# Total Expenditures for Students with Disabilities, 1999-2000: Spending Variation by Disability

Report 5
June 2003

Prepared by: Jay G. Chambers, SEEP Director
Jamie Shkolnik
María Pérez

Submitted to: United States Departm ent of Education, Office of Special Education Programs

This study was funded by the U.S. Depa rtment of Education under Contract
Number ED99CO0091. The contents of this report do not necessarily reflect the view or policies of the Department of Education. 

# Special Education Expenditure Projec tTotal Expenditures for Students with Disabilities: Variation by Disability

American Institutes for Research, page i 

## Acknowledgements

Primary support for this research comes from the U. S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP). The authors wish to express their appreciation for the guidance and suggestions of Louis Danielson in his capacity as Director, Research to Practice Division, Office of Special Education Programs, and Scott Brown in his capacity as Project Officer for the Special Education Expenditure Project (SEEP).

The authors would like to express a special note of th anks to Jenifer Harr and Jean Wolman for their conceptual and editorial support. Their cont ributions have made this a better report.

The following is a comprehensive list of all the i ndividuals who have contributed to the SEEP during the course of the past four years and their various capacities with the project.

Project Design Team: Jay Chambers (Project Director), Tom Parri sh (Director, Center for Special Education Finance), and Roger Levine (Task leader for Sample Design).

Senior Consultants: Margaret McLaughlin, Institute for the Study of Exceptional Children and Youth, University of Maryland; Margaret Goertz, University of Pennsylvan ia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Technical Work Group: Stephen Chaikind, Gallaudet University; Doug Gill, Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, Washington State; Diane Gillespie , Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia; Bill Hartman, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsy lvania; John Herner, Divisi on of Special Education, Ohio Department of Education; Donald Kates, Geor getown University, Child Development Center; Brian McNulty, Adams County School District 14, Commerce City, Colorado; Jim Viola, New York State Education Department.

State Directors of Special Education in the nine extended sample states: Alabama, Mabrey Whetstone, State Director, and Ba rry Blackwell, liaison; Delaware
, Martha Brooks, State Director and Debbie Stover, liaison; Indiana
, Robert Marra, State Director, and Hank Binder, liaison; Kansas
, Bruce Passman, State Director, and Carol Dermyer, liaison; Missouri
, Melodie Friedebach, State Director, and Bill Daly, liaison; New Jersey
, Barbara Gantwerk, State Director, and Mari Molenaar, liaison; New York
, Larry Gloeckler, State Director, and Inni Barone, liaison; Ohio
, Ed Kapel, State Director; Rhode Island
, Tom DiPaola, State Director, and Paul Sherlock, member, Rhode Island legislature.

Managers of data coll ection and processing: James Van Campen, Rafi Youatt, Marie Dalldorf, and Kristi
Andes Peterson.

Data collectors and support teams include the following:

Team leaders: Peg Hoppe, Michael “Chad” Rodi, Jennifer Brown, Andy Davis, Leslie Brock, Jeanette Wheeler, and Jean Wolman. Team members: Mary Leopold, Claudia Lawrence, Patrice Flach, Bette KindmanKoffler, Brenda Stovall, Danielle Masursky, Ann Dellaira, Eden Springer, Jack Azud, Nancy Spangler, Melania Page-Gaither, Raman Hansi, Chris White, Lori Hodge, Freya Makris, Megan Rice, Amynah Dhanani, Melinda Johnson, Carmella Schaecher, Iby Heller, Hemmie Jee, and Irene Lam.

Data collection support team: Emily Campbell, Ann Win, Sandra Smith and Diana Doyal.

Data analysis team: Maria Perez, Gur Hoshen, Jamie Shkolnik, Am ynah Dhanani, Irene Lam, Bob Morris, and
John DuBois.

Report production team: Phil Esra, Jenifer Harr, Jean Wolman, Jamie Shkolnik, and Michelle Bullwinkle.Total Expenditures for Students with Disabilities: Variation by Disability

American Institutes for Research, page ii 

## SEEP Reports

This document is a part of a series of reports based on information derived from the Special Education Expenditure Project (SEEP), a national study conducted by the American Institutes for Research (AIR) for the U.S. Department of Educati on, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP). SEEP is being conducted by AIR under the auspices of the Center for Special Education Finance (CSEF). It is the fourth projec t sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education and its predecessor, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, in the past 40 years to examine th e nation’s spending on special education and
related services. See Kakali k, Furry, and Carney (1981), Moore, Strang, Schwartz, and Braddock (1988), and Rossmiller, Hale, and Frohreich (1970).

The SEEP reports are based on analyses of ex tensive data for the 1999-2000 school year. The SEEP includes 23 different survey s to collect data at the state, district , and school levels. Survey respondents included state directors of special education, district directors of special education, district directors of transportation servi ces, school principals, special education teachers and related service providers, regular education teachers, and special education aides. Survey responses were combined with other requested documents and data sets from states, schools, and districts to create databases that represen ted a sample of approximately 10,000 students with disabilities, more than 5,000 special education teachers and related service providers, approximately 5,000 regular education teachers, more than 1,000 schools, and well over 300 local education agencies.

The series of SEEP reports will provide de scriptive information on the following issues:

• What are we spending on special education services for students with disabilities in
the U.S.?

• How does special education spending vary across types of public school districts?

• What are we spending on due proces s for students with disabilities?

• What are we spending on transportation se rvices for students with disabilities?

• How does education spending vary for students by disability and what factors explain differences in spending by disability?

• What role do functional abilities play in explaining spending va riations for students
with disabilities?

• What are we spending on preschool pr ograms for students with disabilities?

• Who are the teachers and related servi ce providers who serve students with
disabilities?

• How are special education teaching assistants used to serve students with disabilities?

• What are we spending on special education services in different types of schools?

• How does special education spending vary across states classified by funding formula, student poverty, special educati on enrollment levels, and income levels?

