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

Table 16.  Reported extent of youth's reliance on persons other than family and friends for support, by disability category

Reliance for support 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
In-school youth rely on teachers:                        
A lot 23.9 12.1 45.2 22.1 27.4 20.6 38.1 24.0 36.2 23.1 28.8
(5.05) (3.70) (8.37) (5.57) (8.60) (5.89) (7.62) (5.63) (9.93) (8.99) (9.36)  
A fair amount 30.2 31.5 11.5 22.4 14.7 36.7 28.1 23.3 21.0 18.1 24.9
(5.43) (5.27) (5.36) (5.60) (6.83) (7.02) (7.05) (5.57) (8.42) (8.22) (8.93)  
Just some 23.8 22.0 23.9 17.5 27.7 21.0 12.0 26.6 25.8 22.3 13.3
(5.04) (4.70) (7.17) (5.10) (8.63) (5.94) (5.10) (5.83) (9.04) (8.88) (7.02)  
Not too much 22.1 34.4 19.4 38.0 30.3 21.8 21.9 26.1 17.1 36.5 33.0
(4.91) (5.39) (6.65) (6.52) (8.86) (6.02) (6.49) (5.79) (7.78) (10.27) (9.71)  
                         
Youth rely on clerics:                        
A lot 27.9 24.5 30.7 20.6 9.0 18.2 24.1 25.3 13.8 28.5 23.7
(4.19) (4.11) (5.83) (4.31) (3.75) (5.44) (5.24) (4.69) (5.61) (9.06) (7.03)  
A fair amount 13.4 20.5 13.2 16.1 13.9 19.1 11.6 20.4 10.4 10.4 17.9
(3.18) (3.86) (4.28) (3.91) (4.53) (5.54) (3.92) (4.34) (4.97) (6.12) (6.34)  
Just some 11.0 13.1 11.0 12.3 16.5 18.5 16.6 10.0 20.8 7.2 8.8
(2.92) (3.22) (3.96) (3.50) (4.86) (5.47) (4.56) (3.23) (6.60) (5.19) (4.69)  
Not too much 47.7 41.9 45.1 50.9 60.5 44.2 47.7 44.3 55.1 53.8 49.6
(4.66) (4.72) (6.29) (5.32) (6.40) (7.00) (6.12) (5.35) (8.09) (10.00) (8.27)  
                         
Employed youth rely on boss or supervisor:                        
A lot 17.2 24.3 25.7 23.3 10.5 29.2 17.3 28.3 28.8
(5.72) (6.30) (11.62) (7.60) (7.78) (13.86) (12.56) (7.18)   (17.28)    
A fair amount 27.6 27.9 13.3 23.8 10.6 17.8 4.8 25.9 18.7
(6.78) (6.59) (9.03) (7.66) (7.81) (11.66) (7.10) (6.99)   (14.88)    
Just some 15.4 15.8 12.2 15.8 28.8 20.3 15.7 11.8 25.8
(5.47) (5.36) (8.71) (6.56) (11.49) (12.26) (12.08) (5.15)   (16.70)    
Not too much 39.9 32.0 48.9 37.1 50.1 32.6 62.3 33.9 26.7
(7.43) (6.85) (13.30) (8.69) (12.69) (14.29) (16.09) (7.55)   (16.88)    
                         
In-school youth rely on a guidance counselor:                        
A lot 14.3 14.4 33.7 30.6 17.6 10.7 25.6 16.3 25.0 17.0 27.6
(4.29) (4.09) (8.18) (6.48) (7.79) (4.73) (6.94) (5.07) (9.18) (8.32) (9.49)  
A fair amount 23.1 24.8 14.4 16.0 17.1 27.6 14.5 26.1 26.6 18.0 29.6
(5.17) (5.03) (6.08) (5.15) (7.70) (6.83) (5.60) (6.02) (9.37) (8.51) (9.69)  
Just some 24.7 15.8 15.8 11.9 16.1 24.4 21.8 19.5 19.3 27.2 15.4
(5.29) (4.25) (6.31) (4.55) (7.52) (6.57) (6.57) (5.43) (8.37) (9.86) (7.66)  
Not too much 37.9 45.0 36.1 41.5 49.2 37.4 38.1 38.1 29.0 37.7 27.5
(5.95) (5.79) (8.31) (6.93) (10.23) (7.40) (7.72) (6.66) (9.62) (10.74) (9.48)  
                         
Employed youth rely on coworkers:                        
A lot 9.1 8.5 20.0 15.2 5.7 12.7 13.9 19.2 22.8
(4.31) (4.08) (11.26) (6.52) (5.96) (10.50) (11.91) (6.31)   (15.64)    
A fair amount 19.1 31.5 14.1 27.8 18.8 36.0 6.5 22.4 8.4
(5.89) (6.79) (9.80) (8.14) (10.05) (15.14) (8.49) (6.68)   (10.34)    
Just some 23.7 17.7 22.6 20.1 25.4 24.2 21.4 22.4 36.1
(6.37) (5.58) (11.77) (7.28) (11.20) (13.51) (14.12) (6.68)   (17.90)    
Not too much 48.1 42.2 43.3 36.9 50.1 27.1 58.2 36.0 32.8
(7.48) (7.22) (13.95) (8.77) (12.86) (14.02) (16.98) (7.69)   (17.50)    
                         
Youth rely on other adult(s):                        
A lot 35.4 37.4 40.5 39.6 39.7 41.4 28.9 40.3 35.3 38.7 37.3 44.6
(4.31) (4.48) (5.98) (4.91) (6.16) (6.49) (5.42) (4.87) (7.42) (9.27) (7.48) (9.27)
A fair amount 27.9 25.1 13.5 19.1 28.5 20.7 23.7 22.5 28.3 32.4 17.9 26.6
(4.04) (4.02) (4.16) (3.95) (5.69) (5.34) (5.08) (4.14) (6.99) (8.90) (5.93) (8.24)
Just some 20.2 20.4 11.5 17.8 20.1 25.0 23.8 21.4 22.1 15.8 24.8 19.9
(3.62) (3.73) (3.88) (3.84) (5.05) (5.71) (5.09) (4.07) (6.44) (6.94) (6.68) (7.44)
Not too much 16.6 17.2 34.4 23.4 11.7 12.8 23.7 15.8 14.2 13.1 20.0 9.0
(3.35) (3.50) (5.78) (4.25) (4.05) (4.40) (5.08) (3.62) (5.42) (6.42) (6.18) (5.34)
Responses for items with fewer than 30 respondents are not reported.
SOURCES: 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; youth in-person youth interviews, 2002 and 2004.

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