Children 3 to 21 years old served under Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Part B, by type of disability: Selected school years, 1976-77 through 2022-23

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Table 204.30.Children 3 to 21 years old served under Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Part B, by type of disability: Selected school years, 1976-77 through 2022-23
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	2020-21 ^5,6	2021-22 ^5,7	2022-23 ⁵
	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	7,183	7,259	7,526
Autism	---	---	---	93	336	378	417	455	498	538	576	617	661	710	762	803	828	882	980
Deaf-blindness	---	3	1	1	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	2
Developmental delay⁸	---	---	---	213	354	368	382	393	402	410	419	434	446	461	479	502	487	487	518
Emotional disturbance	283	347	389	480	420	407	390	373	362	354	349	347	348	353	358	365	353	334	327
Hearing impairment	88	79	58	77	78	79	78	78	77	77	76	75	75	75	74	73	72	71	70
Intellectual disability	961	830	534	624	478	463	448	435	430	425	423	425	431	436	439	442	429	426	434
Multiple disabilities	---	68	96	131	130	131	130	132	133	132	132	131	132	132	133	133	128	125	126
Orthopedic impairment	87	58	49	82	70	65	63	61	59	56	52	47	42	41	39	37	35	33	32
Other health impairment⁹	141	98	55	303	659	689	716	743	779	817	862	909	955	1,002	1,049	1,094	1,096	1,116	1,150
Preschool disabled¹⁰	†	†	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	2,346	2,355	2,408
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	1,357	1,378	1,430
Traumatic brain injury	---	---	---	16	26	25	26	26	26	26	26	27	27	27	27	27	25	25	25
Visual impairment	38	31	23	29	29	29	28	28	28	28	28	27	27	27	27	27	26	25	25
	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	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	11.5	12.2	13.0
Deaf-blindness	---	0.1	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#
Developmental delay⁸	---	---	---	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	6.8	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	4.9	4.6	4.3
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	1.0	1.0	0.9
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	6.0	5.9	5.8
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	1.8	1.7	1.7
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	0.5	0.5	0.4
Other health impairment⁹	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	15.3	15.4	15.3
Preschool disabled¹⁰	†	†	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	32.7	32.4	32.0
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	18.9	19.0	19.0
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	0.4	0.3	0.3
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	0.4	0.3	0.3
	Number of children served as a percent of total enrollment¹¹
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	14.3	14.5	14.7	15.2
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	1.7	1.8	2.0
Deaf-blindness	---	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#	#
Developmental delay⁸	---	---	---	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	1.0	1.0	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	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	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	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	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	0.1	0.1	0.1
Other health impairment⁹	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	2.2	2.3	2.3
Preschool disabled¹⁰	†	†	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	4.8	4.8	4.9
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	2.7	2.8	2.9
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	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	0.1	0.1	0.1
---Not available.
†Not applicable.
#Rounds to zero.
¹Data 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.
²Data 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.
³Data 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.
⁴Data 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.
⁵Data by disability type for Iowa are imputed based on the reported 2018-19 percentage distribution by disability type applied to the 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22, and 2022-23 total number of children served in Iowa.
⁶Data in the 2020-21 column include 2019-20 data instead of 2020-21 data for 5- to 21-year-olds in Louisiana because 2020-21 data were not available for children in that age group served in Louisiana.
⁷Data in the 2021-22 column include 2020-21 data instead of 2021-22 data for 3- to 5-year-olds in Louisiana because 2021-22 data were not available for children in that age group served in Louisiana.
⁸Although 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.
⁹Other 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.
¹⁰For 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.
¹¹Based on total public school enrollment in prekindergarten through grade 12. For total public school enrollment, see table 203.20.
NOTE: Disability type refers to the specific disability for which a child is receiving services under IDEA. If a child has multiple types of disabilities but is receiving services for only one IDEA-defined disability, then the child is categorized under that specific disability. If a child is receiving services for more than one type of IDEA-defined disability, then the child is categorized under "multiple diabilites." Data in this table represent the 50 states and the District of Columbia. 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. 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 October 13, 2023, from https://data.ed.gov/dataset/idea-section-618-data-products. 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 2022-23. (This table was prepared December 2023.)

