Special Education Policy Prospects: Lessons From Social Policies Past

ABSTRACT Social policies can be well-intentioned but ineffective in achieving what is intended. They can be undermined or destroyed by their exaggerated or oversimplified caricatures with a single, narrow focus. Caricatures may result in the opposite of the original intent of more carefully crafted variants. Institutionalization and deinstitutionalization are used as examples of a full cycle of policy failure. The shift from mandatory special education to the full inclusion movement (FIM) internationally is noted. Nowadays, the FIM maintains a narrow focus on one aspect of the U. S. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), with a deeply erroneous interpretation of the least restrictive environment (LRE) requirement. In giving comparatively little attention to other parts of the U. S. law, including free appropriate public education (FAPE), the individual education plan (IEP), and a continuum of alternative placements (CAP), the FIM may become a caricature; emphasizing physical/spatial inclusion to the neglect of FAPE and learning, it may achieve the opposite of what was intended. Not accidentally, IDEA has been criticized as outdated, and it could be revised detrimentally if such criticism, accompanied by alarming international policy trends, dominate thinking about special education. Recommendations are made for learning from the history of social policy, including the institutionalization/deinstitutionalization movements.