One of the SEEP reports will be devoted to describing the purpose and design of the study.Total Expenditures for Students with Disabilities: Variation by Disability

American Institutes for Research, page iii 

## Table of Contents

Highlights..................................................................................................................... ..............v I. Introduction................................................................................................................ ....1 II. Per Pupil Expenditures by Disability ............................................................................3 III. Per Pupil Expenditures for Instructiona l and Related Services by Disability ..............6
IV. Conclusions................................................................................................................ ..15
References..................................................................................................................... ...........16

Exhibits

Exhibit 1. Per Pupil Expenditures by Disabi lity, with 95 Percent Confidence Intervals ........5 Exhibit 2. Per Pupil Expenditu res for Instructional and Related Services, by Disability ........8 Exhibit 3. The Division between Regular and Special Education Expenditures as a Percentage of the Total Expenditure on Instructional and Related Services for Special Education Students......................................................................................9 Exhibit 4. Per Pupil Expenditures for Sp ecial Education Services, by Disability..................10 Exhibit 5. Composition of Special Education In structional and Related Service Expenditures by Disability Category ...........................................................................................11
Exhibit 6. Means and Standards for Per P upil Expenditures for Regular and Special
Education Instructional and Rela ted Services, by Disability.................................12 Exhibit 7. Per Pupil Expend itures for Related Services: Speech/Language Specialists, Physical/Occupational Therapists , and Other Related Services ............................13
Exhibit 8. Means and Standards Errors for Expenditures for Related Services: Speech/Language Specialists, Physical/Occupational Therapists, and Other
Related Services.....................................................................................................14

Appendices

Appendix A1. SEEP Samples.................................................................................................A1 Appendix A2. SEEP Population and Sample Proportions, by Disability...............................A2 Appendix B1. Spending Ratios, Per Pupil Expe nditures, Standard Errors, Population, and Sample Size, by Disability .......................................................................B1 Appendix B2. Significance Levels (P-values) for Di fferences in Per Pupil Expenditures, by Disability.........................................................................................................B2 Appendix C. Sample Size for Instructiona l and Related Services, by Disability ................C1Total Expenditures for Students with Disabilities: Variation by Disability

American Institutes for Research, page iv Abbreviations

SLD Specific Learning Disability SLI Speech/Language Impairment
ED Emotional Disturbance OI Orthopedic Impairment
MR Mental Retardation HI/D Hearing Impairment/Deafness TBI Traumatic Brain Injury
AUT Autism VI/B Visual Impairment/Blindness MD Multiple Disabilities OHI Other Health Impairments
PRE Preschool Students NPS Students placed in non-public schools or other public agencies paid for by the public school districtTotal Expenditures for Students with Disabilities: Variation by Disability

American Institutes for Research, page v 

## Highlights

• Per pupil education expenditures vary by disability category. The per pupil expenditures range from a low of $10,558 for students with specific learning disabilities to a high of $20,095 for students with multiple disabilities. Expenditures for students with specific learning disabi lities are 1.6 times the expenditure for a regular education student, whereas expenditu res for students with multiple disabilities are 3.1 times higher.

• Per pupil education expenditures for students who receive special education services (excluding homebound stude nts) are 1.91 times greater than expenditures for students who receive no special education services. The average expenditure per pupil for students with disabilities (excludi ng homebound students) was $12,525 compared with $6,556 for the typi cal regular educa tion student who receives no special education services. Th e average spending ratio for this group of special education st udents is 1.91 (=$12,525/$6,556).

• Expenditures are highest for students with disabilities placed in non-public schools or other public agencies. The average expenditure on tuition, fees, and other special services for students placed in non-public schools or other public agencies is $25,580—twice the expenditure for the averag e special education student and 3.9 times the expenditure for regular education students.

• Highest-incidence disability categories ex hibit the lowest levels of per pupil spending. Students with the two most comm on disabilities, specific learning disabilities and speech/language impairments, make up 46 percent and 17 percent of the students who receive special educati on services, respectively. Per pupil spending on these two categories are $10,558 for speci fic learning disabled and $10,958 for speech/language impaired.Total Expenditures for Students with Disabilities: Variation by Disability

American Institutes for Research, page 1 

## I. Introduction

The first report in this series (Chambers, Parrish, and Harr, 2002) presented information derived from the Special Education Expenditu re Project (SEEP) on the total expenditures used to educate students found eligible fo r special education services. Terms like a typical or average special education student were us ed to refer to students with disabilities who received special education services. However, special education students represent a diverse set of child ren with widely varying needs for certain instructional and
related services.

This report explores the vari ations in education expenditu res used for students with various disabilities, and addresses th e following questions: How do education expenditures on students eligible for special education services vary by disability category? What information does a student’s di sability provide about the student’s need
for instructional or related services?

Under the Individuals with Di sabilities Education Act (ID EA), children served in a special education program are classified into one of 13 primary di sability categories. These 13 categories include mental, physical, social, or behavioral impairments, and disabilities that impact the ch ild’s ability to learn or func tion in school. Four of the 13 categories (i.e., specific learning disabili ty, speech/language impairment, mental retardation, and emotional disturbance) ac count for well over 80 percent of school-aged special education students. These are referred to as “high-incidence” disabilities since they represent the largest pe rcentages of the special edu cation population. The remaining categories are “low-inc idence” disabilities.

The data for this study come primarily from SEEP questionnaires filled out by special
education teachers and related service providers about their special education students. 1 All special education service providers in the selected schools were asked to fill out questionnaires for two students, and instru ctions were provided to ensure random sampling. 2 In addition, the special education direct or in each sample district was asked to provide information on three randomly select ed students who were served by non-public schools or other public agencies outside the scho ol district.

Instructions for selection of the students sampled were designed to enhance the likelihood of including students with low-incidence disabilities or le ss common disability categories. If the class or caseload of a teacher or related service provider included one or two students with low-incidence disabilities, these students were automatically selected for the sample. If there were more than two su ch students in the cla ss or caseload, two of them were randomly selected using specific pro cedures provided in the survey materials.
If there were no students with low-incidence di sabilities, respondents used the procedures to select a random sample of two students w ith high-incidence disab ilities. However, all

1 See Appendix A for a description of the sample.

2 The sample selection procedures were designed to ensure that the service provider most knowledgeable

about the student was asked to complete the student questionnaire.Total Expenditures for Students with Disabilities: Variation by Disability

American Institutes for Research, page 2 sample weights were adjusted so that the num bers presented in this report are intended to be nationally representative.

This report presents a detailed picture of expenditures on school-a ged special education
students obtained from SEEP data. All data reported are for the 1999–2000 school year. Section II shows how the total expenditure to educate a school-aged student with a disability varies depending on the type of disability. 3 Section III focuses on instructional and related service expenditures (which ma ke up over half of the total education expenditures), and how they vary by disabili ty category. Conclusions are presented in Section IV. This report and other SEEP reports use the phrase “student with a disability” to refer to a student receiving special educat ion services, as determ ined by the student’s Individual Education Program (IEP), under the IDEA.

Subsequent SEEP reports will explore the vari ations in expenditure within disability categories and will also examine other charact eristics of children that impact needs and ultimately expenditures on services.

3 Although data on preschool and non-public school students ar e presented in Exhibit 1, the analysis following Exhibit 1

includes only school-aged special e ducation students in public schools.Total Expenditures for Students with Disabilities: Variation by Disability

American Institutes for Research, page 3 

## II. Per Pupil Expenditures by Disability

Exhibit 1 shows the average per pupil spendi ng (and the 95 percent c onfidence intervals around the average spending estimates) on schoo l-aged special education students served within public schools, disaggregated into 11 of the 13 IDEA disabi lity categories. Two additional categories—preschool students in public schools (PRE) and students placed in non-public schools and othe r public agencies (NPS) 4 — are shown separately, as the sample sizes were too small to be broken into disability categories. The non-public schools category (NPS) includes both school-age d and preschool students who are served outside the public schools. Thus , the analysis of expenditure s by disability predominantly reflects differences observed for school-age d students served within public schools operated by local school districts, intermediate education units, or state special education
schools.

