The State of Learning Disabilities

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Students with LD who leave high school and enter the workforce need to remember that:

	LD is not something to hide or be ashamed of
	Disclosing LD will be necessary to get needed accommodations
	Co-workers, supervisors and bosses may not have accurate information about LD and may attribute any struggles you experience are due to sloppiness or lack of effort
	While there is no “IEP” at work, you have rights and protections under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
	All of the above

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The State of Learning Disabilities

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By Candace Cortiella, Director - The Advocacy Institute
Published: July 27 2011

NCLD, with the State of Learning Disabilities, has published a critical report that will further the debate over how to strengthen the programs and policies we have in place to serve and protect students and adults with learning disabilities.

- Thomas H. Kean, NCLD Board Member and former Governor of New Jersey

Overview

The State of Learning Disabilities: Facts, Trends and Indicators provides the authoritative national and state-by-state snapshot of learning disabilities (LD) in the United States, and their impact on the ability of students and adults to achieve educational success and employment. This publication also clarifies what a learning disability is and explains the common misperceptions associated with LD. See below for highlights and key take-aways or read the State of Learning Disabilities >

In the U.S.

The U.S. Survey of Income and Program Participation survey shows the LD prevalence rate among the U.S. population (ages 6 and older) to be 1.8%, totaling 4.67 million Americans.

Males are much more likely to have acknowledged learning disabilities than females.
The unemployment rate for those with LD was twice that of those without LD

In the Schools

Increasing the graduation rate of students with LD and reducing the dropout rate are among the many pressing issues for these students.

Students with LD experience disciplinary actions at a much higher rate than those without LD.
2.5 million American public school students identified with LD as eligible under IDEA.

LD Beyond School

There are major disconnects between high school and postsecondary education which create obstacles for students with LD.

Often students with LD have lower aspirations regarding their own postsecondary education
Just under 11% of undergraduates reported having some type of disability.

Conclusions

As the nature of LD continues to be better understood and the particular needs of those with these neurological differences are more well defined, success in all aspects of life should become more achievable for a larger number of Americans with LD.

Both research and public policy must continue to support such advances. To learn more about the State of Learning Disabilities, download the publication or read it online.

Read The State of Learning Disabilities

Open publication - Free publishing - More ncld

The State of Learning Disabilities is a bienniel publication. Download the 2011 State of Learning of Learning Disabilities >

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14 Comments

need recent report of The State of Learning Disabilities (2009

Posted by: Prof Fathy Mostafa on Tuesday, 27 March 2012
As a profesional Educational Therapist and SLD specialist,intervention and advocate I would like to ask if I could get a copy of the publication "State of Learing Disabilities" could be sent to me.

Posted by: Andrew Barling on Tuesday, 24 January 2012
It appears that with the RTI process, yes less are being identified. But it also appears that the "true" LD children are being overlooked and they are identifying students who would be more of a "slow learner". These students don't have the spark like the true SLD students. It's frustrated as to see this happening since I'm a 24 yr old veteran teaching specializing in SLD in college. They need to return back to testing with scientific/research based assessments. The RTI process is heavy in paperwork. Some teachers are not referring students because of the additional paperwork and lack of support once they are identified (At some schools the caseloads are to high to manage appropriately).

Posted by: Dee on Saturday, 21 January 2012
My younger son is suffering from Benign Myoclonic epilepsy of childhood & is having severe learning disability. Kindly inform me such centres of learning disability in INDIA. I shall feel highly obliged. Thanx.

Posted by: DR. AJAY KUMAR SAXENA on Tuesday, 20 December 2011
What is known about racial/ethnic percents of children in the public schools?

