ABSTRACT
In 1969, responsibility for many children with mental handicaps in what are the New Laender of Germany was moved from special schools to the ministry of health. The closure in Poland and the Laender of the former German Democratic Republic of many of the sheltered workshops which have played such a large part in the social and economic integration of people with disabilities there, implies a serious reduction in the prospects of special needs children leaving school. Some, albeit tentative, generalizations can be made about special needs education in the new democracies of Central and Eastern Europe which distinguish them from the countries. In some countries, in-service training is also well developed, and indeed compulsory for teachers in special needs education. A very special interest in conductive education has been shown in the United Kingdom, and over a number of years British parents of children with cerebral palsy have gone with them to Budapest for education.
