Recent changes in the proportion of students identified with a disability in Australian schools

This paper identifies and discusses recent increases in the percentage of students with a disability identified in Australian schools. At the moment, there is an unprecedented level of international debate about the nature of disability which is impacting on the identification of disability (see Donoghue, 2003; Greenspan & Switzky, 2003). In association with this debate, Australia has seen several imperatives that have focused attention on the identification of students with a disability in educational settings in the past decade.