The Trend Toward Inclusion

A new University of Florida study published this spring found that the trend toward fully including students with disabilities accelerated strongly during the 1990s, but has stalled somewhat since then. Further, the study found that geographical location is the single biggest predictor of whether a student with mental retardation will be placed in a general education classroom:

A simple move across state lines, the researchers say, can have a major impact on a child’s educational career. Various states have widely different policies on who can be identified with mental retardation, and how they are educated. Some states identify mental retardation in as few as three out of every 1,000 students; others identify as many as 30 students per 1,000. Demographically similar states such as Alabama and Mississippi differ widely in their reported rates of mental retardation – suggesting the differences are due to policy, not environmental factors.

“For a student with mental retardation, geographic location is possibly the strongest predictor of the student’s future educational setting,” [study author Pam] Williamson said.

Many of these students can have functional work lives in adulthood, Williamson said. However, if they aren’t exposed to their peers in the general classroom, students with MR may not pick up the social and academic skills they need to do so.