Teaching objectives in special education are different from those in the ordinary classroom. Educational programmes for special needs students are focused on individual learning, achievement and progress. Thus, the instruction in special education classrooms and resource rooms in inclusive schools has to be specific, directed and individualised.…

This article explores the different forms of professional guidance negotiated by mothers as they search for a primary school placement for their child diagnosed with autism. The intensely contested terrain of whether segregated or "regular" classrooms would be "better" for the child shapes the contours of both professional…