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Digest of Education Statistics
1995 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest

Table 51.Children 0 to 21 years old served in federally supported programsfor the disabled, by type of disability: 1976-77 to 1992-93

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
                                 |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |
       Type of disability        |1976-77|1980-81|1981-82|1982-83|1983-84|1984-85|1985-86|1986-87|1987-88|1988-89|1989-90|1990-91|1991-92|1992-93
_________________________________|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______
                1                |   2   |   3   |   4   |   5   |   6   |   7   |   8   |   9   |  10   |  11   |  12   |  13   |  14   |  15
_________________________________|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______
                                 |                                   Number served,\1\ in thousands
                                 |_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
   All disabilities .............| 3,692 | 4,142 | 4,198 | 4,255 | 4,298 | 4,315 | 4,317 | 4,374 | 4,447 | 4,544 | 4,641 | 4,762 | 4,949 | 5,125
                                 |_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______
Specific learning disabilities ..|   796 | 1,462 | 1,622 | 1,741 | 1,806 | 1,832 | 1,862 | 1,914 | 1,928 | 1,987 | 2,050 | 2,130 | 2,234 | 2,354
Speech or language impairments ..| 1,302 | 1,168 | 1,135 | 1,131 | 1,128 | 1,126 | 1,125 | 1,136 |   953 |   967 |   973 |   985 |   997 |   996
Mental retardation ..............|   959 |   829 |   786 |   757 |   727 |   694 |   660 |   643 |   582 |   564 |   548 |   534 |   538 |   519
Serious emotional disturbance ...|   283 |   346 |   339 |   352 |   361 |   372 |   375 |   383 |   373 |   376 |   381 |   390 |   399 |   401
Hearing impairments .............|    87 |    79 |    75 |    73 |    72 |    69 |    66 |    65 |    56 |    56 |    57 |    58 |    60 |    60
Orthopedic impairments ..........|    87 |    58 |    58 |    57 |    56 |    56 |    57 |    57 |    47 |    47 |    48 |    49 |    51 |    52
Other health impairments ........|   141 |    98 |    79 |    50 |    53 |    68 |    57 |    52 |    45 |    43 |    52 |    55 |    58 |    65
Visual impairments ..............|    38 |    31 |    29 |    28 |    29 |    28 |    27 |    26 |    22 |    23 |    22 |    23 |    24 |    23
Multiple disabilities ...........|   --- |    68 |    71 |    63 |    65 |    69 |    86 |    97 |    77 |    85 |    86 |    96 |    97 |   102
Deaf-blindness ..................|   --- |     3 |     2 |     2 |     2 |     2 |     2 |     2 |     1 |     2 |     2 |     1 |     1 |     1
Autism and other ................|   --- |   --- |   --- |   --- |   --- |   --- |   --- |   --- |   --- |   --- |   --- |   --- |     5 |    19
Preschool disabled \2\...........| (\3\) | (\3\) | (\3\) | (\3\) | (\3\) | (\3\) | (\3\) | (\3\) |   363 |   394 |   422 |   441 |   484 |   531
                                 |_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______
                                 |                               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
                                 |_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______
Specific learning disabilities ..|  21.6 |  35.3 |  38.6 |  40.9 |  42.0 |  42.4 |  43.1 |  43.8 |  43.4 |  43.6 |  44.2 |  44.7 |  45.1 |  45.9
Speech or language impairments ..|  35.3 |  28.2 |  27.0 |  26.6 |  26.2 |  26.1 |  26.1 |  26.0 |  21.4 |  21.1 |  21.0 |  20.7 |  20.2 |  19.4
Mental retardation ..............|  26.0 |  20.0 |  18.7 |  17.8 |  16.9 |  16.1 |  15.3 |  14.7 |  13.1 |  12.7 |  11.8 |  11.2 |  10.9 |  10.1
Serious emotional disturbance ...|   7.7 |   8.4 |   8.1 |   8.3 |   8.4 |   8.6 |   8.7 |   8.8 |   8.4 |   8.3 |   8.2 |   8.2 |   8.1 |   7.8
Hearing impairments .............|   2.4 |   1.9 |   1.8 |   1.7 |   1.7 |   1.6 |   1.5 |   1.5 |   1.3 |   1.3 |   1.2 |   1.2 |   1.2 |   1.2
Orthopedic impairments ..........|   2.4 |   1.4 |   1.4 |   1.3 |   1.3 |   1.3 |   1.3 |   1.3 |   1.1 |   1.1 |   1.0 |   1.0 |   1.0 |   1.0
Other health impairments ........|   3.8 |   2.4 |   1.9 |   1.2 |   1.2 |   1.6 |   1.3 |   1.2 |   1.0 |   1.0 |   1.1 |   1.2 |   1.2 |   1.3
