Due to laws such as the IDEA and ADA, education for students with disabilities has improved drastically. Allowing students with disabilities to learn in the least restrictive environment promotes social skills and interactions.
inclusion in the classroom
In the past, students with disabilities have been segregated from general education classrooms. In fact, until legislation such as the IDEA and ADA, schools were allowed to refuse education. Even once schools were legally required to provide education, students with disabilities were segregated in separate classrooms.
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academic benefits
Today, integration of students with disabilities into the general classroom is common. By providing disabled students with a challenging environment, they are able to advance their academic skills and master more age-appropriate content.
Benefits of inclusion include access to higher academic standards, age-appropriate curriculum, and faster-paced learning, all contributing to accelerated academic achievement.
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social benefits
"[M]any students with severe disabilities were separated into special education classes and missed out on the benefits of having long-term social relationships. As a result, when they left the classroom, they were not ready to join the larger, heterogeneous communities in which they would live and work for the rest of their lives."
-Willis [5]