Publisher: Exceptional Children, 53
Page Numbers: 327-329

At least half of the children called learning disabled are misidentified; they need help in school but do not warrant the label handicapped. The costs of special services for these children are excessive because much of the extra resources are eaten up by the bureaucratic requirements of assessments and staffing. If special education were merged with regular education, children's needs could be met without bureaucratic costs. However, the national reports are an impediment to the merger of special and regular education because accountability demands make classroom teachers less willing to take responsibility for hard-to-teach children.