Two of the 13 disability categories are not included in the exhibits in this report: namely, school-aged children who are d eaf-blind and school-aged chil dren classified with a developmental delay. Expenditu re estimates for students with deaf-blindness are not shown due to insufficient sample size. 5

School-aged children classified with a devel opmental delay included only a small sample of children (i.e., less than 45). However, this category was only used in 21 states and,
there is wide variation in the numbers and proportions of school-aged children classified as developmentally delayed across the states. Be cause of the apparent lack of consistency of use of this category combined with the small sample, the estimates for this population of children are omitted in this report.

The expenditures presented in Exhibit 1 include spending on all regular and special
education services used to educate students with disa bilities in each of the categories designated on the horizontal axis. 6 Specifically, these expendit ures on special education students include personnel and non-personne l expenditures on regular education instruction, special education in struction and related services, regular school and district administration and support, special educa tion program administration and support, regular and special transportation services, and school facilities. 7

4 See Appendix B1 for descriptive statistics including spending ratios, per pupil expenditures, standard

errors, estimated population represented, and sample size, by disability category.

5 Minimum sample size for reporting numbers for the SEEP is 30 students. Estimates for samples smaller

than 30 students are suppressed.

6 While some special education stud ents receive services from other sp ecial needs programs such as Title

I, GATE, or programs for English language learners , these expenditures are ex cluded from the present analysis for simplicity. The overall average expenditure on these other special needs programs amounted to about $165 per pupil.

7 Average expenditure estimates for specialized equipment (which are included as a non-personnel

expenditure) are not unique to the student level and therefore may not reflect the actual expenditures for the different disability types. It is expected that th e estimates for disability categories with high special equipment needs are understated, and estimates for disability categories that have fewer needs for specialized equipment are overstated.Total Expenditures for Students with Disabilities: Variation by Disability

American Institutes for Research, page 4 On average, for the 1999–2000 school year, the e xpenditure to educat e a student without disabilities or other special needs is $6,556. The average per pupil expenditure on regular and special education services for special education students is $12,525, or 91 percent more than the amount being spent on the typical regular education student. 8

As seen in Exhibit 1, average expenditures vary by disability category. Disability categories are listed in order from lowe st average to highest average per pupil expenditure with the exception of the overall average, which is shown at the far left of the exhibit. The least expensive di sability category is specific l earning disability (SLD), with an average yearly expenditure of $10,558 per pupil. The average expenditure on students with specific learning disabilities is just over half the per pupil expenditure on students with multiple disabilities (MD), the most expe nsive disability category, with an average of $20,095 per pupil. The average expenditure fo r students with disabilities placed in non-public schools or other public agencies (NPS), $25,580, is almost four times the average expenditure for a regular education student.

Another way to show differences in spending by disability category is the spending ratio. The spending ratio compares the average e xpenditure for each disability category with the average expenditure for a regular educat ion student ($6,556). The spending ratio for each disability category appears in parenthe ses below each category label in Exhibit 1. Using the estimate of the average spending for a regular education student of $6,556 per year, the education expenditure for a student with a disability can range from 1.6 (SLD) to 3.1 (MD) to 3.9 (NPS) times the average expe nditure for a regular education student.

As mentioned in the previous section, four of the 13 disa bility categories make up the vast majority of the population of student s with disabilities. The two most common disabilities, specific learning disability (S LD) and speech/language impairment (SLI), make up over 60 percent of the population (w hich includes preschool students and students placed in non-public schools). These ar e also the two disabili ties with the lowest per pupil expenditures, at $10,558 and $10,958, respectively

.

8 This per pupil expenditure ($12,525) differs from th e one reported in the first report of this series

($12,474) (Chambers et al., 2002) because this re port excludes homebound and hospitalized students. Data for homebound and hospitalized students are co llected only at the aggregate level (by district), whereas data for all other students are collected at the individual student level. This report looks at instructional and related services, and therefore requires individual-level data. Homebound and hospitalized students account for only 0.6 percent of all special education students.Total Expenditures for Students with Disabilities: Variation by Disability

American Institutes for Research, page 5 *The vertical bars represent 95 percen t confidence interval s for the estimates. ** The dashed line (- - -) indicates average per pu pil spending for a regular education student, $6,556 *** The figures in parentheses represent the spending ratio, which compares the average expenditure for each disability category w ith the average expenditure for a re gular education student ($6,556).

Exhibit 1 also includes 95 percent confiden ce intervals around the per pupil expenditure
estimates. 9 The estimate for expenditures on stud ents with learning disabilities has a narrow confidence interval, wher eas the confidence interval for expenditures on students with visual impairments/blindness is rela tively wide. Estimates for expenditures on students with visual impairments/blindness ar e not statistically significantly different from expenditures on students with hearing im pairments/deafness, traumatic brain injury, autism, or multiple disabilities. For statis tical significance on comparisons of per pupil expenditure between any two categories, see Appendix B2.

The large confidence intervals around some of these expendit ure estimates suggests there is a wide range of needs represented within some of these disability categories. Two students with the same disability may have ve ry different expenditures because they have
different needs and therefore receive different services.

9 The 95 percent confidence interval s are calculated by adding to, or subtracting from, the mean the

standard error multiplied by 1.96. The higher the sample size and the lower the standard error, the
narrower the confidence interval w ill be. A lower confidence interval indicates a more precise estimate. Means and standard errors can be found in Appendix B1. Exhibit 1 reads: The average expenditure to educate a student with a specific learning disability is $10,558. The confidence interval for expenditures on students with this disability is quite narrow. Exhibit 1. Per Pupil Expenditures by Disability, with 95 Percent Confidence Intervals,*

1999-2000

$0 $5,000 $10,000 $15,000 $20,000 $25,000 $30,000

Upper bound $13,193 $11,309 $13,528 $14,677 $16,389 $16,588 $16,128 $18,281 $19,562 $21,671 $22,108 $21,826 $15,206 $30,264

Average $12,525 $10,558 $10,958 $13,229 $14,147 $14,993 $15,040 $15,992 $16,542 $18,790 $18,811 $20,095 $13,426 $25,580

Lower bound $11,857 $9,807 $8,388 $11,781 $11,905 $13,398 $13,952 $13,703 $13,522 $15,909 $15,514 $18,364 $11,646 $20,896 Avg.SE

