Well, Lee, as you may imagine, I could go on and on about this, being an
elementary teacher myself...I'll giv eyou some thoughts now and we can
followup on more later as I don't have tons of time right now...

I always attended a regular school and regular classes (except for
adaptive gym in jr. and sr. high) since my cp isn't very severe.  But, I
would have liked my GYM teacher to not let me get away with making so
many excuses.  Heck, I think I lived in snow boots from Nov.- Mar. on
gym days so I wouldn't have to participate and she let me get away with
it.  Now, as an adult, I am completely clueless about sports and don't
know anything about proper form in any sport.  That's quite a shame
since I should have been able to do most activities.  My regular
teachers never treated me differently than the rest.  I was bright, so I
did well and was a teacher pleaser.

As for my thoughts on inclusion, I think all kids NEED to be exposed to
the differences in people (be it race, gender, ability, etc.), so to me,
inclusion is just a natural way for all kids to have that.  But, I also
think the best interest of the kids need to be considered.  So, if the
included child is not learning effectively or if the learning of the
other students is hampered because of the extra time the teacher devotes
to an included student, then it isn't the best fit.  I have worked with
many special needs kids in my regular education classroom quite
successfully.  But I also have an open-minded perspective.  That brings
me to my final point for now...Regular ed. teachers who aren't
effectively trained or are resistant to special needs kids aren't going
to be successful with inclusion.  So, it takes a "special" regular ed.
teacher to make inclusion work!

Linda