Employment As an Outcome for Mildly Handicapped Students: Current Status and Future Directions

Special education serves a group of students who have a wide range of disabilities, from students with the most profound and disabling conditions to those with speech impairments only.By entrance into high school, however, some 70%-80% of all special education students are accounted for in the three categories of learning disabled, mildly mentally retarded, and emotionally disturbed (U.S.Department of Education, 1988).This article focuses on the employment outcomes of this group of students, referred to broadly as mildly disabled. DEFINING THE POPULATIONAlthough much has been written about the characteristics of mildly disabled students, considerable debate remains about the etiology and exact nature of these conditions and, indeed, even about the ability of current technology to quantify the disabilities of students labeled learning disabled, mildly mentally retarded, and emotionally disturbed (Dun~,