This report presents information on infants and toddlers, birth to three with delaying or disabling conditions who were enrolled in Washington State public services on December 2, 1996. An estimated 2.5% of children under the age of three in the state of Washington have delaying or disabling conditions. The rate of enrollment in services in Washington (1.9%) was somewhat lower than the rate found in the National Health Interview Survey for children with limitations in some daily activity (2.2%). The proportion of enrolled children in Washington who were Medicaid eligible with family incomes at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level (74%) was greater than the proportion of NHIS children with reported limitations who are at or below 200% of the poverty level (63%). The enrollment rate for children of mothers with no prenatal care (5.4%) was over three times higher than that for children of mothers who received first trimester prenatal care (1.7%). Characteristics of infants at birth that were associated with high enrollment rates include low birth weight (9.0%), preterm birth (5.1%), and Apgar score less than 8 (8.3%). Enrollment rates were highest for those with Down syndrome (85.1%) and cerebral palsy (84.8%). Children of mothers with diagnosed substance abuse had an enrollment rate over two and one half times that for all other Medicaid children in Washington (7.9% versus 2.7%).
