Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, November 22, 1994 TAG: 9411220126
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Now you'll find more and more students with disabilities being educated in regular classrooms.
It has become the most common method in the country for providing disabled students with an education.
A new report by the U. S. Education Department shows that 36 percent of the nation's 5.1 million disabled students are attending regular classes at least 80 percent of the school day.
A decade ago, many disabled students were educated in separate classrooms or schools. Roanoke County, for instance, had a special school for children with disabilities. The school was closed as part of the trend to include special education students in regular classrooms.
Nationally, the report showed that 34 percent of disabled students receive special instruction for more than half the school day and attend regular classes the rest of the day.
Twenty-four percent of the students are educated in separate classrooms. The rest are in separate schools or facilities.
The school divisions in the Roanoke Valley have followed the national trend and are placing more students with mental or physical disabilities in regular classrooms.
In Roanoke, 96 percent of disabled students spend at least part of the day in regular classes. In Roanoke County, the figure is 98 percent.
In Salem, Lewis Romano, director of special education and federal programs, said about 70 percent of disabled students spend part of the school day in regular classes.
Salem, Lewis Romano, director of special education and federal programs, said about 70 percent of disabled students spend part of the school day in regular classes.
Romano said the number of students categorized as disabled can vary because different definitions are sometimes used for the same term.
Eddie Kolb, director of special education for Roanoke County, said different degrees of inclusion cause some confusion in reporting statistics.
"Some people call it 'full inclusion' only when the disabled student spends the entire day in regular classes," Kolb said. He said that is usually a low number because many students with disabilities need help in some of their academic work.
Interpretations differ of the minimum amount of time that must be spent in regular classes to constitute inclusion. Some say it must be more than 50 percent while others say it should be 80 percent.
In Botetourt County, most of the disabled children spend part of their day in regular classrooms, said Edward Schnittger, supervisor of special education. He did not have figures immediately available.
In Franklin County, 73 percent of disabled students spend more than half the school day in regular classrooms. Marshall Flora, supervisor of special education, said 24 percent spend less than half the day in regular classes and 3 percent are taught in separate classes.
In Montgomery County, 70 percent spend more than half their school day in regular classooms; 20 percent spend less than half their day in regular classes. The remaining 10 percent are educated either in separate classrooms or private care centers.
Robert Sieff, director of special education for Roanoke, said the school system has also placed some disabled students in private facilities. The law requires school systems to place disabled children in private care facilities if they can't care for them adequately.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***