Visual impairments ..............|   1.0 |   0.7 |   0.7 |   0.7 |   0.7 |   0.7 |   0.6 |   0.6 |   0.5 |   0.5 |   0.5 |   0.5 |   0.5 |   0.5
Multiple disabilities ...........|   --- |   1.6 |   1.7 |   1.5 |   1.5 |   1.6 |   2.0 |   2.2 |   1.7 |   1.8 |   1.9 |   2.0 |   2.0 |   2.0
Deaf-blindness ..................|   --- |   0.1 | (\4\) | (\4\) |   0.1 | (\4\) | (\4\) | (\4\) | (\4\) | (\4\) | (\4\) | (\4\) | (\4\) | (\4\)
Autism and other ................|   --- |   --- |   --- |   --- |   --- |   --- |   --- |   --- |   --- |   --- |   --- |   --- |   0.1 |   0.4
Preschool disabled \2\...........| (\3\) | (\3\) | (\3\) | (\3\) | (\3\) | (\3\) | (\3\) | (\3\) |   8.2 |   8.7 |   9.1 |   9.3 |   9.8 |  10.4
                                 |_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______
                                 |                              Number served as a percent of total enrollment\5\
                                 |_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
   All disabilities .............|  8.33 | 10.13 | 10.47 | 10.75 | 10.95 | 11.00 | 10.95 | 11.00 | 11.11 | 11.30 | 11.44 | 11.55 | 11.77 | 11.97
                                 |_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______
Specific learning disabilities ..|  1.80 |  3.58 |  4.05 |  4.40 |  4.60 |  4.67 |  4.72 |  4.81 |  4.82 |  4.94 |  5.06 |  5.17 |  5.31 |  5.50
Speech or language impairments ..|  2.94 |  2.86 |  2.83 |  2.86 |  2.87 |  2.87 |  2.85 |  2.86 |  2.38 |  2.41 |  2.40 |  2.39 |  2.37 |  2.33
Mental retardation ..............|  2.16 |  2.03 |  1.96 |  1.91 |  1.85 |  1.77 |  1.68 |  1.62 |  1.45 |  1.40 |  1.35 |  1.30 |  1.28 |  1.21
Serious emotional disturbance ...|  0.64 |  0.85 |  0.85 |  0.89 |  0.92 |  0.95 |  0.95 |  0.96 |  0.93 |  0.94 |  0.94 |  0.95 |  0.95 |  0.94
Hearing impairments .............|  0.20 |  0.19 |  0.19 |  0.18 |  0.18 |  0.18 |  0.17 |  0.16 |  0.14 |  0.14 |  0.14 |  0.14 |  0.14 |  0.14
Orthopedic impairments ..........|  0.20 |  0.14 |  0.14 |  0.14 |  0.14 |  0.14 |  0.14 |  0.14 |  0.12 |  0.12 |  0.12 |  0.12 |  0.12 |  0.12
Other health impairments ........|  0.32 |  0.24 |  0.20 |  0.13 |  0.13 |  0.17 |  0.14 |  0.13 |  0.11 |  0.11 |  0.13 |  0.13 |  0.14 |  0.15
Visual impairments ..............|  0.09 |  0.08 |  0.07 |  0.07 |  0.07 |  0.07 |  0.07 |  0.07 |  0.05 |  0.06 |  0.06 |  0.06 |  0.06 |  0.05
Multiple disabilities ...........|   --- |  0.17 |  0.18 |  0.16 |  0.17 |  0.17 |  0.22 |  0.24 |  0.19 |  0.21 |  0.21 |  0.23 |  0.23 |  0.24
Deaf-blindness ..................|   --- |  0.01 | (\6\) |  0.01 |  0.01 | (\6\) |  0.01 | (\6\) | (\6\) | (\6\) | (\6\) | (\6\) | (\6\) | (\6\)
Autism and other ................|   --- |   --- |   --- |   --- |   --- |   --- |   --- |   --- |   --- |   --- |   --- |   --- |  0.01 |  0.04
Preschool disabled \2\...........| (\3\) | (\3\) | (\3\) | (\3\) | (\3\) | (\3\) | (\3\) | (\3\) |  0.91 |  0.98 |  1.04 |  1.07 |  1.15 |  1.24
_________________________________|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______

\1\Includes students served under Chapter I and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), formerly the Education of the Handicapped Act.
\2\Includes preschool children 3-5 years and 0-5 years served under Chapter I and IDEA, respectively.
\3\Prior to 1987-88, these students were included in the counts by handicapping condition. Beginning in 1987-88, states were no longer required to report preschool handicapped students (0-5 years) by handicapping condition.
\4\Less than .05.
\5\Based on the enrollment in public schools, kindergarten through 12th grade, including a relatively small number of prekindergarten students.
\6\Less than .005.
---Data not available.

NOTE.--Counts are based on reports from the 50 states and District of Columbia only (i.e., figures from U.S. territories are not included). Increases since 1987-88 are due in part to new legislation enacted fall 1986, which mandates public school special education services for all handicapped children ages 3 through 5. Some data have been revised from previously published figures. Because of rounding, details may not add to totals.

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, various years, and unpublished tabulations; and National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data survey. (This table was prepared June 1995.)


1995 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest