Prevalence

About 9.3% of K-12 students in U.S. schools were identified as ELLs (roughly 4,647,016 out of 49,788,000).
According to IDEA child count data for the 2009-10 school year, 518,088 students with disabilities were classified as Limited English Proficient (LEP). This represents approximately 8.5% of all students with disabilities (Data Accountability Center, 2013a).
Of the 518,088 LEP students reported as receiving special education services, 200,347 were in California, rep- resenting 39% of the national total. Only 2% of all ELLs in the state are identified as having disabilities, how- ever, compared with 4.8% of English proficient students. Among all states, California identified the highest percentage of ELLs with disabilities. More than half of all states report that they provide special education services to less than 0.5% of the ELL population.

How to Give Special Needs & ENL Students