Musings on LRE and why we should care

This is purely opinion and musings here...But I started thinking about Least Restrictive Environment and why some parents want a restricted environment for their special needs children.

We all know that most special education classrooms are smaller, hopefully more individualized. But many times, I also hear parents complain about the academic standards being less than that of a regular education program. As if these special needs children don't truly have "individualized" educational needs.

This starts to appear like racial segregation.

So here's a proposal you can take or leave. What if all schools were to do away with these "special education classrooms"? Hear me out...And each child (and I mean ALL) had their own Individualized Education Plan that was REALLY followed and included the child's curriculum in it's entirety.

Seems to me that this would solve a lot of problems as far as eligibility too. It would no longer be about "who is eligible". Every child is taught as his or her own level and ability.

And maybe I'm just dreaming here, but wouldn't it be a better world if we didn't seek to segregate them now? Are we expecting our children to ever become independent at all? Are we expecting society to accept our children's differences in public but not in school? Do we want the peers to be accepting when they are adults? Because it seems to me that prejudices start young.

Inclusion for all..That's how I think it should be...and maybe we'll see it our lifetime.