Instead, most kids like Gregory, who has autism, attend schools with children with similar disabilities. The problem is there are not enough public school teachers who have been properly trained to teach children with autism alongside typically developing children.
Autism is a developmental disorder that affects normal brain development.
Experts estimate nearly 400,000 people in the United States are affected by it. Because new federal laws mandate children with disabilities be educated alongside typically developing children, some regular classroom teachers are ill prepared to deal with the challenges of teaching children with autism, Mrs. Patrick says. They haven't had the proper training. Pairing a child with autism with a typically developing child helps both children, experts say. The child with the disability will try to imitate normal behavior and the typically developing child will learn to interact socially with people who are different.