Prevalence of adoptees among special education populations

A statewide survey of public and private schools was conducted to determine the prevalence of adoptees among children classified for educational purposes as neurologically impaired (NI), perceptually impaired (PI), or emotionally disturbed (ED). Results indicated that adopted children were overrepresented in these special education populations, accounting for 6.7 % of NI students, 5.4 % of PI students, and 7.2 % of ED students. Implications of the findings for educational and clinical intervention are discussed. The focus of this article is the prevalence of adopted children in special education populations. Current research indicates that adoptees are over-represented in outpatient and inpatient mental health facilities. Although nonrel-ative adoptees (i.e., individuals who are reared by nonbiological kin or steppar-ents) account for about 1 % to 2°7o of the population of children under 18 years of age (Zill, 1985), they represent approx-imately 5 % of children in outpatient men-tal health settings and approximately 8% to 15 % of children in inpatient psychiatric facilities and residential treatment center