Student (1.9)*** SLD (1.6) SLI (1.7) OHI (2.0) ED (2.2) OI (2.3) MR (2.3) HI/D (2.4) TBI (2.5) AUT (2.9) VI/B (2.9) MD (3.1) PRE (2.0) NPS (3.9) **Total Expenditures for Students with Disabilities: Variation by Disability

American Institutes for Research, page 6 

## III. Per Pupil Expenditures for Instructional and Related Services by Disability

In order to understand the differences in per pupil spending by disabi lity category, it is necessary first to understand the elements of per pupil spending. The combination of regular and special education instructional and related se rvices account for the vast majority (over 60 percent) of school spendi ng on students with disabilities, and school personnel accounts for the largest element of spending on instructional services. 10 All of the remaining analyses of variations in spending by disability focus only on the
instructional and related services received by special educatio n students, since these are the expenditures that will vary by disability. 11

Moreover, the remainder of these analyses of spending by disability will be limited to school-aged children and will include only those special education students served in the public schools. Special education students se rved in non-public schoo ls or other public agencies are excluded from this analysis because SEEP was able to collect information on tuition paid but no detail on the specific instructional and related services the students receive. Moreover, the samples of student s served in non-public schools and other public agencies by disability are too small in most instances to report with any degree of precision.

Each student may receive several of these serv ices and can receive more than one service simultaneously. Expenditures were calculated for each student for each of the services
listed below. 12 The instructional and related services presented in these analyses include the categories listed below.

• Regular education classes include expenditures for time spent by these students in a regular classroom with a regular cl assroom teacher and/or regular teaching assistants. If a student receives special education services inside the regular education classroom, for example services from a resource specialist, these
additional services will be counted un der the resource sp ecialist category.

• Special education classes include expenditures for time spent by these students in classes designed specifically for st udents with disabili ties and are taught by special education teachers who are ofte n supported by special education aides.

10 The remaining 40 percent of expenditures are those for school and district administration for the regular

and special education program. Much of the variation in these components may be traced to differences in district size and other factors that are not related to the disability of the child. The purpose of this report is to focus on the variati ons in expenditure that can be traced to disability category in the SEEP
data.

11 Exhibit 1 shows the total education expenditures per p upil, and includes all of the resources and services

mentioned above in Section II.

12 These services are different from the educational pl acements defined by the O ffice of Special Education

Programs (OSEP), U.S. Department of Education, which classify students into a single educational
environment.Total Expenditures for Students with Disabilities: Variation by Disability

American Institutes for Research, page 7 Such classes are often desi gned to replace many of the se rvices that would have otherwise been received in the regular classroom.

• Resource specialists include expenditures for time spent receiving services from special education teachers who either pull students with disabilities out of regular education classrooms or who go into regul ar education classrooms to provide specialized services for stude nts with disabilities such as supplemental instruction in reading or mathematics. These serv ices are designed to provide additional
resources to these areas of instruction ove r and above what is received by students with disabilities in the regular classroom. Services from a resource specialist can occur in a separate resource room (pull- out), in the student’s regular education classroom, or in the student’s self-contained special classroom.

• Related services include expenditures for time sp ent receiving services from speech/language specialists, physical/occu pational therapists, vision specialists, audiologists, psychologists, social worker s, personal health aides, and other related service providers. Related services can be provided by personnel during or after the school day as a pa rt of the student’s IEP.

• Other special education services include expenditures for time spent receiving community-based services, 13 extended time services (e .g., before or after school or on weekends), or summer school services.

Exhibit 2 shows per pupil expend itures for regular and special education instructional and
related services on students who are eligible for special educ ation. Most of these students spend some time in regular education clas srooms. The bottom portion of each bar in Exhibit 2 depicts expenditure s for regular education cl assroom services. Regular education class expenditures range from a low of $1,093 for students with mental retardation (MR) to $2,422 for students w ith visual impairment/blindness (VI/B). Students with specific learning disabilities (SLD), hearing impairment/deafness (HI/D), and speech/language impairments (SLI) also have relatively high expenditures on regular classroom services. Presumably, these are the students who spend the most time in regular education classrooms. The top portion of the bars re presents spending on special
education instructiona l and related services. Special e ducation expenditures are highest for the same types of students who have the highest total expenditures (i.e., students with autism (AUT), visual impairment/blindness (VI/ B), and multiple disabilities (MD)). More detailed information on the samples of students receiving various services can be found in Appendix C.

13 Community-based training services exclude vocational classe s that are part of the vocational

departmentalized secondary courses included under regular education classes.Total Expenditures for Students with Disabilities: Variation by Disability

American Institutes for Research, page 8 Exhibit 2 reads: On average, students with visual impairment/ blindness have relatively high expenditures for regular education classroom servic es ($2,422) and for special education services ($10,739). * Special education services includ e: special education classes, reso urce specialists, related services, community-based training, extended time services, and summer school. Exhibit 2. Average Per Pupil Expenditures for Regula r and Special Education Instructional and Relates Services, by Disability, 1999-2000

$2,007 $2,418 $2,112 $1,917 $1,547 $1,708 $1,093 $2,114 $1,403 $1,230 $2,422 $1,190 $5,420 $4,071 $4,569 $6,510 $7,653 $7,606 $8,153 $8,689 $9,743 $11,543 $10,739
$11,397

$0 $2,000 $4,000 $6,000 $8,000 $10,000 $12,000 $14,000

Average
SE
Student SLD SLI OHI ED OI MR HI/D TBI AUT VI/B MD Special
Education
Services *

Regular
EducationTotal Expenditures for Students with Disabilities: Variation by Disability

American Institutes for Research, page 9 Exhibit 3 reads: Over ninety percent of the total expenditure on students with multiple disabilities (MD) is attributable to special education services, an d this is the most expensive category to educate. For the least expensive category, specific learning disability (SLD), 63 percent of the total expenditure is attributable to special education services. Exhibit 3 reports the data in Exhibit 2 in an alternative way by showing how total expenditures are divided between regular and special education instruction and related services as a percentage of the total. With the disability categories again displayed in order from lowest to highest total expend iture, Exhibit 3 shows that the disability categories associated with the highest total spending (i.e., generally, the lower incidence categories) tend to spend relatively more on spec ial relative to regular education services,
and vice versa.



### Exhibit 3. The Division between Regular and Special Education Expenditures as a Percentage of the Total Expenditure on Instructional and Related Services for Special Education Students, 1999-2000

37% 32% 23% 17% 18% 12% 20% 13% 10% 18% 9% 63% 68% 77% 83% 82% 88% 80% 87% 90% 82% 91%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

SLD SLI OHI ED OI MR HI/D TBI AU VI/B MD Special
Education Expenditures

Regular
Education ExpendituresTotal Expenditures for Students with Disabilities: Variation by Disability

American Institutes for Research, page 10

Exhibit 4 reads: Students with autism (AUT) have the highe st per pupil expenditures for special services ($11,543), and more of these expenditure s are spent on special education classes than any of the three other types of expenditures. Exhibit 4 shows a more detailed breakdown of the special education services estimates shown in top portion of the bar displayed in Exhibit 2. As in Exhi bit 2, the dollar value
estimates take into account the total population of special education students in each disability category. In other words, thes e per pupil expenditures represent the total spending on each type of instructional or re lated service divided by the total number of students in the disability category. Thus, the average expenditures on a particular
instructional or related service reflect the f act that some students may not have received
that service. 14

* Other special education services include: comm unity-based training, extended time services, and
summer school.

