Intended for persons concerned about public policies for exceptional children and those engaged in creating public policy, the book provides guidelines and examples of appropriate policies for exceptional children. Considered in Section 1 are the varying rights that advocacy groups have won for exceptional children in the legislatures, courts, and administrative agencies including the right to education, due process, least restrictive alternative, nondiscriminatory testing, and confidentiality. Current developments in public policy at the federal, state, and local levels are examined in Section 2 with significant federal laws provided or digested. Trends in state law are reviewed, a model state law is provided, and the issue of financing special education is analyzed. Discussed in Section 3 are the varying avenues of change: statutory law, administrative policy, attorneys' general opinions, and litigation. Section 4 provides information on advocate needs to effect change including techniques of political action, the problem of priority setting, and the impact of time and circumstances on policy decisions. Professional rights and responsibilities are discussed in the final section including such questions as whether a professional is solely an employee of a system or whether he is also an advocate for children, and the positive and negative impact of collective bargaining on exceptional children. (DB)