Table 204.30.

Children 3 to 21 years old served under Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Part B, by type of disability: Selected years, 1976-77 through 2019-20

Type of disability	1976-77	1980-81	1990-91	2000-01	2008-091	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17 2,3	2017-18 2,4	2018-19 2	2019-20 2,5
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17
	Number of children served (in thousands)
All disabilities	3,694	4,144	4,710	6,296	6,483	6,481	6,436	6,401	6,429	6,464	6,555	6,677	6,802	6,964	7,134	7,282
Autism	---	---	---	93	336	378	417	455	498	538	576	617	661	710	762	803
Deaf-blindness	---	3	1	1	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	2
Developmental delay	---	---	---	213	354	368	382	393	402	410	419	434	446	461	479	502
Emotional disturbance	283	347	389	480	420	407	390	373	362	354	349	347	348	353	358	365
Hearing impairment	88	79	58	77	78	79	78	78	77	77	76	75	75	75	74	73
Intellectual disability	961	830	534	624	478	463	448	435	430	425	423	425	431	436	439	442
Multiple disabilities	---	68	96	131	130	131	130	132	133	132	132	131	132	132	133	133
Orthopedic impairment	87	58	49	82	70	65	63	61	59	56	52	47	42	41	39	37
Other health impairment6	141	98	55	303	659	689	716	743	779	817	862	909	955	1,002	1,049	1,094
Preschool disabled7	†	†	390	†	†	†	†	†	†	†	†	†	†	†	†	†
Specific learning disability	796	1,462	2,129	2,860	2,476	2,431	2,361	2,303	2,277	2,264	2,278	2,298	2,318	2,342	2,368	2,405
Speech or language impairment	1,302	1,168	985	1,388	1,426	1,416	1,396	1,373	1,356	1,334	1,332	1,337	1,337	1,357	1,378	1,374
Traumatic brain injury	---	---	---	16	26	25	26	26	26	26	26	27	27	27	27	27
Visual impairment	38	31	23	29	29	29	28	28	28	28	28	27	27	27	27	27
	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	100.0
Autism	---	---	---	1.5	5.2	5.8	6.5	7.1	7.8	8.3	8.8	9.2	9.7	10.2	10.7	11.0
Deaf-blindness	---	0.1	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#
Developmental delay	---	---	---	3.4	5.5	5.7	5.9	6.1	6.2	6.3	6.4	6.5	6.6	6.6	6.7	6.9
Emotional disturbance	7.7	8.4	8.3	7.6	6.5	6.3	6.1	5.8	5.6	5.5	5.3	5.2	5.1	5.1	5.0	5.0
Hearing impairment	2.4	1.9	1.2	1.2	1.2	1.2	1.2	1.2	1.2	1.2	1.2	1.1	1.1	1.1	1.0	1.0
Intellectual disability	26.0	20.0	11.3	9.9	7.4	7.1	7.0	6.8	6.7	6.6	6.4	6.4	6.3	6.3	6.2	6.1
Multiple disabilities	---	1.6	2.0	2.1	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.1	2.1	2.0	2.0	2.0	1.9	1.9	1.9	1.8
Orthopedic impairment	2.4	1.4	1.0	1.3	1.1	1.0	1.0	1.0	0.9	0.9	0.8	0.7	0.6	0.6	0.5	0.5
Other health impairment6	3.8	2.4	1.2	4.8	10.2	10.6	11.1	11.6	12.1	12.6	13.2	13.6	14.0	14.4	14.7	15.0
Preschool disabled7	†	†	8.3	†	†	†	†	†	†	†	†	†	†	†	†	†
Specific learning disability	21.5	35.3	45.2	45.4	38.2	37.5	36.7	36.0	35.4	35.0	34.8	34.4	34.1	33.6	33.2	33.0
Speech or language impairment	35.2	28.2	20.9	22.0	22.0	21.8	21.7	21.4	21.1	20.6	20.3	20.0	19.7	19.5	19.3	18.9
Traumatic brain injury	---	---	---	0.2	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4
Visual impairment	1.0	0.7	0.5	0.5	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4
	Number of children served as a percent of total enrollment8
All disabilities	8.3	10.1	11.4	13.3	13.2	13.1	13.0	12.9	12.9	12.9	13.0	13.2	13.4	13.7	14.1	14.4
Autism	---	---	---	0.2	0.7	0.8	0.8	0.9	1.0	1.1	1.1	1.2	1.3	1.4	1.5	1.6
Deaf-blindness	---	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#
Developmental delay	---	---	---	0.5	0.7	0.7	0.8	0.8	0.8	0.8	0.8	0.9	0.9	0.9	0.9	1.0
Emotional disturbance	0.6	0.8	0.9	1.0	0.9	0.8	0.8	0.8	0.7	0.7	0.7	0.7	0.7	0.7	0.7	0.7
Hearing impairment	0.2	0.2	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1
Intellectual disability	2.2	2.0	1.3	1.3	1.0	0.9	0.9	0.9	0.9	0.9	0.8	0.8	0.9	0.9	0.9	0.9
Multiple disabilities	---	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3
Orthopedic impairment	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1
Other health impairment6	0.3	0.2	0.1	0.6	1.3	1.4	1.4	1.5	1.6	1.6	1.7	1.8	1.9	2.0	2.1	2.2
Preschool disabled7	†	†	0.9	†	†	†	†	†	†	†	†	†	†	†	†	†
Specific learning disability	1.8	3.6	5.2	6.1	5.0	4.9	4.8	4.7	4.6	4.5	4.5	4.6	4.6	4.6	4.7	4.7
Speech or language impairment	2.9	2.9	2.4	2.9	2.9	2.9	2.8	2.8	2.7	2.7	2.6	2.7	2.6	2.7	2.7	2.7
Traumatic brain injury	---	---	---	#	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1
Visual impairment	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	0.1

