From communication and mobility problems to cognitive and emotional challenges, a wide variety of disabilities afflicts children, just like adults. American public schools are expected to address all children's needs and to help them reach their full potential. Programs to help teachers and parents deal with special needs children have existed for a long time, but these programs have expanded in the past 30 years.

In 1975, President Gerald Ford signed legislation that has evolved into the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The law guaranteed children with disabilities access to a free and appropriate public education. Prior to IDEA, only about 20 percent of children with disabilities attended school. By 2003, the number of students with disabilities completing high school had risen by 17 percent, and their participation in postsecondary education had more than doubled.

Although IDEA guaranteed every child an education, the law did not address academic outcomes, which sometimes led to what President George W. Bush called the "soft bigotry of low expectations." His administration's No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law was designed to get all children, nationwide, reading and doing mathematics at a grade-appropriate level by 2014, but it did not include a plan to help students with disabilities attain this goal. The Department of Education's Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services worked with school systems across the country to begin addressing this gap. The Tigard-Tualatin School District in the state of Oregon and the Minneapolis Public Schools in Minnesota, for example, participated in pilot programs that stressed academic outcomes, early intervention, and other improvements.

In 2006, the Department of Education issued new guidelines for IDEA, adding an expectation of academic outcomes to the requirements for special needs children and providing a Tool Kit for Teaching and Assessing Students with Disabilities to aid school districts, educators, and parents in implementing the new accountability measures. Key elements of the new guidelines include flexibility in spending resources to help schools identify special needs students early and accurately and get them the support they need; a requirement that teachers of special needs children be highly qualified, not only in teaching this audience, but also in the academic subjects being presented; a streamlining of paperwork for schools; and the strengthening of parents' involvement in their children's education.

In the summer of 2006, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings welcomed the new guidelines, saying, "No Child Left Behind and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act have put the needs of students with disabilities front and center. We now have a laser-like focus on helping these kids."

The commitment to help all people with disabilities achieve as much as possible and participate fully in all aspects of U.S. society clearly includes roles for those with disabilities and for teachers, therapists, and other support personnel who work with people with disabilities. But for everyone else in society, there is also a responsibility to learn about disabilities and ways to support people who have them.

Since the enactment of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), more and more schools have programs that bring children with disabilities into regular classrooms for all or part of the day. Children with and without disabilities work and play together and form friendships that enrich both parties. Educators have discovered, however, that while children can be open to others, there are things adults can do to help them develop the comfort, understanding, and respect that makes these relationships possible.

A number of groups have developed teaching materials to help teachers and youth workers plan lessons to help children understand the challenges and perspectives of those with disabilities. A resource list that describes programs and gives contact information can be found at http://www.nichcy.org/pubs/bibliog/bib13txt.htm.

Programs range from groups such as Kids on the Block, which uses nearly life-size puppets and other materials to teach disability awareness and to present medical and educational differences and social concerns, to New Friends Curriculum, which uses dolls to create situations for children to discuss. Interactive programs allow able-bodied children to use blindfolds and other tools to experience what it would be like to lose some ability. Trying to tie shoes with a sock over each hand to reduce the functioning of the fingers or trying to eat while blindfolded helps children empathize with their classmates with disabilities. Learning what it feels like to walk blindfolded helps them better understand how to help a classmate or friend. Visit the Kids on the Block Web site at http://www.kotb.com.

U.S. classrooms and youth organizations have added these kinds of lessons because most Americans believe that understanding the challenges of others and how best to help them is as much a part of being a good citizen as any of the other social or civic lessons that are offered. And it's not simply good for children. Businesses and other organizations have programs to help employees better understand how to work with colleagues or clients who have disabilities.

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