** Related services include: school psychologists, social workers, school nurses, speech/language specialists, physical/occupational therapists, audiol ogists, vision specialists, other therapists, and personal health aides.

14 For example, the estimated per pupil expenditure for the services of resource specialists for all students with speech language impairment is $497 per year. Th is number seems low becaus e it reflects the fact that not all the students with speech and language impairment receive services from resource specialists. If we only considered the students with speech/ language impairments who actually receive services from resource specialists, the average expenditure would be $1,847. Since this report explores variations among disability categories, it would be misleading to show the average dollars spent for only those students who receive the services, since a small percentage of stud ents in a category who receive an expensive service would not help to explain the variation by disability category. Exhibit 4.

Per Pupil Expenditures for Special Education Services, By Disability, 1999-2000

$0 $2,000 $4,000 $6,000 $8,000 $10,000 $12,000 $14,000

A verage SE

Student SLD SLI OHI ED OI MR HI/D TBI A U T VI/B MD Other Special
Education Services *

Related Services**

Resource Specialist

Special
Education
Classes $5,420 $11,397 $10,739 $11,543

$9,743

$8,689 $8,153 $7,606 $7,653

$6,510

$4,569 $4,071Total Expenditures for Students with Disabilities: Variation by Disability

American Institutes for Research, page 11 Exhibit 3 reads: For the least expensive disability category, specific learning disability (SLD), 49 percent of the special education expenditure is attributable to resource specialist services. Exhibit 5 presents the data in Exhibit 4 in an alternative way by showing how total expenditures on special education are divi ded among the major categories of special education services. With the disability categor ies again displayed in order from lowest to highest total expenditure, Exhib it 5 shows a less systematic pa ttern than Exhibit 3 of the trade-offs between these various categories of special education services. With the exception of speech/language impairments, it can be seen that most of the special education expenditures are accounted for by e xpenditures on special class and resource specialist services. Combined, these two compon ents of instructional services range from a low of 42 percent (speech/language impairment s) to a high of about 80 percent (specific learning disability) of tota l special education expenditu res. The variations in expenditures on specific special education services between these two disability categories, which have very similar total special education expend itures, are striking.

Other variations are evident which do not seem to be related to the progression from low to high total expenditure, nor to low and high incidence disability categories. Special class services tend to play a proportionately larger role in ex penditures for students
classified with emotional disturbance a nd mental retardation, which are two highincidence, lower spending disa bility categories. However, th is is also true for students with autism and multiple disabilities, the tw o low-incidence, higher spending disability categories. Resource services tended to play a proportionately larger role in accounting for expenditures on students classified w ith a specific learning disability, visual impairment/blindness, traumatic brain injury, and other health impairment. Expenditures on related services play a relatively larg er role for students with speech/language impairment or orthopedic impairment. Expend itures on other special education services such as community-based, extended time, and summer school services were most prominent for students with autism, emoti onal disturbance, and mental retardation.

Exhibit 5. Composition of Special Education Instructional and Related Service Expenditures by Disability Category. 1999-2000

30% 31% 34% 49%

28% 51%

33% 26% 43%

31% 47% 49%

11% 29% 21%

21% 20%

25%

30% 19%
36% 14% 15%

56% 29% 17%

42% 16% 38% 36% 24% 29%
31% 6% 8% 13% 9% 13% 4% 8% 14% 5% 8% 2%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

SLD SLI OHI ED OI MR HI/D TBI AU VI/B MD Other Special Education Services

Related Services

Resource Specialist

Special Ed. ClassesTotal Expenditures for Students with Disabilities: Variation by Disability

American Institutes for Research, page 12 Exhibit 6 reads: The average expenditure on regular educati on classes is $2,418 for students with specific learning disabilities (SLD), and the standard error is $306. Exhibit 6 shows the detail behind the regular and special education expenditures shown in Exhibit 4, as well as the standard errors for each of the estimates. The special education expenditures are co mprised of six components in cluding: special educationclasses, resource specialists, related services, and other related services (communitybased training, extended time services, and summer school).

Exhibit 6.
Means and Standard Errors for Per Pupil Expenditures for Regular and Special Education Instructional and Related Services, by Disability, 1999-2000

Regular Special

Regular Ed.
Classes Special Ed.
Classes Resource Specialist Related
Services CommunityBased Training Extended
Time Service Summer
School

Mean SE Mean SE Mean SE Mean SE Mean SE Mean SE Mean SE

Av g SE Student $2,007 ($207) $2,041 ($150) $1,500 ($146) $1,463 ($387) $133 ($526) $145 ($1,751) $138 ($66)

SLD $2,418 ($306) $1,209 ($168) $2,006 ($143) $602 ($403) $56 ($1,476) $103 ($1,423) $95 ($110)

SLI $2,112 ($459) $1,426 ($319) $497 ($273) $2,551 ($1,392) * * $32 ($1,002) $62 ($137)

OHI $1,917 ($161) $2,237 ($499) $1,871 ($255) $1,857 ($596) $117 ($1,581) $257 ($828) $171 ($112)

ED $1,547 ($317) $3,739 ($341) $1,616 ($287) $1,331 ($704) $100 ($512) $756 ($5,878) $111 ($97)

OI $1,708 ($448) $2,122 ($383) $1,594 ($344) $3,190 ($505) $166 ($1,977) $310 ($4,314) $224 ($108)

MR $1,093 ($304) $4,130 ($373) $1,642 ($773) $1,291 ($294) $805 ($661) $56 ($818) $229 ($51)

HI/D $2,114 ($264) $2,876 ($1,604) $2,171 ($369) $3,335 ($873) $49 ($1,418) $49 ($669) $209 ($75)

TBI $1,403 ($309) $2,347 ($490) $2,739 ($873) $3,342 ($1,532) $486 ($2,508) * * $257 ($132)

AU $1,230 ($273) $4,966 ($456) $2,208 ($1,885) $2,734 ($460) $584 ($1,375) $490 ($3,209) $561 ($63)

VI/B $2,422 ($497) $3,285 ($1,611) $3,824 ($1,232) $3,141 ($1,093) $257 ($268) $47 ($507) $185 ($173)

MD $1,190 ($372) $5,362 ($359) $1,600 ($600) $3,515 ($674) $371 ($484) $143 ($630) $406 ($106)

* Values omitted due to insufficient sample size. OSEP guidelines require 10 unweighted cases per cell.

