Exploring the Impact of Students' Number of Disabilities on Parent Expectations for Postsecondary Education

Parents' expectations predict the educational attainment of their children regardless of the children's disability status. Prior research shows specific disability labels impact parents' postsecondary educational expectations of their children with disabilities. However, researchers have not investigated how the number of co-occurring disabilities (that is zero, one, two, or three or more disabilities) influence parents' postsecondary educational expectations for their children. We report the results of multiple linear regression analyses examining the relationship between children's number of disabilities and parental expectations using parent responses from the United States 2012 National Household Education Survey. A negative correlation exists between students' disability count and parents' educational expectations, even when controlling for potentially confounding factors. Regardless of children's disability count, parents from higher income households maintain higher educational attainment expectations. Increases in family household income mitigate the negative relationship between disability count and parental expectations. Implications for parents, educators, and transition team members are presented.