Public Law 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, which requires a free and appropriate education for all handicapped children in the United States, creates special problems for the language arts teacher. The law mandates that handicapped children should be mainstreamed to the maximum extent possible while receiving individualized instruction; however, language arts teachers are often untrained to deal with such students and many feel that individualized instruction should not be restricted to handicapped students. When mainstreaming is implemented, the teacher's professional rights include the following: access to complete student records, participation in all staffing sessions (with arrangements made to cover the classroom), clearly defined responsibilities as a team member, the option to refuse to accept the handicapped child into class based on existing teaching responsibilities, and released time in the teaching day to prepare individualized programs. The following procedures have proved helpful in integrating the handicapped child into the language arts classroom: the provision of special activities, the development of skill programs, the establishment of normal class expectations for the handicapped, the use of varied class organization patterns and varied instructional materials, and the development of creative activities. (DF)