North Dakota education officials say the state's growth in special education students compares to national figures, but is still cause for concern.

The North Dakota Center for Persons with Disabilities released results of a study showing the state's special needs population isn't increasing as rapidly as once thought and falls below the national average. North Dakota Department of Public Instruction officials say they still find the numbers troubling because of the state's overall decline in enrollment.

Special needs children only account for 12 percent of North Dakota's total enrollment, which was the same as the national average, the study showed. In the last 20 years, the number of special education students increased by 34 percent. The national average rose 57 percent.

"It's not as dire as it would seem," said Bryce Fifield, co-director of the study. "Things don't really look as bad as they first did when we started."

Special education students receive assistance in the classroom for conditions ranging from speech impairments to attention deficit hyper activity disorder to mental retardation.

DPI prompted the study in October after consecutive years of declining enrollment and significant gains in its special education population. They said the pattern put them out of sync with the rest of the country.

The study looked at special education enrollment throughout the state in the last 20 years and broke it down by region and specific disability categories to identify trends. They also examined the effect of early intervention programs for children aged 0-3 on special education numbers.

"Once you ask these questions, it opens the doors for us discussing them," said Bob Rutten, North Dakota's special education director. "It's like putting together a big puzzle to try and understand why families and schools are seeing this increase."

The state set itself apart from national trends because of declines in certain special education categories. Special education is broken into 13 categories of disabilities. North Dakota saw a 32 percent decrease in mentally retarded children and an almost 40 percent decrease in students with hearing impairments.

"I can't account for that," said Brent Askvig, co-director of the study. "It's odd and unusual and we need to keep watching that."

Prior to the study, education officials thought autism was one of the state's largest growing categories. But it was not one of the four disabilities that accounted for the state's increase in special education. Instead, speech language impairments, other health impairments, emotional disturbance and learning disabilities gained the most students.

The age of children receiving special education services shifted in the last 20 years, according to the study. The largest age group of special needs students was 6- to 11-year-olds in 1982. Currently, the largest group is 12- to 17-year-olds. Askvig said that shows early intervention programs in the state are making a difference.

Rutten said the study is the first step in finding out what's driving the increase. The state needs to further examine the problem and look at issues, such as how special education students are identified, to see if they are mislabeled.

"This is an affirmation of some inklings we had," Rutten said. "We feel we are on more solid footing as we analyze these state trends."

(Reach reporter Sheena Dooley at 250-8225 or sheenadooley@ndonline.com.)