The present study surveyed teachers and students without disabilities regarding the inclusion of students with disabilities at an Australian primary school. The school provided special education to 35 students with special needs and some of their education was provided in regular classrooms alongside peers without disabilities. Fifteen regular classroom teachers and 109 classroom peers without special needs completed questionnaires. Both groups provided a range of supportive comments about regular classroom placements for student with special needs, but also expressed concerns about the implementation of special education in regular classrooms. Specific concerns included the extra time and added stress of educating children with special needs in the regular classroom setting, potential disruption and disadvantage to other students and the lack of support and resources. Unless these concerns are addressed, placement of students with special needs in regular classrooms may generate stress, concern, and even possibly resentment among some teachers and students without disabilities.

This article reviews the findings of a comprehensive national study of the social effects of haemophilia in New Zealand, with reference to the educational implications for children with haemophilia. However, these implications go well beyond New Zealand and many apply to children with other medical conditions and disabilities. Although children with haemophilia do make some special demands on schools, the main argument of the report is that schools which provide socially and physically safe environments for their students’ will also meet many of the needs of children with haemophilia.

A curriculum-based one minute oral reading probe was administered to 242 randomly selected, regular Grade 4 students, from 22 Government schools in one large NSW Department of School Education metropolitan school district, to determine reading competence. The results of this easily administered test showed that 22% of students failed to reach 70 CWPM (instructional level) 23% scored 70–100 CWPM, 20% scored 100–119 CWPM and 35% exceeded mastery level, with a score of 120 CWPM or more. It was concluded that the high number, 65%, failing to reach mastery level should be of major concern to district educators and warrants a review of classroom practice in reading instruction with implications for district-wide resource allocation.

Children with behaviour disorders have long been regarded as the most difficult group of children with special needs to integrate into the regular classroom. Despite the difficulty Government policy continues to advocate integration for all children with special needs. The present study examines the placement of children with behaviour disorders in regular schools one and two years after an initial study on their integration was undertaken. The results indicate that many of these children are no longer at the surveyed school. The results would suggest that the regular classroom/school may not be the optimal learning environment for all children with behaviour disorders.