My roommate and I had a pretty intense 3 hour discussion about several aspects and issues of education while sitting on the porch at Mellow Mushroom yesterday, and an interesting idea came up. She was wondering whether or not we shoud include students who have learning disabilities in the regular classroom. One of her arguments was that special ed kids, when in a special ed setting may feel more comfortable with their peers. When you put these special ed kids in a regular classroom they are instantly labeled "different" and "learning disabled," leading to a discomfort. However, another way of looking at the situation would be that it is important to expose the special ed kids to the regular classroom, and the regular ed kids to the special ed kids. These children are going to have to deal with different people throughout their lives, so why not educate them and guide them to learn to deal with such differences. I had an autistic boy mainstreamed in the regular 5th grade classroom this semester, and when he walks in the room, the kids greet him, treat him like any other kid, and respect his differences. It is wonderful! Maybe the teacher could educate the students about a learning disability a child who is about to be apart of the classroom might have. Do activities with the kids and stress the importance of acceptance. What do you guys think about this issue of inclusion?? (Sorry this is so long)