Table 204.50.

Children 3 to 21 years old served under Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Part B, by age group and sex, race/ethnicity, and type of disability: 2020-21

Type of disability	Total1	3 to 5 years old (including only 5-year-olds not yet in kindergarten)2		5 to 21 years old (including only 5-year-olds in kindergarten)3		Total, 3 to 21 years old
		Male	Female	Male	Female	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	Pacific Islander	American Indian/ Alaska Native	Two or more races
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
	Number of children served
All disabilities	7,182,916	344,217	150,696	4,359,157	2,264,409	3,360,505	1,245,125	1,956,318	202,197	20,847	85,519	333,519
Autism	828,338	---	---	633,866	133,555	384,497	126,940	216,880	54,745	2,297	6,107	41,279
Deaf-blindness	1,762	---	---	829	766	928	196	430	96	8	21	84
Developmental delay4	487,322	---	---	185,933	77,981	243,211	85,000	104,928	16,772	1,788	9,456	27,368
Emotional disturbance	352,667	---	---	247,316	98,158	175,350	78,789	67,294	3,628	733	4,246	22,527
Hearing impairment	71,554	---	---	34,938	30,476	31,175	9,037	23,154	4,388	352	781	2,946
Intellectual disability	429,277	---	---	239,984	171,290	169,093	109,683	117,634	11,496	1,529	5,058	15,435
Multiple disabilities	127,841	---	---	75,984	47,580	66,780	21,669	26,874	4,951	578	1,897	5,251
Orthopedic impairment	34,519	---	---	17,734	13,247	16,889	4,267	9,854	1,861	122	283	1,414
Other health impairment5	1,095,944	---	---	767,322	316,366	583,315	197,784	229,281	16,920	2,529	10,686	56,439
Specific learning disability	2,345,913	---	---	1,347,517	956,032	976,516	433,910	763,335	36,501	7,947	31,993	95,990
Speech or language impairment	1,356,896	---	---	779,348	398,905	685,939	170,117	385,198	48,900	2,800	14,333	62,608
Traumatic brain injury	25,228	---	---	15,307	9,058	13,718	3,972	5,342	725	73	328	1,075
Visual impairment	25,656	---	---	13,079	10,995	13,094	3,759	6,116	1,214	91	332	1,103
	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
Autism	11.5	---	---	14.5	5.9	11.4	10.2	11.1	27.1	11.0	7.1	12.4
Deaf-blindness	#	---	---	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#
Developmental delay4	6.8	---	---	4.3	3.4	7.2	6.8	5.4	8.3	8.6	11.1	8.2
Emotional disturbance	4.9	---	---	5.7	4.3	5.2	6.3	3.4	1.8	3.5	5.0	6.8
Hearing impairment	1.0	---	---	0.8	1.3	0.9	0.7	1.2	2.2	1.7	0.9	0.9
Intellectual disability	6.0	---	---	5.5	7.6	5.0	8.8	6.0	5.7	7.3	5.9	4.6
Multiple disabilities	1.8	---	---	1.7	2.1	2.0	1.7	1.4	2.4	2.8	2.2	1.6
Orthopedic impairment	0.5	---	---	0.4	0.6	0.5	0.3	0.5	0.9	0.6	0.3	0.4
Other health impairment5	15.3	---	---	17.6	14.0	17.4	15.9	11.7	8.4	12.1	12.5	16.9
Specific learning disability	32.7	---	---	30.9	42.2	29.1	34.8	39.0	18.1	38.1	37.4	28.8
Speech or language impairment	18.9	---	---	17.9	17.6	20.4	13.7	19.7	24.2	13.4	16.8	18.8
Traumatic brain injury	0.4	---	---	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.3	0.3	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.3
Visual impairment	0.4	---	---	0.3	0.5	0.4	0.3	0.3	0.6	0.4	0.4	0.3
	Number of children served as a percent of total enrollment6
All disabilities	14.5	53.0	25.8	17.7	9.6	14.9	16.8	14.1	7.6	11.6	18.6	15.0
Autism	1.7	---	---	2.6	0.6	1.7	1.7	1.6	2.0	1.3	1.3	1.9
Deaf-blindness	#	---	---	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#
Developmental delay4	1.0	---	---	0.8	0.3	1.1	1.1	0.8	0.6	1.0	2.1	1.2
Emotional disturbance	0.7	---	---	1.0	0.4	0.8	1.1	0.5	0.1	0.4	0.9	1.0
Hearing impairment	0.1	---	---	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.1
Intellectual disability	0.9	---	---	1.0	0.7	0.7	1.5	0.9	0.4	0.8	1.1	0.7
Multiple disabilities	0.3	---	---	0.3	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.4	0.2
Orthopedic impairment	0.1	---	---	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1
Other health impairment5	2.2	---	---	3.1	1.3	2.6	2.7	1.7	0.6	1.4	2.3	2.5
Specific learning disability	4.8	---	---	5.5	4.1	4.3	5.9	5.5	1.4	4.4	7.0	4.3
Speech or language impairment	2.7	---	---	3.2	1.7	3.0	2.3	2.8	1.8	1.6	3.1	2.8
Traumatic brain injury	0.1	---	---	0.1	#	0.1	0.1	#	#	#	0.1	#
Visual impairment	0.1	---	---	0.1	#	0.1	0.1	#	#	0.1	0.1	#

---Not available.

#Rounds to zero.

1Totals are based on overall counts of children by type of disability; they are not based on summing the counts reported for the individual racial/ethnic groups or the counts reported by sex. (Due to data limitations, summing the counts by disability type within each racial/ethnic group would result in a total overcount of 21,114 children. Because of missing data on type of disability by sex, summing the counts by disability type for males and females would result in undercounts.)

2For 3- to 5-year-olds not yet in kindergarten, no data are available on type of disability by sex.

3For 5-year-olds in kindergarten to 21-year-olds, data include only those children served for whom both sex and type of disability were reported. About 1 percent of all 5- to 21-year-olds are excluded from this table because of missing data.

4Although federal law does not require that states/entities and local education agencies categorize children according to developmental delay, if this category is required by state law, they are expected to report these children in the developmental delay category.

5Other 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.

6Percentages for 3- to 5-year-olds by sex are based on total public school enrollment in prekindergarten and kindergarten by sex. Percentages for 5- to 21-year-olds by sex are based on total public school enrollment in grades 1 through 12 by sex. Data on total public school enrollment by grade are available in table 203.10, but data on total enrollment by sex are unpublished. Percentages for 3- to 21-year-olds by race/ethnicity are based on total public school enrollment in prekindergarten through grade 12 by race/ethnicity. For total public school enrollment by race/ethnicity, see table 203.50.

NOTE: Data by disability type for Iowa are imputed based on the reported 2018-19 percentage distribution by disability type applied to the 2020-21 total number of children served in Iowa. Data for 2020-21 include 2019-20 data for 5- to 21-year-olds in Louisiana because 2020-21 data were not available for children in that age group. Although data are for the 50 states and the District of Columbia, data limitations result in inclusion of a small (but unknown) number of students from other jurisdictions. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) database, retrieved February 25, 2022, from https://data.ed.gov/dataset/idea-section-618-data-products. National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), "State Nonfiscal Survey of Public Elementary/Secondary Education," 2020-21 Preliminary. (This table was prepared February 2022.)