Changes in Eligibility and Classification Status of Children Who Received Preschool Special Education Services

• At the time they were recruited into PEELS, all children had an active individualized education program (IEP) or individualized family service plan (IFSP). Since then, some have been declassified, meaning they are no longer eligible to receive special education services. Seventy-nine percent of children had an IEP/IFSP at both Wave 1 and Wave 2 data collection points; 14 percent had an IEP/IFSP in 2003-04 but not in 2004-05; 2 percent did not have an IEP/IFSP in 2003-04 but had one in 2004-05; and 5 percent did not have an IEP/IFSP at either point in time because they were declassified before the Wave 1 data collection.
• Among preschoolers with disabilities, 52 percent were identified as having primarily speech or language impairments, 27 percent developmental delays, 6 percent autism, and 3 percent mental retardation. Other disability groups accounted for fewer than 3 percent of children who received special education services when they were ages 3 through 5.
• Declassification differed significantly by primary disability category. In percentage terms, 21 percent of children identified as having a speech or language impairment and 21 percent of those identified as having an emotional disturbance were declassified. However, because very few preschoolers were identified as having an emotional disturbance, they made up 1.5 percent of those who were declassified compared with children with speech or language impairments, who accounted for 66 percent of those declassified. The percentage of children with developmental delays, learning disabilities, orthopedic impairments, and low-incidence disabilities who were declassified ranged from 2 percent to 13 percent. ix
• Urban, suburban, and rural districts differed significantly in the number of young children who were declassified. In all, 22 percent of children from small districts were declassified, whereas 12 percent of children from medium, 15 percent of children from large, and 13 percent of children from very large districts were declassified.
• Twenty percent of children who transitioned from preschool to kindergarten and 24 percent of children who transitioned from kindergarten to first grade between 2003-04 and 2004-05 were declassified, whereas 6 percent of non-transitioning children were declassified.
• Children who were declassified scored significantly higher on the Woodcock-Johnson III: Letter-Word Identification subtest (M = 104.5) than those who remained eligible for services (M = 99.2). The difference between these groups of children was greater on the Applied Problems subtest—declassified students had a mean score of 101.3, and students who retained eligibility had a mean score of 90.1.
• A significant difference between children who were declassified and those who remained eligible for services was also observed on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT), with means of 96.1 and 87.6, respectively.
• In the year that passed between the first and second data collection, 23 percent of children who continued to receive special education services had a change in their primary disability category, that is, they were reclassified. Children who were reclassified scored significantly lower on measures of emerging literacy and math skills than children who were not reclassified (on the PPVT, M = 82.2 for reclassified and M = 89.1 for not reclassified, and on the Woodcock-Johnson III: Applied Problems subtest, M = 82.9 for reclassified; M = 90.0 for not reclassified).
• The opposite of reclassification could be termed stability of disability classification. From 2003-04 to 2004-05, the stability of disability classification varied depending on the type of disability, ranging from 89 percent for children with autism to 57 percent for children with other health impairments.
• Of the children initially identified as having a developmental delay as their primary disability, 64 percent retained that disability category.¹ Fourteen percent moved from the developmental delay to the speech or language impairment category, 8 percent moved to the autism category, and 4 percent moved to the learning disability category.
• Children also moved into the developmental delay category from other disability groups. For example, 13 percent of children identified as having an emotional disturbance, 9 percent of children identified as having an orthopedic impairment or other health impairment, and 10 percent of children identified as having a low-incidence disability (deafness, deaf-blindness, vision impairment, or traumatic brain injury) in 2003-04 were identified as having a developmental delay as their primary disability in 2004-05.
• Of children identified as having primarily a speech or language impairment in 2003-04 who continued to receive special education services, 88 percent retained the speech or language impairment category, and 12 percent were reclassified. Six percent were reclassified to developmental delay, and each of the other disability categories received fewer than 2 percent.

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