A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Chapter 3

How Many Children Have Special Needs?

Project staff were asked each year to indicate whether a child had been identified as having any special needs.³⁷  Eleven percent of Even Start children participating in 1996-97 were reported to have special needs, which is consistent with the national average and the rates in 1994-95 and 1995-96.³⁸   The prevalence of children with special needs in Even Start was comparable with the 13 percent of such children reported in the Head Start Program.

The most common type of special need was speech/language impairment (44 percent of children with special needs), followed by developmental delays (29 percent, see Appendix B, Exhibit B.3). Thirteen percent of the special-needs children had been diagnosed with a specific learning disability. For 23 percent of the children with special needs, project staff indicated problems other than those we listed. Many of these "other" special needs involved attention deficit disorder or a wide range of medical/health problems.

In providing educational services for these children, projects need to address their special needs, either as part of the program services or through referrals to other agencies. In Chapter 5, we report that 28 percent of children participating in 1996-97 received health care/referral/screening, and 10 percent received counseling (Exhibit 5.16).

³⁸  We did not ask who identified the presen e of special nees (e.g. Even Start staff medical professional, child's parents). Even Start staff may assume the primiary responsibility for idtifying needs that are dirctly related to education, such ass specific learning disabilites. Other types of needs (e.g., visual, hearing, and orthopedic impairment) amy involve testing by medical professionals.

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[Part 4: What Were the Demographic Characteristics of Even Start Families?]

[Part 6: Who Are The Neediest Of Even Start Families?]