Table 204.30.Children 3 to 21 years old served under Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Part B, by type of disability: Selected school years, 1976-77 through 2022-23

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

2020-21 ^5,6

2021-22 ^5,7

2022-23 ⁵

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

7,183

7,259

7,526

Autism

---

336

378

417

455

498

538

576

617

661

710

762

803

828

882

980

Deaf-blindness

---

Developmental delay⁸

---

213

354

368

382

393

402

410

419

434

446

461

479

502

487

518

Emotional disturbance

283

347

389

480

420

407

390

373

362

354

349

347

348

353

358

365

353

334

327

Hearing impairment

Intellectual disability

961

830

534

624

478

463

448

435

430

425

423

425

431

436

439

442

429

426

434

Multiple disabilities

---

131

130

131

130

132

133

132

131

132

133

128

125

126

Orthopedic impairment

Other health impairment⁹

141

303

659

689

716

743

779

817

862

909

955

1,002

1,049

1,094

1,096

1,116

1,150

Preschool disabled¹⁰

†

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

2,346

2,355

2,408

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

1,357

1,378

1,374

1,357

1,378

1,430

Traumatic brain injury

---

Visual impairment

Percentage distribution of children served

All disabilities

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

11.5

12.2

13.0

Deaf-blindness

---

0.1

Developmental delay⁸

---

3.4

5.5

5.7

5.9

6.1

6.2

6.3

6.4

6.5

6.6

6.7

6.9

6.8

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

5.0

4.9

4.6

4.3

Hearing impairment

2.4

1.9

1.2

1.1

1.0

0.9

Intellectual disability

26.0

20.0

11.3

9.9

7.4

7.1

7.0

6.8

6.7

6.6

6.4

6.3

6.2

6.1

6.0

5.9

5.8

Multiple disabilities

---

1.6

2.0

2.1

2.0

2.1

2.0

1.9

1.8

1.7

Orthopedic impairment

2.4

1.4

1.0

1.3

1.1

1.0

0.9

0.8

0.7

0.6

0.5

0.4

Other health impairment⁹

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

15.3

15.4

15.3

Preschool disabled¹⁰

†

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

32.7

32.4

32.0

Speech or language impairment

35.2

28.2

20.9

22.0

21.8

21.7

21.4

21.1

20.6

20.3

20.0

19.7

19.5

19.3

18.9

19.0

Traumatic brain injury

---

0.2

0.4

0.3

Visual impairment

1.0

0.7

0.5

0.4

0.3

Number of children served as a percent of total enrollment¹¹

All disabilities

8.3

10.1

11.4

13.3

13.2

13.1

13.0

12.9

13.0

13.2

13.4

13.7

14.1

14.3

14.5

14.7

15.2

Autism

---

0.2

0.7

0.8

0.9

1.0

1.1

1.2

1.3

1.4

1.5

1.6

1.7

1.8

2.0

Deaf-blindness

---

Developmental delay⁸

---

0.5

0.7

0.8

0.9

1.0

Emotional disturbance

0.6

0.8

0.9

1.0

0.9

0.8

0.7

Hearing impairment

0.2

0.1

0.2

0.1

Intellectual disability

2.2

2.0

1.3

1.0

0.9

0.8

0.9

Multiple disabilities

---

0.2

0.3

Orthopedic impairment

0.2

0.1

0.2

0.1

Other health impairment⁹

0.3

0.2

0.1

0.6

1.3

1.4

1.5

1.6

1.7

1.8

1.9

2.0

2.1

2.2

2.3

Preschool disabled¹⁰

†

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

4.6

4.7

4.8

4.9

Speech or language impairment

2.9

2.4

2.9

2.8

2.7

2.6

2.7

2.6

2.7

2.8

2.9

Traumatic brain injury

---

0.1

Visual impairment

0.1

---Not available.

†Not applicable.

#Rounds to zero.

¹Data 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.

²Data 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.

³Data 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.

⁴Data 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.

⁵Data by disability type for Iowa are imputed based on the reported 2018-19 percentage distribution by disability type applied to the 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22, and 2022-23 total number of children served in Iowa.

⁶Data in the 2020-21 column include 2019-20 data instead of 2020-21 data for 5- to 21-year-olds in Louisiana because 2020-21 data were not available for children in that age group served in Louisiana.

⁷Data in the 2021-22 column include 2020-21 data instead of 2021-22 data for 3- to 5-year-olds in Louisiana because 2021-22 data were not available for children in that age group served in Louisiana.

⁸Although 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.

⁹Other 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.

¹⁰For 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.

¹¹Based on total public school enrollment in prekindergarten through grade 12. For total public school enrollment, see table 203.20.

NOTE: Disability type refers to the specific disability for which a child is receiving services under IDEA. If a child has multiple types of disabilities but is receiving services for only one IDEA-defined disability, then the child is categorized under that specific disability. If a child is receiving services for more than one type of IDEA-defined disability, then the child is categorized under "multiple diabilites." Data in this table represent the 50 states and the District of Columbia. 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. 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 October 13, 2023, from https://data.ed.gov/dataset/idea-section-618-data-products. 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 2022-23. (This table was prepared December 2023.)