Read the following passage carefully, and then select the best option A, B, C or D to complete it
Special Education, specially designed instruction to (24) _______ the unique needs and abilities of disabled or gifted children. Disabled children have conditions (25) _______ adversely affect their progress in conventional education programs. Gifted children, who demonstrate high capacity in intellectual, (26) _______, or artistic areas, may also fare poorly in regular education programs. Special education services can help both disabled and (27) _______ children make progress in education programs. Most children served by special education programs are (28) _______ the ages of 6 and 17.
In the United States, federal law requires states to identify and serve all children (29) _______ disabilities. Public education and health officials in the United States identified approximately 5.4 million infants, toddlers, (30) _______, and youth as disabled in 1994. That same year, the U.S. Department of Education reported that 12.2 percent of all children (31) _______ the age of 21 received some form of special education. The most frequently reported disabilities are speech or language impairments; mental retardation and (32) _______ developmental disorders; serious emotional disturbance; and specific learning disorders, (33) _______ memory disorders. Other disabilities include hearing, visual, or orthopedic impairments; autism; (34) _______ traumatic brain injury. An increasing number of children in the United States are identified as having attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and (35) _______ special education services.
Many schools in the United States provide special education services (36) _______ gifted children, although federal law does not mandate these services. Gifted children demonstrate (37) _______ high abilities in intellectual, creative, academic, leadership, or artistic areas. Estimates of the gifted (38) _______ in the United States range from 3 to 15 percent of all schoolchildren.
(24) _______
