Options for special needs kids

Debate is intensifying over whether children with special needs or disabilities should be educated away from mainstream classrooms, writes Steve Dow.  Read the full text of this article from yesterday's Sydney Morning Herald here.

The article prompted this response today, in a letter to the editor:

I am flummoxed that the argument about inclusive education is back at square one (''Options for special needs kids'', August 9). For parents who have children with special needs in mainstream classrooms, and for teachers experienced at having such a diverse classroom, the issue is so much further along.

The real issue is not whether special needs children can be educated in a mainstream setting, but that the funding structures and bureaucratic systems in education have failed to keep up with the change. The NSW Department of Education's funding for classroom aides is woefully inadequate and bordering on negligent. It has been for years.

All the longitudinal studies show that the positive outcomes for special needs and ''normal'' children in inclusive education settings far outstrip the negative. If we are to talk about ''options'' for special needs children, let's start by not limiting them.

Kim Berry
Narrabeen