Zombies are defined as ideas or persistent myths that should have died out but have not. Special education's biggest zombie is that only full inclusion brings about true social justice and the most effective education for students with disabilities. Three examples of specific zombies about full inclusion are presented. First, that full inclusion…

Including students with disabilities in general education when appropriate is an important goal of special education. However, inclusion is not as important as effective instruction, which must be the first concern of education, general or special. "Full" inclusion, the claim that "all" students with disabilities are best…

The reasons are examined for the disparity between the inclusive vision espoused by Article 24 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the reality of the limited extent of inclusion in education systems worldwide. First, the leadership of key senior academics in the field of special education is considered…

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…

Full inclusion of students with disabilities focuses on where students are taught, not on instruction. The idea that all students, including those with disabilities, can and should be taught together in the same class and school is a highly prized myth. Focusing on inclusion rather than on appropriate instruction and on a continuum of alternative…

Inclusion of students with disabilities when appropriate is an important goal of special education for students with special needs. Full inclusion, meaning no education for any child in a separate setting, is held to be desirable by some, and Italy is likely the nation with an education system most closely approximating full inclusion on the…

We acknowledge that some students with severe disabilities are not being taught in general education. We do not agree that inclusion in general education is inherently better, nor do we think it is always appropriate, and we provide some reasons that a full continuum of alternative placements is not only legally mandated but appropriate. We are…

Change is not synonymous with improvement. Improvement of special education requires better instruction of individuals with disabilities. Although LRE and inclusion are important issues, they are not the primary legal or practical issues in improving special education. Federal law (IDEA) requires a continuum of alternative placements, not…

The decades-long assault on principles of special education--some knowingly, such as the regular education initiative, and some unknowingly, such as certain presumptions and practices of full inclusion--have consequences that may negatively affect the future of the field. Protracted criticisms on the character, role, and legitimacy of traditional…

A focus on anything other than instruction undercuts the legal and moral rights of students with disabilities to an appropriate education and fails to produce substantive social justice. Differences among differences must be recognized to guarantee the civil educational rights to which people with disabilities are entitled.…

The controversy over the use labels for students who receive special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act has been raging for decades. Do labels really serve an educational purpose? Do they stigmatize students? Do disabilities really exist? Are they just part of the normal distribution of human characteristics,…

Making public school accommodating of all learners such that the need for special education is obviated, or at least reduced, has long been a desideratum of educators. Various strategies for making general public education more accommodating of students with disabilities have been tried. The most recent efforts to improve the general education of…

We suggest that special education could die among common myths about it. That is, special education could cease to exist, at least as we know it, because its true nature and requirements for its functioning are misunderstood. We discuss only 12 common myths about special education, recognizing that there are many more myths and that the ones we…