Well just like you said, they are included with the school and not in the basement. Which I always thought was sad. They only leave their mainstream classes for extra help.

I think the assessment procedures are better today, so kids get placed and assisted more accurately.

Despite compulsory education laws that had been in place nationwide since 1918, many children with disabilities were routinely excluded from public schools. Their options: remain at home or be institutionalized. Even those with mild or moderate disabilities who did enroll were likely to drop out well before graduating from high school.

Public Law 94-142 proved to be landmark legislation, requiring public schools to provide students with a broad range of disabilities – including physical handicaps, mental retardation, speech, vision and language problems, emotional and behavioral problems, and other learning disorders – with a “free appropriate public education.” Moreover, it called for school districts to provide such schooling in the “least restrictive environment” possible. This law is now called, IDEA.

Today there are more attempts to include kids, but I am not sure it is really a best practice for many children. Inclusion in many schools means dumping the children into the classroom with little or no support. This happens because administrators see inclusion as an opportunity to cut staff. Inclusion actually takes more teachers because they are needed to monitor student progress and to adapt classroom materials to a student’s needs.

Now a days they r put into a normal classroom but most of them will have a special helper that helps them thru the day with their work. Back in the 60’s and 70’s they had 2 choices if they were really bad then they didn’t go to school but if they weren’t that bad then they went to school but were in separate classes from the other children. Now a days they have to be put in main stream schooling with a teachers aide to help them

Before, they were considered the worst. Now, they are being more accepted by people. Before, they had them looked up, even killed (In the early days were people didn’t have any knowledge about such disabilities). It was too expensive to take care of them, as it is today. Plus, people didn’t want to deal with them. They often thought they were a product of the devil or possesed by him. Today, they go to school and work on their goals, such as reading, writing, eating, etc. They are more exposed in the community (CBI = Community Bases Interaction/Instruction). This is where they go out to the community. One of the goal is to teach independence.

My child is an EC child and gets the same treatment as other children. High functioning autistic to be exact… She goes on fieldtrips and such… it’s hard to handle when she returns, but we let her go and the school doesn’t ask her NOT to go. That would be against the law. They cannot ask a child NOT to go on a fieldtrip.Exclusion is discrimination… Don’t accept it. Fight it.