A teacher is more apt to break instruction into finer parts or repeat directions if he or she has a youngster in the room who deals with deafness, blindness, or a developmental disability. Children learn to accept individual differences. The best way to help children overcome their misconceptions about kids who have disabilities is to bring them together in integrated settings. Children develop new friendships. Children with disabilities who are included in regular education develop friendships in their home communities.
Parent participation improves.
When children with disabilities are integrated into local schools, parents have more opportunity to participate in that school and in the community where the school is located. It's a matter of civil rights. Students with disabilities have a legal right to attend regular classes and receive an appropriate education in the least restrictive environment. Caren Sax, Ian Pumpian, and Doug Fisher, San Diego State University researchers, discuss assistive technology in a research brief, Assistive Technology and Inclusion . Those who attempt to acquire it for their students rarely consider applications of technology beyond computers, wheelchairs, or commercially available communication devices.