Four crucial areas in the success of mainstreaming are good communication, administrative support, adequate time, and inservice training. (Author)

Schools can reduce special-education and remedial instruction costs by helping students succeed in early grades. This article profiles several prevention and early intervention programs, including Success for All, Reading Recovery, Prevention of Learning Disabilities, the Carolina Abecedarian Project, Comer's School Development Program, and…

Several Maryland schools are experimenting with Roots and Wings, a collaborative project of Saint Mary's County Schools, the state education department, and Johns Hopkins University. Funded by the New American Schools Development Corporation, the pilot project's goals are to guarantee every child's successful completion of elementary school and to…

Case studies of the implementation of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act in 17 school districts show that we have seen only the early stages of increased opportunities for the handicapped. (Author/MLF)

No student should have to earn his or her way into the general education classroom, writes the author. The inclusive education model recognizes every student's right to be educated in the least restrictive environment, as provided under special education law. Yet many school districts still place students with special learning needs in separate…

Disabled children placed in regular classrooms are supposed to get special services so that they can participate academically and socially without disrupting other students' learning. Since most states and school districts are adopting full inclusion to save money, such services are unlikely. Requiring all disabled children to be included in…

A parent objected to a district's replacement of the gifted pull-out program with gifted-talented clusters in regular classrooms. Teachers would be trained to work with special-needs students, but not to differentiate curricula for advanced students. He agreed to advance his daughter a grade, but deplores reforms' transitional effects. (MLH)

For nearly 20 years, a Delaware school district has been building and evaluating an inclusive classroom model, Team Approach to Mastery. Resource rooms were gradually eliminated, and disabled students were educated alongside their nondisabled classmates. Mainstreaming strategies included team teaching, learning centers, ego groups (to develop…

Current Chapter 1 remedial and compensatory education programs may not be worth the substantial funds being poured into them. To address shortcomings, such programs should be upgraded, reconceptualized as educational (not funding) programs, and fully integrated into the total school program. Includes 14 references. (MLH)

IQ scores and disability labels can sentence certain children to lifelong failure. MAPS (Making Action Plans) is a collaborative process that brings the key actors in a child's life together to create an action plan to be implemented in a regular classroom setting. This article describes MAP's eight-step planning process. Sidebars describe MAP's…

Describes a severely disabled child's successful integration into a class of 22 first graders at a suburban Atlanta elementary school. Katie, who experienced visual impairment, multiple physical disabilities, and moderate intellectual disability, received two hours of support from a special-education teacher assistant and additional help from…

Giangreco helps teachers answer one of the hardest questions in including students with disabilities in mainstream classes: How can teachers include students who function substantially below grade level? Giangreco describes a teacher who must help a boy working at kindergarten level participate in the academic work of her 5th grade class. He…

In discussing the need to restructure school programs and more completely integrate students with special learning needs into regular school programs, the problems of classification of students in special education and overlapping services and programs are presented. Includes a table featuring effective classroom environments and a reference list.…

In an age of inclusion, schools for blind children may seem an outdated delivery model. Student outcomes show that these placement options are justifiable, legitimate, and critically essential for many children. Although specialized schools are more expensive, they provide more services and produce well-qualified graduates. (MLH)

KIDLINK is a grassroots organization aiming to improve worldwide relations by involving students ages 10 to 15 in electronic dialog. Using KIDLINK connections, a teacher of Internet telecommunications courses successfully involved three mainstreamed, neurologically impaired seventh graders in writing a book and teaching others the value of…