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Over the past 25 years, the number of students with disabilities has increased, and new categories of disability have been created.
| Categories | 1976- 77 | 1987- 88 | 1997- 98 |
| Autism1 | 0 | 0 | 42,487 |
| Deaf-blindness1 | 0 | 1,426 | 1,454 |
| Developmental delay1 | 0 | 0 | 1,935 |
| Hearing impairments | 55,116 | 56,742 | 69,537 |
| Mental retardation | 818,718 | 596,928 | 602,111 |
| Multiple disabilities1 | 0 | 78,588 | 106,758 |
| Orthopedic impairments | 70,566 | 46,837 | 67,422 |
| Other health impairments2 | 115,867 | 46,013 | 190,935 |
| (Serious) emotional disturbance3 | 245,343 | 372,048 | 454,363 |
| Specific learning disabilities | 782,095 | 1,937,827 | 2,748,497 |
| Speech or language impairments | 1,170,531 | 951,512 | 1,065,074 |
| Visual impairments | 26,215 | 22,769, | 26,015 |
| Traumatic brain injury | 0 | 0 | 11,895 |
| Total, all disabilities1 | 3,284,019 | 4,110,690 | 5,388,483 |
| 1These categories were created in amendments to the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act after 1975. 2“Other health impairments” includes attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. 3“Serious emotional disturbance” was renamed “emotional disturbance” in 1997. | |||
