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16 Prevalence of Learning Disabilities
Pages 281-294

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From page 281...
... ESTIMATES OF LEARNING DISABILITY PREVALENCE AND PREVALENCE TRENDS FROM THE GENERAL POPULATION The committee identified multiple potential data sources that address the prevalence of and trends for rates of learning disabilities in the United States. From these, we identified two data sets judged (1)
From page 282...
... . While there are certainly limitations with each of these imperfect data sources (e.g., errors in parent reports, differences in awareness and available funds across different school districts, attrition in longitudinal cohorts)
From page 283...
... SOURCE: NSCH, 2012b. Federal Poverty Level FIGURE 16-2  Percentage of children with learning disabilities by the federal poverty level (FPL)
From page 284...
... . Prevalence Trends The committee also sought to identify two data sets that would provide the most accurate information on trends in the rates of learning disabilities over recent years.
From page 285...
... It produces statistical information on the prevalence, distribution, and effects of illness and disability in the United States and on the services rendered because of such conditions. This nationally representative survey has been conducted annually since 1957 and samples approximately 35,000 households containing 87,500 individuals each month (Halfon et al., 2012)
From page 286...
... SSI Within the SSI program for children with mental disorders, LD is the basis for a relatively small but still substantial number of allowances, determinations, and recipients for SSI benefits. Table 16-2 provides the SSI administrative data on LD among children.
From page 287...
... No overall trend is noted. Over the same time period, the rate of child SSI LD allowances gradually and
From page 288...
... Column 1 shows the percentage of all Medicaid enrollees who had a diagnosis of LD, by year. Column 2 shows the percentage of LD diagnoses among the smaller subpopulation of Medicaid enrollees who
From page 289...
... , with most of the increase occurring between 2008 and 2010. For the 6-year period of overlap between the Medicaid and SSI administrative data sets, from 2004 to 2010, the rate of LD diagnoses among all Medicaid-enrolled children increased by 20 percent, while the rate of LD diagnoses among SSI-eligible Medicaid-enrolled children increased by 15.25 percent.
From page 290...
... SOURCE: MAX data.
From page 291...
... Over the same time period, the percentage of children under 200 percent FPL who were recipients of SSI benefits for LD fluctuated, showing an increase from 2004 to 2007, a decrease from 2007 to 2011, and then another increase from 2011 to 2013; over the 10-year period the total increase was 0.011 percent. The trends in the rate of LD diagnoses among all child Medicaid enrollees from 2001 to 2010 remained flat.
From page 292...
... SOURCES: U.S. Census Bureau, 2014, 2015; NSCH, 2012a; unpublished data set provided by the SSA.
From page 293...
... • Among children enrolled in Medicaid on the basis of SSI eligibility, the rate of children with an LD diagnosis appears to be increasing. Among all children enrolled in Medicaid, there does not appear to be an increase in the rates of LD diagnoses.
From page 294...
... http:// childhealthdata.org/browse/survey/results? q=2542&r=1 (accessed August 4, 2015)


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