Letter: Special ed inclusion can stress

Regarding the pair of letters "Special ed costs are exaggerated" [Aug. 4], it is clear that these two writers know nothing about how inclusion is done. The writer of "Special ed costs more than is known" [July 24] said very clearly what inclusion looked like at her school district.

Inclusion can be a single general-education teacher teaching a special-education student. I am a former special-education student who in ninth grade was referred to attend an alternative school for "socialization." In the end, I realized that the regular classroom was extremely stressful, and the school was not able to accommodate my disability. I figured this out, not my teachers or the school psychologist. I didn't know that a small alternative school with an enrollment of only about 50 students could not provide separate classrooms to accommodate my disability.

If we assumed that every special-education student could be educated in a regular classroom, the cost for special-education services would increase greatly. If educators focus on "socialization," the student with special needs will struggle and end up requiring even more intensive special education services.

The reality is that students with disabilities must "earn" their right to be in regular classrooms. Inclusion is not simply putting students with disabilities in regular classrooms without the support they require.

Jessica Liao, New Hyde Park