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Article: Autism and the inclusion mandate: what happens when children with severe disabilities like autism are taught in regular classrooms? Daniel knows.
- Article from:
- Education Next
- Article date:
- January 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Hoover Institution Press. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Daniel walks into his kindergarten classroom and drops his outerwear, backpack, and bus harness in a tangled heap in the middle of the floor. Daniel has a singular focus this morning: building a bridge and a house out of Lincoln Logs.
He does not notice as classmates step around or over him as he plays on the hard floor. If other children move into his space, he pushes them away. One or two children greet him, but he does not answer. Daniel keeps up a running dialogue as he plays, in jargon rarely understandable to anyone but himself.
Daniel's educational aide approaches him and, using a handmade schedule book with symbolic pictures, shows Daniel that ...