Posted by: James D McKinney on Friday, 04 November 2011
My son had a hard time learning to speak, read and write. I was in the fortunate position to keep him out of school starting in 3rd grade in 1979. He is now writing his thesis for a doctors degree in Genetics! I never dreamed he had that in him when he was 10 years old. A lot of effort from him and guidance from me went into getting this product. Very little of what I learned getting a degree in education helped me with my own son. Except I knew what not to do - traditional ways of handling low achievers in early elementary grades. Sharon Hillestad

Posted by: Sharon Hillestad on Thursday, 15 September 2011
When I went to a traditional college I didn’t get the help that I needed. Some of my teachers were willing to help me, but not all of them were willing. The disability department didn’t cater to what I needed. So I had a real hard time getting everything done and keeping my grades up. By the time I was a sophomore I had a 1.3 GPA and lost my scholarship. I couldn’t even transfer to the college I has planning on attending. Later that summer, I was looking for colleges for learning disability students. I found Beacon College. http://www.beaconcollege.edu After going to Beacon College for a year, my GPA went up to a 3.0 and after my second year at Beacon it was a 3.2. To get more info email: info@beaconcollege.edu

Posted by: CollegeAdvocate on Sunday, 28 August 2011
Although more students are graduating with diplomas in the US-in Oregon you can graduate with a 1.3 GPA and they call it good. How can that be worth anything? How will that help in the future? What will the employment future for these children be? Keep in mind that the final accumalative GPA is not delivered until after graduation. In some districts all a parent receives prior to this is a semester or term GPA.

Posted by: Jaycee on Wednesday, 24 August 2011
Because of what I saw in the school system in dealing with LD students and how I wanted my son to succeed, I chose to homeschool him. I started when he was in the 3rd grade and he is now a senior in high school, looking at college for a degree in computers.

Posted by: Candy on Wednesday, 10 August 2011
Although RTI has demonstrated that less students that are struggling or considered to be curriculum casualties are being identified as opposed to truly learning disabled students it does not seem to have had an effect on their educational outcome. Their more specialized instruction should allow them the opportunity to focus on their strengths and in turn determine their transition post education.

Posted by: Dana on Wednesday, 03 August 2011
Although identification of learning disabled students have become more specified through RTI the overall outcome of their education does not seem to have been improved.

Posted by: Dana on Wednesday, 03 August 2011
Noted that Kentucky is the state with the lowest SLD identification. In my experience since moving to Kentucky, the state allows districts to chose their own evaluation criteria and Discrepanacy Formulas still reign in many of the districts. This despite evidence that refutes the practice and will hopefully disallow it when IDEA is rewritten. Testing should be used to explain delays and not to further discriminate against SWD.

Posted by: Jan E on Sunday, 31 July 2011
I'm not surprised that there has been a drop in LD numbers. However, I think this is because the qualification process has become more difficult and unorganized rather than students not requiring services.

Posted by: Melissa on Friday, 29 July 2011
The State of Learning Disabilities (2009)
What regulations (federal/state) cover teacher/student ratio ("cap"_ in the special day class (SDC)) environment (full time)? School districts seem to be using SDC as a "dumping ground"

Posted by: Francine McDermott MA on Wednesday, 30 June 2010

We invite your comments on this article, but we are unable to answer personal questions. If you have a question, you may find these LD.org resources helpful: Resource Locator; LD Basics section; Frequently Asked Questions.

Download State of LD

Download a free copy of the 2011 State of Learning Disabilities: Facts, Trends and Indicators [PDF, 37 pages].

LD Key Facts

Students graduating with a regular high school diploma, up 12 percent from a decade earlier.
Increase in LD students who spent 80 percent of their in-school time in general ed. classrooms.
Public school students identified as having an LD in 2009 and were eligible to receive educational assistance.
Decline in the number of children identified as LD in public schools in the last decade.
Ratio of school-age students with LD who receive special education services who are male.
Students with LD being provided with assistive technology.
The cost of educating a student with LD compared to a general education student.
Employment rate of adults with LD (ages 18-64).
High school dropout rate among students with LD was 22% in 2008, down from 40% in 1999.