by Diane Haas

About the author: Diane Haas is an elementary school teacher in Champaign County, Ohio.

A new phase of special education reform known as full inclusion began in the 1980s. Full inclusion is a term used to describe the placement of children with disabilities in a regular education classroom with children who do not have disabilities.

Special Education vs. Full Inclusion

The Education of the Handicapped Act enacted in 1975 (since renamed The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) mandates that handicapped children, including children in public or private institutions, be educated with nonhandicapped children. Handicapped children should be removed from the regular education classroom only when the nature and severity of the handicap is such that education cannot be achieved satisfactorily.

However, since the 1970s, children with disabilities have been removed from the regular classroom to a separate self-contained...