Special Education: Children With Autism (14-JAN-05, GAO-05-220). 
                                                                 
According to the Autism Society of America, about 1.5 million	 
Americans are currently living with some form of autism. This	 
figure includes over 100,000 school-aged children diagnosed with 
autism served under the Individuals with Disabilities Education  
Act (IDEA), the primary federal legislation that addresses the	 
educational needs of children with disabilities. As the number of
children diagnosed with autism has increased, interest in	 
understanding how children diagnosed with autism are being served
under IDEA has grown. In this report we are describing the tend  
in the number of children diagnosed with autism served under	 
IDEA, the services provided to these children, the estimated per 
pupil expenditures for educating children with autism, and	 
approaches to their education.					 
-------------------------Indexing Terms------------------------- 
REPORTNUM:   GAO-05-220 					        
    ACCNO:   A15617						        
  TITLE:     Special Education: Children With Autism		      
     DATE:   01/14/2005 
  SUBJECT:   Data collection					 
	     Disease detection or diagnosis			 
	     Special education					 
	     Therapy						 
	     Children with disabilities 			 
	     Learning disabilities				 
	     Statistical data					 
	     Cost estimates					 

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GAO-05-220

United States Government Accountability Office

 GAO	Report to the Chairman and Ranking Minority Member, Subcommittee on Human
 Rights and Wellness, Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives

January 2005

SPECIAL EDUCATION

                              Children with Autism

GAO-05-220

United States Government Accountability Office Washington, DC 20548

January 14, 2005

The Honorable Dan Burton
Chairman
The Honorable Diane E. Watson
Ranking Minority Member
Subcommittee on Human Rights and Wellness
Committee on Government Reform
House of Representatives

According to the Autism Society of America, about 1.5 million Americans
are currently living with some form of autism. This figure includes over
100,000 school-aged children diagnosed with autism served under the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the primary federal
legislation that addresses the educational needs of children with
disabilities. As the number of children diagnosed with autism has
increased, interest in understanding how children diagnosed with autism
are being served under IDEA has grown.

You expressed an interest in the education of children with autism, and in
this report we are describing the trend in the number of children
diagnosed with autism served under IDEA, the services provided to these
children, the estimated per pupil expenditures for educating children with
autism, and approaches to their education.

To determine the number of children diagnosed with autism served under
IDEA, we relied on data collected for the Department of Education
(Education). To describe the services provided to children with autism, we
reviewed relevant literature and spoke with Education officials. To
describe the estimates of per pupil expenditures for educating children
with autism, we reviewed data collected and analyzed by the Special
Education Expenditure Project (SEEP), which was funded by Education
and was the only national source of this type of data. We spoke with
Education officials about the proper use and reliability of the data we
used
and found them to be sufficiently reliable for the purposes of this
report.
However, some weaknesses with the SEEP data exist, including a low
survey response rate, potential response bias, and limited documentation.
Finally, to describe approaches to the education of children with autism,
we reviewed a 2001 report by the National Research Council on the
education of children with autism. We conducted our work between

November and December 2004 in accordance with generally accepted
government auditing standards.

On December 13, 2004, we briefed your staff on the results of our study.
This report formally conveys the information provided during that
briefing. In summary, we found:

The number of children diagnosed with autism served under IDEA has
increased by more than 500 percent in the last decade. In 2002, data
collected for the Department of Education indicated that nearly 120,000
children diagnosed with autism were being served under IDEA. This
substantial increase may be due to a number of factors, including better
diagnoses and a broader definition of autism.

The services provided to children with autism depend on the needs of the
child. These services may include speech therapy, occupational therapy,
and the services of special education teachers. As with other children
with disabilities, children with autism are eligible for special education
services under IDEA in accordance with their individualized education
programs (programs established by a team familiar with the needs of the
child).

The average per pupil expenditure for educating a child with autism was
estimated by SEEP to be over $18,000 in the 1999-2000 school year, the
most recent year for which data were available. This estimate was nearly
three times the expenditure for a typical regular education student who
did not receive special education services and was among the highest per
pupil expenditures for school-age children receiving special education
services in public schools.

Finally, the National Research Council report offered several key features
of successful approaches to the education of children with autism,
including early intervention soon after the diagnosis of autism, which can
generally occur by the age of 3. The report also offered guidelines
regarding educational objectives for children with autism, including the
development of social skills and expressive and receptive language and
communication skills.

We provided a draft of this briefing to officials at Education for their
technical review and incorporated their comments where appropriate.

Unless you publicly announce its contents earlier, we plan no further
distribution until 30 days after the date of this report. At that time, we
will
send copies of this report to the Secretary of Education, relevant
congressional committees, and other interested parties and will make
copies available to others upon request. In addition, the report will be
available at no charge on GAO's Web site at http://www.gao.gov.

If you or your staff have any questions about this report, please contact
Marnie Shaul or Deborah Edwards at (202) 512-7215. Nagla'a El-Hodiri and
Art Merriam also made key contributions to this report.

Marnie Shaul
Director, Education, Workforce,
and Income Security Issues

*** End of document. ***