Exhibit 7 disaggregates the related services shown in Exhibits 4 and 5 into their component parts. The two main types of related services are those provided by speech/language specialists and physical/occupational therapists. The other related

services , which are combined in Exhibit 4 and 5, include services from school psychologists, social workers, school nurse s, audiologists, vision specialists, other therapists, and persona l health aides.

Overall, expenditures on related services are highest for students with multiple disabilities (MD), who also ha ve the highest total expenditu res, and lowest for students with specific learning disabilities (SLD), who also have the lowest total expenditures. In between, however, the pattern of increasing pe r pupil expenditures is not consistent with this ordering of disabilities. The order in E xhibit 7 follows Exhibit 1, in which disabilities
are ranked from lowest to highest according to their total expenditures.Total Expenditures for Students with Disabilities: Variation by Disability

American Institutes for Research, page 13

Exhibit 7 reads: Expenditures for related services for student s with specific learning disabilities (SLD) are much lower ($602) t han the $2,551 spent on students with speech/language impairments (SLI). It is interesting to note that the two categorie s that are least expensive to serve—students with specific learning disabilities (SLD) a nd students with speech/language impairments (SLI)—are similar in total expenditures, regu lar expenditures, and special expenditures. However, they are very different in their expenditures on related services. Expenditures for students with specific learning disabili ties are only $602, well below the average of $1,463. Expenditures are well above average for students with speech language impairments, $2,551, almost equally split between speech/language therapists and physical/occupational ther apists. Looking back to Exhibit 5, the tradeoff seems to be that more is spent on resource specialists for st udents with specific learning disabilities.

Students with speech/language impairments do not have the highest expenditures on speech/language therapists, however. Two ot her categories have higher expenditures: students with autism (AUT) and hearing impairment/deafness (HI/D).

Exhibit 7. Per Pupil Expenditures for Related Services: Speech/Language Specialist, Physical/Occupation al Therapist, and Other Related Services,
1999-2000

$0 $500 $1,000 $1,500 $2,000 $2,500 $3,000 $3,500 $4,000

A verage SE

Student SLD SLI OHI ED OI MR HI/D TBI A UT VI/B MD Other
Related
Services

Physical/ Occupat. Therapist

Speech/ Language Specialist $3,515

$3,141

$2,734 $3,342 $3,335

$1,291 $3,190

$1,331 $1,857 $2,551

$602 $1,463Total Expenditures for Students with Disabilities: Variation by Disability

American Institutes for Research, page 14 Exhibit 8 reads: The average expenditure on speech/langu age specialists for students with speech/language impairments (SLI) is $1,250 with a standard error of $140. Exhibit 8 provides the detailed data for the ba r chart in Exhibit 7, as well as standard errors for each category.

Exhibit 8.
Means and Standard Errors for Ex penditures for Related Services: Speech/Language Specialist, Physical/Occupation al Therapist, and Other Related Services,
1999-2000

Speech/Language Specialist Physical/Occupational Therapist Other Related Services*

Mean Standard Error Mean Standa rd Error Mean Standard Error

Average SE Student $622 ($60) $498 ($1,200) $343 ($267)

SLD $290 ($213) $151 ($1,243) $161 ($215)

SLI $1,250 ($140) $1,205 ($6,145) $96 ($183)

OHI $470 ($304) $609 ($605) $778 ($851)

ED $166 ($210) $84 ($911) $1,081 ($834)

OI $682 ($388) $1,866 ($546) $642 ($342)

MR $531 ($131) $354 ($239) $406 ($334)

HI/D $1,654 ($995) $80 ($192) $1,601 ($770)

TBI $875 ($549) $1,188 ($1,184) $1,279 ($1,669)

AUT $1,263 ($271) $513 ($208) $958 ($652)

VI/B $239 ($355) $311 ($565) $2,591 ($1,137)

MD $802 ($142) $1,398 ($387) $1,315 ($807)

* Other related services include: school psychologists, social workers, school nurses, audiologists, vision specialists, other therapists, and personal health aides.Total Expenditures for Students with Disabilities: Variation by Disability

American Institutes for Research, page 15 

## IV. Conclusions

During the 1999–2000 school year, the expenditure to educate a student with a disability varies across disability categories. The least expensive category, specific learning disability, has an average annual expenditure of $10,558 per pupil. This is about half of the expenditure for students with multiple di sabilities, the most expensive disability category in public schools, with an average of $20,095 per year. Expenditures are highest for students with disabilities placed in non-publ ic schools or other public agencies. Their average expenditure on tuition, fees, a nd other special services is $25,580.

A comparison of expenditures to educate sc hool-aged special education students with expenditures on regular education students (w ho receive no special education services) in public schools shows that the per pupil expenditure for a stude nt with a disability ranges between 1.6 (specific learning disabilities) and 3.1 (multiple disabilities) times the expenditure for a regular education student. The per pupil expenditure for students with disabilities placed in non-public schools or other public agencies is 3.9 times the expenditure for a regular education student.

The highest-incidence disability categories ar e the lowest in per pupil spending. Students
with the two most common disa bilities, specific learning di sabilities and speech/language impairments, make up 46 percent and 17 per cent of the students who receive special education services, respectively. Per pup il spending on these two categories are $10,558 for specific learning disability, as mentioned above, and $10,958 for speech/language impairment.

While the division between special and regular education appears somewhat systematic in explaining the variations in total expe nditure, the division of special education spending among various types of services does not show a systematic pattern that helps explain the variations in spe nding across disability categories ordered from the lowest to highest total spending. Some students have higher expend itures on spec ial education classes, while others have higher expend itures on resource programs. Similar inconsistency is observed for related services. In short, it appears that each disability category has a unique configuration of special education expenditures.

Subsequent SEEP reports will also examine how understanding individual student needs may help to explain variations in educati on expenditures for students with disabilities better than their disability category alone.Total Expenditures for Students with Disabilities: Variation by Disability

American Institutes for Research, page 16 

## References

Chambers, J.G., Parrish, T., & Harr, J. J. (2002). What Are We Spending on Special Education Services in the United States, 1999-2000? Palo Alto, CA: American
Institutes for Research. Available at: www.seep.org

Kakalik, J., Furry, W., Thomas, M., & Carney, M. (1981). The cost of special education

. Santa Monica, CA: Rand Corporation.

Moore, M.T., Strang, E.W., Schwartz, M., & Braddock, M. (1988). Patterns in special education service delivery and cost. Washington, DC: Decision Resources Corp. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 303 027.)

