Integrating the physically handicapped child

Abstract

This paper will serve several purposes: (1) to provide information on the incidence of physically handicapped children (exclusive of the blind and deaf) who are likely to be integrated into schools for normal non-physically impaired children, (2) to describe briefly the major handicapping conditions and their educational implications, (3) to comment on why integration has come about and why it promises to enrich the lives of normal children, (4) to suggest how physicians, physical therapists, and occupational therapists might help to make schools programs successful, (5) to comment briefly on financial implications of this program and to suggest ways in which the complexity of the medical management might be simplified, (6) to provide factual knowledge about the handicapped child and his potential to teachers who are already on the firing line to "improve" the academic achievement of the alleged normal child.