Special Education Students in an Inclusive Environment

In today’s world there are more and more children coming into the general education classes having a disability.   More general education teachers have to take on a bigger responsibility than what they signed up for, but that is part of being a teacher.   I feel as long as the general education teacher and special education teacher collaborate with each other they will be putting the student’s needs first.   The following public laws have helped out many students with disabilities learn in an inclusion class.

The first Public Law 93-112, Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973 Section 504(1973) which states that “ Individuals with disabilities cannot be excluded from participation in , denied benefits of, or subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.”(Hardman, Drew, Eagan, 2008, p. 10)   This is the first law that started to help out the civil rights for all people with disabilities in the United States.
The second Public Law passed in 1975 and the U.S. Congress enacted the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (Public Law 94-142).   This mad a free and appropriate education available to nearly four million school-age students with disabilities in the United States between the ages 6-21.   The law included provisions for an individualize education program, procedural safeguards to protect the rights of students and their parents, nondiscriminatory and multidisciplinary assessment, and education with peers without disabilities to the greatest extent appropriate.”(Hardman, Drew, & Eagan, 2008, p.27)   The same law Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) established the zero-exclusion principle.   IDEA mandated that students with disabilities receive any necessary services needed to ensure that they benefit from their education such as transportation and developmental, corrective and other supportive services.
Then in 1986, PL 99-457 Education of the Handicapped Act Amendment became Public Law.   This...