Should handicapped children attend ordinary schools?

Annotation Should handicapped children attend ordinary schools? The Warnock report' has raised many issues relevant to child health. Among these are the arguments for and against the integration of handicapped children into ordinary schools. This aspect has been given topical prominence by the affirmation of the Secretary for Education of his support for the implementation of section 10 of the 1976 Education Act.2 This states that, subject to certain qualifications and from a date to be determined , handicapped pupils in England and Wales should be educated in ordinary schools in preference to special schools. It is appropriate therefore, that not only should the issue of integration be debated but also that the contexts in which such a development could occur be clarified. The present position Less than 20% of children, whether handicapped or not currently have preschool placement before they are 5-years old,3-4 although this percentage must vary between one district and another. The preschool is not generally used more by handicapped children than by their healthy peers.3 Most of this preschool provision is by means of day nurseries and play groups, and neither usually includes teachers among their staff. The priority for preschool children therefore, may be considered as a general extension of educational facilities for all and not merely for the handicapped. Many handicapped children aged between 5 years and school leaving age have already been integrated into normal schools. In 1977, 12% of all children ascertained to be in need of special education were attending ordinary schools. Their handicaps were usually slight but extended across the whole range of disabilities.5 Any discussion relating to this group of children should be centred therefore, on the rationale and the methods for extending integration and for making it more effective, rather than on the underlying principle. The fact that the number of births in the UK has fallen over recent years should also be taken into consideration, although the birth rate may now be rising again. It should also be borne in mind that perinatal and paediatric policies have been directed towards the prevention of handicap, so it may well be that the number of children with special educational needs will be considerably smaller than it was a decade ago. This will make more places available in both ordinary and special schools, and the advantages and disadvantages of these placements will have an additional contemporary significance. For and against …