A Cross-Sectional Study on Accessibility to Special Education Services in the Seattle/King County Region

Abstract

In Seattle, there are 55,000 people enrolled in the public-school system, and out of those there are 8,497 students identified with a disability and 1,879 students with some type of accommodations. In the 2019-2020 school year, there were 18,134 students identified as low income in the Seattle/King County area. This study examined whether there was a correlation between income and accessibility to special education services in the Seattle/King County area. The method in which this data was acquired for the study was through a series of fifteen interviews of parents in the Seattle/King County area. The results of the data showed three distinct themes: one, social capital and knowledge disparities; two, Struggling to identify students and qualifying for services; and the third theme was i nadequate support/resources.