Sept. 22, 1998
Contact: Daniel Hallahan  
(804) 924-0756
dph@virginia.edu

U.VA. EDUCATOR JOINS NATIONAL PANEL ON THE WEB TO ANSWER QUESTIONS ABOUT
CONTROVERSIAL PRACTICE OF INCLUSION

	As the new school year begins, a University of Virginia educator
is sharing his expertise over the World Wide Web to help students with
learning disabilities.
	Daniel Hallahan, a professor in U.Va.'s Curry School of
Education and chair of the Curry School's Curriculum, Instruction and
Special Education Department, is one of six nationally recognized
experts participating in an on-line discussion about inclusion, the
controversial practice of placing children with learning disabilities,
emotional and behavior disorders and mental retardation in regular
classrooms in neighborhood schools.  
	The "Ask the Expert" feature on the Web is supported by the
Parents and Educators Resource Center, a program of the Charles and
Helen Schwab Foundation.  The on-line discussion with experts continues
through Sept. 25.  To participate, access the Web site at
http://www.ldonline.org/bulletin_boards/main_inclusion_sept98.html
	Both parents and teachers are accessing the Web site.  Parents
are posing questions or raising concerns about issues ranging from
teaching reading to children with learning disabilities to placement of
students in special programs.  Teachers are asking questions and
offering suggestions on a wide variety of strategies related to teaching
children with learning difficulties in regular classrooms.
	Hallahan, a national advocate of special education reform and
co-author of a leading textbook on teaching children with special needs,
calls his experience on the Web "eye-opening."  "I knew that there were
some questionable practices going on in the schools under the rubric of
inclusion, but it's heart-wrenching to hear from so many parents and
teachers who are at their wits' end.  
	"Too many schools just don't get it.  Inclusion of students with
learning disabilities in regular classes is great for some, but not for
all.  When inclusion is the best option, it has to be 

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supported with resources.  You just can't dump students with severe
learning problems in a regular class and expect it to work," he said.
	The Web site also contains more than 50 articles addressing
inclusion and strategies for educating students with learning
disabilities.  
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