Rossmiller, Richard A., Hale, James A., & Frohreich, Lloyd (1970). Educational programs for exceptional children: Resource configurations and costs. Madison, WI: Department of Educational Admini stration, University of Wisconsin.Total Expenditures for Students with Disabilities: Variation by Disability

American Institutes for Research, A-1 

## Appendix A1 SEEP Samples

The SEEP surveys were sent to a stratified random sample of districts and schools (see “SEEP Reports”) that included representatives from the 50 states a nd the District of Columbia. Samples of districts were selected within each of the states (a minimum of two districts in each state, except for in Hawaii and the District of Co lumbia, which have only one school district each). More districts were included from larger states. Intermediate education units (IEUs) were selected from IEUs serving the districts included in the sample. IEUs were surveyed only if they r eceived funds directly from the state for serving their students and essent ially operated independently of the school districts in the region they serve.

Samples of elementary, secondary, and special education schools were selected from the sampled districts and IEUs (where appropria te). In addition, stat e special education schools were also sampled.

Expanded samples of districts, IEUs, and school s were selected through a series of nine
separate contracts w ith individual states. 15 These states provided additional support for data collection and these expanded samples ar e included in the analyses presented in these reports.

Data were collected from all special edu cation teachers and rela ted service providers assigned to schools in the sample. In additi on, samples of regular education teachers and special education teacher aides were sele cted from the staff in these schools.

Finally, the special education teachers and related service pr oviders were each asked to select a sample of two students with disabili ties from the rosters of students they serve. To prevent the possibility of a student bei ng selected multiple times, the research team developed sample selection procedures so that students were only selected from the most restrictive placement possible for any given st udent. The sample selection procedures were designed to ensure that the service provider most knowledgeable about any student completed the survey about the student.

The student sample on which many of the an alyses are based comes from 1,053 of the 1,767 schools included in our orig inal sample (representing 45 states and the District of Columbia). This sample includes 330 regular local educational agencies, 14 IEUs, and 7 state special education schools. Analysis of the patterns of response suggests that the samples on which these estimates are based do not appear to exhibit any response bias.

15 The nine states include Alabama, Delaware, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio,

and Rhode Island.Total Expenditures for Students with Disabilities: Variation by Disability

American Institutes for Research

, A-2 

## Appendix A2 SEEP Population and Sample Proportions, by Disability

Looking at the proportions of students by di sability category, one can see that the percentage of students in the sample does not match the percentage of students in the population. For example, Exhibit A2.1, below, shows that students with speech and language impairments represent 17.5 percent of the population but only 5. 6 percent of the sample, whereas students with mental reta rdation are a smaller percentage of the population (9.2 percent) and repr esent a larger percentage of the sample (11.0 percent). See Appendix B1 for the numbers of student s in the population and in the sample for each disability category.

Our sampling procedures were designed bot h to guarantee that the most knowledgeable service provider filled out the student’s que stionnaire and to obtai n an adequate number of observations from low-incidence disability categories to produce estimates. It was not our intent to estimate prevalence, as those es timates can be obtained elsewhere. If this had been our objective, we woul d have selected a sample based on lists of students across
districts or schools rather than from the cla ss rosters from special education teachers and related service providers.

Service providers were given instructions on how to select two students for whom they would fill out the questionnaires. Service providers made lists of the students they served (for special class teachers, th is meant the class roster; for others it meant the entire caseload). To ensure that no student was on more than one list, resource teacher/specialists had to cross any student off their lists who was served by a special education teacher, and related service providers had to cr oss off any student who was served by either of the other types of provide rs. They then each di vided their lists into low-incidence (rare) disabil ities and high-incidence (mor e common) disabilities. To ensure enough students in the sample with lo w-incidence disabilities, they first chose up to two students randomly from that list. If there were no low-incide nce students or there was only one low-incidence student, they randomly chose high-incidence disability students to bring the total to two.

The following calculations show that our samp ling instructions made it unlikely that the sample proportions would match the populati on proportions. The top half of the table below shows the numbers and percentages of students in the sample, and the population of students who receive special education services, for students in each of four disability categories (speech language impairment (S LI), mental retardation (MR), hearing impairment (HI), and autism (AUT)). Exhib it A2.2 depicts the per centage of students who receive services from the three types of service providers: special education teacher, resource specialist/teacher, a nd related service provider.Total Expenditures for Students with Disabilities: Variation by Disability

American Institutes for Research

, A-2 Exhibit A2.1. Sample and Population Percentages, by Disability

High Incidence Low Incidence

SLI MR HI/D AUT Number in population 1,076,182 565,281 59,240 55,042 Percent of population 17.5% 9.2% 1.0% 0.9% Number in sample 560 1,097 355 638 Percent of sample 5.6% 11.0% 3.6% 6.4%

Exhibit A2.2. Percent of Students Served by Different Types of Service Providers

High Incidence Low Incidence Percent of students served by: SLI MR HI/D AUT Special education teacher 40% 80% 48% 76% Resource specialist/ teacher 27% 37% 54% 33% Related service provider 78% 45% 77% 72%

The SEEP sample of special education se rvice providers who filled out the student questionnaires has 2,345 special education teachers, 1,465 resource specialist/teachers, and 1,013 related service providers. That means that almost 50 percent of the individuals in the sample are special education teachers, 30 percent are resource specialist/teachers, and only approximately 20 percent are relate d service providers (and only a portion of those related service providers are speech therapists).

Given that special education teachers constitu te the majority of the respondents for the special education student questionnaire, the pr obability of a student with speech/language impairment being selected was much smaller than the probability of selecting a student with mental retardation, because only 40 percent of students with speech/language impairment receive services from special e ducation teachers, compared to 80 percent of
students with mental retardation.

The same rationale applies to students with autism and students with hearing impairments. The population of autistic a nd hearing impaired students is roughly the same (59,240 and 55,042 respectively), but studen ts with autism repr esent 6.4 percent of the sample, compared to 3.6 percent for stude nts with hearing impairments. Looking at the way these students are served, 77 percent of students with autis m receive services from a special education teacher, compared to less than 50 percent of hearing-impaired students. This suggests that students with auti sm are more likely to be in the sample than hearing impaired students, because they ar e more likely to be served by a special education teacher (who selects students from his or her class to be in the sample).

