Counting disabled youth: A comparison of disability measures

Researchers frequently use national survey data to identify and characterize disabled youth. Because there is no standardized measure of youth disability, statistics about disabled youth depend upon the particular survey questions used to define disability. This study describes three measures of youth disability and examines the sociodemographic characteristics of youth identified by each measure. Methods: Parent reports from the 2003-2005 National Health Interview Survey for 25,998 children aged 5-17 years were analyzed using SUDAAN to produce national estimates of the number and characteristics of disabled youth. The measures in the analysis include youth disability as defined by America's Children (AC), Healthy People 2010 (HP), and Child Trends (CT). In contrast to the AC and HP measures, the CT measure does not use special education as a disability indicator. Results: The percentage of youth identified as disabled was 9% by HP, 9% by AC, and 16% by CT. Virtually the same youth were identified as disabled by both AC and HP. Approximately 40% of the disabled youth identified by CT were identified by AC or HP. Despite these differences, the distribution by sex was similar for youth identified by each of the measures. CT, compared to AC and HP, identified a higher percentage of older youth (12-17 years) among disabled youth. The percentage of disabled youth receiving special education services varied markedly: 81% (HP), 85% (AC), 35% (CT). Conclusion: Current disability measures generate substantially different estimates of the prevalence of youth disability and important differences in the characteristics of disabled youth.