8	21.9	22.1
Mental retardation	26.0	20.0	11.3	10.2	10.1	10.0	9.9	9.7	9.9	9.6	9.2	8.9	8.6	8.3	8.0
Emotional disturbance	7.7	8.4	8.3	7.8	7.8	7.7	7.6	7.6	7.6	7.5	7.4	7.4	7.3	7.1	6.9
Hearing impairments	2.4	1.9	1.2	1.2	1.2	1.2	1.2	1.1	1.2	1.2	1.2	1.2	1.2	1.2	1.2
Orthopedic impairments	2.4	1.4	1.0	1.1	1.1	1.1	1.1	1.1	1.3	1.3	1.3	1.2	1.1	1.1	1.0
Other health impairments1	3.8	2.4	1.2	2.4	2.8	3.2	3.6	4.1	4.8	5.5	6.2	7.0	7.7	8.5	9.1
Visual impairments	1.0	0.7	0.5	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.5	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4
Multiple disabilities	—	1.6	2.0	1.7	1.7	1.8	1.8	1.8	2.1	2.1	2.1	2.1	2.1	2.1	2.1
Deaf-blindness	—	0.1	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#
Autism	—	—	—	0.5	0.6	0.7	0.9	1.0	1.5	1.8	2.1	2.5	2.8	3.3	3.9
Traumatic brain injury	—	—	—	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4
Developmental delay	—	—	—	—	—	0.0	0.2	0.3	2.8	3.8	4.3	4.6	4.9	5.1	5.0
Preschool disabled2	†	†	8.3	9.8	9.7	9.6	9.4	9.4	†	†	†	†	†	†	†
	Number served as a percent of total enrollment3
All disabilities	8.3	10.1	11.4	12.4	12.6	12.8	13.0	13.2	13.3	13.4	13.5	13.7	13.8	13.7	13.6
Specific learning disabilities	1.8	3.6	5.2	5.8	5.8	5.9	6.0	6.0	6.1	6.0	5.9	5.8	5.7	5.6	5.4
Speech or language impairments	2.9	2.9	2.4	2.3	2.3	2.3	2.3	2.3	3.0	2.9	2.9	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0
Mental retardation	2.2	2.0	1.3	1.3	1.3	1.3	1.3	1.3	1.3	1.3	1.2	1.2	1.2	1.1	1.1
Emotional disturbance	0.6	0.8	0.9	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	0.9
Hearing impairments	0.2	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2
Orthopedic impairments	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.1	0.1
Other health impairments1	0.3	0.2	0.1	0.3	0.4	0.4	0.5	0.5	0.6	0.7	0.8	1.0	1.1	1.2	1.2
Visual impairments	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1
Multiple disabilities	—	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3
Deaf-blindness	—	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#
Autism	—	—	—	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.4	0.5	0.5
Traumatic brain injury	—	—	—	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	0.1
Developmental delay	—	—	—	—	—	#	#	#	0.4	0.5	0.6	0.6	0.7	0.7	0.7
Preschool disabled2	†	†	0.9	1.2	1.2	1.2	1.2	1.2	†	†	†	†	†	†	†

— Not available. † Not applicable. # Rounds to zero. 1 Other 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. 2 Includes preschool children ages 3–5 served under Chapter 1 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 (ages 0–5) by disability condition. Beginning in 2000–01, preschool children were again identified by disability condition. 3 Based 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, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Annual Report to Congress on the Implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, selected years, 1977 through 2006; and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) database, retrieved August 1, 2008, from http://www.ideadata.org/PartBdata.asp. National Center for Education Statistics, Statistics of Public Elementary and Secondary School Systems, 1977; Common Core of Data (CCD), "State Nonfiscal Survey of Public Elementary/Secondary Education," 1981–82 through 2006–07. (This table was prepared October 2008.)