Special Education Enrollment Rises
An increasing number of American students are reportedly utilizing special education services in the nation’s public schools.
The number of students ages 6 to 21 covered by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act grew to 5.83 million in the fall of 2014, the most recent year for which statistics are available.
By contrast, just three years earlier, that count was at 5.67 million, according to an analysis of U.S. Department of Education data conducted by Education Week.
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A single state — New York — accounted for a third of the uptick, though it’s unclear why, the publication found.
Nationally, the analysis indicates that the number of children receiving services for an autism diagnosis ballooned 165 percent between the 2005-2006 and 2014-2015 school years and those classified with “other health impairments” grew 51 percent.
At the same time, the report suggests that students classified as having specific learning disabilities, speech and language impairments, emotional and behavioral disturbance or intellectual disabilities are on the decline.
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