RESEARCH SERIES NUMBER 192 - TRENDS IN DISABILITY PREVALENCE - OCTOBER 2024

There has been a good deal of policy development in relation to provision for children and young people with a disability, including a greater focus on assessment of need in the early years, a change in the funding allocation model to schools to address special educational needs (SEN), and the marked growth of special classrooms in mainstream schools. [...] Introduction | 1 CHAPTER 1 Introduction: The measurement of disability prevalence 1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY The prevalence of disability among children and young people has attracted increasing policy attention, with recent years seeing a growth in supports such as special needs assistants and a rapid increase in the number of special classes in mainstream schools. [...] Before providing new evidence on the prevalence of disability over time in Ireland in Section 1.4.2, we place the study in the context of international research on disability prevalence and previous measurement of disability among children and young people in Ireland. [...] 1.2 INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH ON TRENDS IN DISABILITY PREVALENCE AMONG CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE International studies have emphasised the way in which the size and composition of the group of children and young people with a disability are highly dependent on the definition and measures used (Read et al., 2010; Hagerman and Houtrow, 2020; Panagi et al., 2022). [...] Trends in the profile of young people with disabilities | 17 CHAPTER 2 Trends in the profile of young people with disabilities 2.1 INTRODUCTION This chapter looks at potential changes over time in the profile of young people with long-lasting conditions or disabilities and the extent to which having a long- lasting condition (LLC) or disability overlaps with other aspects of wellbeing measured at.