Because the sampling procedures were desi gned to obtain an adequate number of observations to produce reliable estimates for st udents with low-incidence disabilities, the distribution by disability categ ory of the sample and the population are not the same. TheTotal Expenditures for Students with Disabilities: Variation by Disability

American Institutes for Research

, A-2 difference between the sample and the population is explained here to ensure the reader that in no way does this difference affect the an alysis, as the purpose of this paper is to explore patterns of services and expe nditures rather than incidence rates.Total Expenditures for Students with Disabilities: Variation by Disability

American Institutes for Research, B-1 

## Appendix B1 Spending Ratios, Per Pupil Expe nditures, Standard Errors, Population, and Sample Size, by Disability

Exhibit B1. Spending Ratios, Per Pupil Expenditures, Sta ndard Errors, Population, and Sample Size, 16 by Disability

Total Per Pupil Expenditures
Standard Error Total Special Education Expenditures
Standard Error Disability Category Spending
Ratio 17

Mean Standard

Error Mean Standard

Error Population Number
of
Students
in Sample

Autism (AUT) 2.9 $18,790 $1,470 $15,219 $1,457 55,042 638

Emotional Disturbance (ED) 2.2 $14,147 $1,144 $9,885 $1,153 383,418 900

Hearing Impairment/Deafness (HI/D) 2.4 $15,992 $1,168 $11,006 $932 59,240 355

Mental Retardation (MR) 2.3 $15,040 $555 $11,393 $564 565,281 1,097

Multiple Disabilities (MD) 3.1 $20,095 $883 $16,098 $888 78,993 670

Orthopedic Impairment (OI) 2.3 $14,993 $814 $10,888 $784 66,110 260

Other Health Impairment (OHI) 2.0 $13,229 $739 $8,754 $801 238,975 943

Specific Learning Disability (SLD) 1.6 $10,558 $383 $5,507 $257 2,807,268 3,172

Speech/Language Impairment (SLI) 1.7 $10,958 $1,311 $6,334 $1,533 1,076,182 560

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) 2.5 $16,542 $1,541 $12,459 $1,476 12,073 159

Visual Impairment/Blindness (VI/B) 2.9 $18,811 $1,682 $13,796 $1,755 22,241 196

Preschool (PRE) 2.0 $13,426 $908 $10,013 $1,035 539,399 598

Students Placed in Non-public Schools (NPS) 3.9 $25,580 $2,390 $25,580 $2,240 229,392 316

Average Special Education Student 1.9 $12,525 $341 $8,126 $363 6,153,351 9,936

16 It is not necessary for the sample proportions and the popu lation proportions to be the same. The purpose

of the SEEP sampling procedure was to obtain an adequate number of observations to produce reliable estimates, not to estimate prevalence, as prevalence in formation is available else where. See Appendix A2 for a more detailed explanation.

17 The spending ratio compares spending on a special education student with a particular disability with spending on the average regular education student.Total Expenditures for Students with Disabilities: Variation by Disability

American Institutes for Research, B-2 

## Appendix B2

Significance Levels (P-valu es) for Differences Among Disability Categories for Per Pupil Expenditures

Exhibit B2. Significance Levels (P-values) for Differenc es in Per Pupil Expenditures, by Disability

(Differences Statistically Significant at th e 5 Percent Level are Highlighted in Grey)

Disability Category AUT ED HI/D MR MD OI OHI SLD SLI TBI VI/B PRE NPS

Autism

- 0.01 0.14 0.02 0.45 0.02 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.29 0.99 0.00 0.02

Emotional Disturbance 0.01 - 0.26 0.48 0.00 0.55 0.50 0.00 0.07 0.21 0.02 0.62 0.00 Hearing Impairment/
Deafness 0.14 0.26 - 0.46 0.01 0.48 0.05 0.00 0.00 0.78 0.17 0.08 0.00

Mental Retardation 0.02 0.48 0.46 - 0.00 0.96 0.05 0.00 0.00 0.36 0.03 0.13 0.00 Multiple Disabilities 0.45 0.00 0.01 0.00
- 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.05 0.50 0.00 0.03 Orthopedic Impairment 0.02 0.55 0.48 0.96 0.00 - 0.11 0.00 0.01 0.37 0.04 0.20 0.00
Other Health Impairment 0.00 0.50 0.05 0.05 0.00 0.11 - 0.00 0.13 0.05 0.00 0.87 0.00 Specific Learning Disability 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 - 0.77 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Speech/Language Impairment 0.00 0.07 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.13 0.77 - 0.01 0.00 0.12 0.00 Traumatic Brain Injury 0.29 0.21 0.78 0.36 0.05 0.37 0.05 0.00 0.01 - 0.32 0.08 0.00 Visual Impairment/
Blindness 0.99 0.02 0.17 0.03 0.50 0.04 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.32 - 0.00 0.02

Preschool 0.00 0.62 0.08 0.13 0.00 0.20 0.87 0.00 0.12 0.08 0.00
- 0.00
Students Placed in Non-public Schools 0.02 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.03 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.02 0.00
-Total Expenditures for Students with Disabilities: Variation by DisabilityAmerican Institutes for Research, C-1Appendix CSample Sizefor Instructional and Related Services,by DisabilityExhibit C.Sample Size for Expenditures for Instructional and Related Services, by DisabilityInstructional and RelatedServices Total AutismEmotionalDisturbanceHearingImpairment/DeafnessMentalRetardationMultipleDisabilitiesRegular Education Classes 6,862 362 512 286 547 319Special Education Classes 5,326 446 664 168 870 541Resource Specialist 4,672 228 338 175 342 194Related Services 5,124 505 394 289 553 512School Psychologist 550 48 155 7 34 55Social Worker 154 12 45 7 12 21School Nurse 509 34 69 56 50 70Speech/Language Specialist 3,721 461 119 238 465 393Physical/Occupational Ther. 1,890 269 34 29 219 335Audiologist 156 1 3 95 10 8Vision Specialist 128 5 0 2 16 37Other Therapist 1,636 190 183 69 217 271Personal Health Aide 70 7 1 1 6 28Community-Based Training 592 80 30 11 220 100Extended Time Service 359 33 33 15 22 27Summer School 1,601 254 111 65 253 246Total Expenditures for Students with Disabilities: Variation by DisabilityAmerican Institutes for Research, C-1Exhibit C.Sample Size for Expenditures for Instructional and Related Services, by Disability (continued)Instructional and RelatedServicesOrthopedicImpairmentOther HealthImpairmentSpecificLearningDisabilitySpeech/LanguageImpairmentTraumaticBrain InjuryVisualImpairment/BlindnessPreschoolStudentsRegular Education Classes 191 791 2,796 511 100 131 273Special Education Classes 129 383 1,332 127 85 109 426Resource Specialist 126 592 2,200 149 95 87 119Related Services 206 477 912 492 87 128 520School Psychologist 13 57 127 8 7 14 21Social Worker 3 13 24 0 10 2 4School Nurse 14 47 85 11 8 33 27Speech/Language Specialist 84 257 607 484 67 47 456Physical/Occupational Ther. 174 223 137 53 48 47 297Audiologist 1 4 13 1 1 0 14Vision Specialist 3 5 4 0 2 29 20Other Therapist 99 165 172 41 34 80 96Personal Health Aide 6 3 0 0 1 1 15Community-Based Training 10 29 58 2 11 16 18Extended Time Service 10 52 113 10 8 11 21Summer School 43 101 222 53 21 35 182