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Perceptions and Expectations of Youth With Disabilities  (NLTS2)
NCSER 2007-3006
September 2007

Table 5.  Youth with disabilities' perceptions of strengths and interests, by disability category

How youth rates his or her abilities Learning disability Speech/ language impairment Mental retardation Emotional disturbance Hearing impairment Visual impairment Orthopedic impairment Other health impairment Autism Traumatic brain injury Multiple disabilities Deaf-blindness
Percent / standard error
Athletic activities                        
Very good 36.4 32.1 26.2 42.5 31.1 25.4 10.7 31.4 13.5 24.7 24.4 20.8
(4.09) (4.16) (5.12) (4.57) (5.67) (5.48) (3.55) (4.36) (5.09) (7.80) (6.44) (7.33)
Pretty good 44.7 48.3 46.5 38.1 45.8 42.7 34.2 42.5 33.0 43.3 46.2 48.0
(4.23) (4.45) (5.81) (4.49) (6.10) (6.23) (5.45) (4.65) (7.00) (8.96) (7.47) (9.02)
Not very or not at all good 18.9 19.6 27.3 19.4 23.1 31.8 55.1 26.1 53.5 32.0 29.4 31.2
(3.33) (3.54) (5.19) (3.65) (5.16) (5.87) (5.72) (4.12) (7.43) (8.44) (6.83) (8.36)
Using a computer                        
Very good 28.7 38.3 33.0 44.9 53.6 41.9 49.7 37.2 62.0 40.8 50.4 47.6
(3.85) (4.32) (5.44) (4.58) (6.11) (6.21) (5.73) (4.53) (7.14) (8.85) (7.48) (9.02)
Pretty good 57.8 51.5 45.7 41.8 39.9 48.3 44.0 50.7 30.1 51.9 35.5 35.8
(4.20) (4.45) (5.77) (4.55) (6.00) (6.29) (5.68) (4.68) (6.74) (9.00) (7.16) (8.65)
Not very or not at all good 13.5 10.1 21.4 13.3 6.6 9.8 6.3 12.2 7.8 7.3 14.2 16.6
(2.90) (2.69) (4.75) (3.13) (3.03) (3.75) (2.78) (3.06) (3.95) (4.68) (5.22) (6.72)
Mechanical skills                        
Very good 26.6 15.3 19.0 41.2 17.3 11.2 7.4 25.0 14.6 24.8 24.9 18.9
(3.77) (3.22) (4.57) (4.55) (4.63) (4.00) (2.95) (4.06) (5.23) (7.78) (6.50) (7.14)
Pretty good 34.8 41.4 30.8 34.3 40.8 25.3 32.0 43.3 29.0 38.1 33.6 38.3
(4.06) (4.40) (5.38) (4.39) (6.02) (5.51) (5.26) (4.64) (6.72) (8.74) (7.10) (8.87)
Not very or not at all good 38.6 43.3 50.2 24.5 41.9 63.5 60.6 31.8 56.4 37.0 41.5 42.8
(4.15) (4.43) (5.83) (3.97) (6.05) (6.10) (5.51) (4.36) (7.34) (8.70) (7.41) (9.03)
Creative arts                        
Very good 22.1 17.0 14.8 26.2 20.9 23.9 19.3 19.8 25.2 21.6 16.1 22.9
(3.55) (3.34) (4.12) (4.05) (4.99) (5.38) (4.44) (3.73) (6.36) (7.41) (5.55) (7.59)
Pretty good 32.4 34.2 23.0 38.4 34.0 35.0 29.4 31.3 43.6 22.9 19.6 35.1
(4.00) (4.22) (4.89) (4.48) (5.81) (6.02) (5.13) (4.35) (7.26) (7.57) (6.00) (8.62)
Not very or not at all good 45.5 48.8 62.2 35.3 45.1 41.1 51.3 48.8 31.2 55.5 64.4 42.1
(4.26) (4.45) (5.63) (4.41) (6.11) (6.21) (5.63) (4.68) (6.78) (8.95) (7.23) (8.91)
Performing arts                        
Very good 13.6 17.9 17.4 19.1 19.1 25.2 13.4 14.3 18.3 20.0 21.3 22.7
(2.92) (3.44) (4.40) (3.63) (4.82) (5.48) (3.94) (3.29) (5.74) (7.20) (6.15) (7.56)
Pretty good 40.8 38.4 32.3 33.0 30.0 42.3 30.9 35.6 36.2 31.7 25.8 29.3
(4.19) (4.37) (5.43) (4.34) (5.61) (6.23) (5.35) (4.50) (7.13) (8.38) (6.57) (8.22)
Not very or not at all good 45.7 43.8 50.3 47.9 50.9 32.5 55.7 50.1 45.5 48.3 52.9 48.0
(4.25) (4.45) (5.81) (4.61) (6.12) (5.91) (5.75) (4.70) (7.39) (9.00) (7.50) (9.02)
NOTE: Response categories "not very good" and "not at all good" have been collapsed for reporting purposes.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Special Education Research, National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2), Wave 2 youth telephone interview/mail survey, 2003.

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