Table 1.
Characteristics of Students with ASDs Represented in PEELS, SEELS, and NLTS2
| Characteristic | PEELS Wave 1 2003–04 Preschool |
SEELS Wave 1 2000–01 Grade K-6 |
NLTS2 Wave 1 2001–02 Grade 7–10 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total unweighted N | 110 | 690 | 580 |
| Age | 3: 32.0% | 6: 1.7% | 13: 7.7% |
| 4: 41.8% | 7: 11.2% | 14: 25.2% | |
| 5: 26.3% | 8: 11.9% | 15: 23.0% | |
| 9: 16.7% | 16: 25.7% | ||
| 10: 14.1% | 17: 18.3% | ||
| 11: 18.3% | |||
| 12: 16.9% | |||
| 13: 9.2% | |||
| Male | 87.7% | 84.1% | 83.7% |
| Hispanic origin | 26.2% | 18.1% | 9.9% |
| Race | |||
| African American | 20.3% | 20.1% | 23.7% |
| White | 75.4% | 73.4% | 69.7% |
| Mixed/Other | 8.8% | 4.7% | 6.2% |
| Mother’s education | |||
| Less than high school | 14.9% | 15.8% | 6.9% |
| High school or GED | 25.7% | 29.0% | 22.9% |
| Some college | 15.5% | 30.2% | 36.9% |
| B.A./B.S. or higher degree | 43.9% | 25.0% | 33.2% |
| Annual income | |||
| <$25,000 | 29.6% | 22.7% | 21.7% |
| $25,001–50,000 | 25.5% | 30.9% | 28.8% |
| >$50,000 | 44.9% | 46.4% | 49.4% |
| Disability Severity Index (3–12) | 7.8 (0.16) | 5.4 (0.10) | 6.5 (0.11) |
| Communication (1-4) | 3.2 (0.06) | 1.8 (0.04) | 2.6 (0.07) |
| Understanding (1-4) | 2.3 (0.09) | 1.6 (0.03) | 2.0 (0.03) |
| Overall health (1-4) | 2.1 (0.13) | 2.1 (0.05) | 1.9 (0.05) |
| Family involvement in school | 2.4 (0.07) | 2.7 (0.06) | 2.4 (0.06) |
Note. Weighted means and standard errors in brackets are presented for continuous variables. Sample sizes are rounded to the nearest 10 in compliance with the Institute of Education Sciences requirements for analyzing restricted-use data.