While most special ed experts believe that including learning disabled children in regular classrooms is ideal, try telling that to parents whose kids attend the Lab School in Washington, DC. Each year, 400 applicants vie for 40 spots at this privately operated school, where all 310 students suffer from moderate to severe learning disabilities. Using many imaginative, hands-on activities, the innovative school teaches coping strategies that allow most kids to return to regular schools after three to four years, and 90 percent of its students eventually go to college. A typical teacher in the school may have three assistants - for a class of 11 kids - and tuition is $18,000 a year, but for 80 percent of the school's students, tuition is covered by a combination of district, state, and federal money, thanks to IDEA. Last year, the District of Columbia school system paid the Lab School $4.3 million for Washington youngsters enrolled there. If DC ever succeeds in fixing its severely troubled special ed program, many of these students would be obliged to return to regular public schools and receive their special ed services there. For now, though, the lucky few enjoy a world-class education, while many more of the District's disabled kids simply do without. A 10-page portrait of the Lab School, considered one of the best in the land for learning disabled kids, and its colorful and demanding principal Sally Smith, appears in this month's Teacher Magazine. "Stepping Out of the Mainstream," by Stacy Weiner, Teacher Magazine, October 2002
