Inclusion

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en was amended again in 1997. The amendment required that a student should be placed in an environment with the fewest restrictions and the greatest opportunities in the context of a particular disability. This was known as the least restrictive environment. Some advocates of the disabled are seeking to replace these special education programs with the full inclusion of disabled children into regular classrooms (Kavale, 283). The success of full inclusion lies in the hands of the teachers and the school systems. The question is however, are the school systems today ready to handle such a drastic change and make this a successful program?
It has long been recognized that a major factor in the success or failure of a policy such as mainstreaming is the attitudes of the general education teacher (Full Inclusion). Early on, general education teachers expressed some negative attitudes especially feelings of inadequacy in dealing with students with disabilities, although they remained generally positive about the concept of integration. Although, positive attitudes about students with disabilities could also be found these positive attitudes were often accompanied by concern about the integration of students with severe disabilities, particularly those with significant intellectual deficits. Teachers were also found to be more willing to integrate students whose disabilities did not require additional responsibilities on their part. Otherwise, they revealed a resistance to greater integration. Although attempts to foster more positive attitudes about integration have been made any positive attitudes achieved were found to be short-lived.
The attitudes of peers...