---Not available.

†Not applicable.

#Rounds to zero.

1 Data do not include Vermont, for which 2007-08 and 2008-09 data were not available. In 2006-07, the total number of 3- to 21-year-olds served in Vermont was 14,010.

2 Data in the 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19, and 2019-20 columns include 2015-16 data for 3- to 21-year-olds in Wisconsin because 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19, and 2019-20 data were not available for children served in Wisconsin.

3 Data in the 2016-17 column include 2015-16 data for 3- to 5-year-olds in Nebraska because 2016-17 data were not available for children in that age group served in Nebraska.

4 Data in the 2017-18 column include 2016-17 data for 3- to 5-year-olds in Minnesota and 6- to 21-year-olds in Maine and Vermont because 2017-18 data were not available for children in those age groups served in those states.

5 Data by disability type for Iowa are imputed based on the reported 2018-19 percentage distribution by disability type applied to the 2019-20 total number of children served in Iowa.

6 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.

7 For 1990-91, preschool children are not included in the counts by disability condition but are separately reported. For other years, preschool children are included in the counts by disability condition.

8 Based on total public school enrollment in prekindergarten through grade 12. Enrollment data for 2019-20 are projected. For total public school enrollment, see table 203.20.

NOTE: Prior to October 1994, children and youth with disabilities were served under Chapter 1 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) as well as under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Part B. Data reported in this table for years prior to 1994-95 include children ages 0-21 served under Chapter 1 of ESEA. Data are for the 50 states and the District of Columbia only. 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 children with disabilities. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, Annual Report to Congress on the Implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, selected years, 1979 through 2006; and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) database, retrieved February 2, 2021, from https://www2.ed.gov/programs/osepidea/618-data/state-level-data-files/index.html#bcc. National Center for Education Statistics, Statistics of Public Elementary and Secondary School Systems, 1977-78 and 1980-81; Common Core of Data (CCD), "State Nonfiscal Survey of Public Elementary/Secondary Education," 1990-91 through 2019-20; National Elementary and Secondary Enrollment Projection Model, 1972 through 2029. (This table was prepared February 2021.)