ABSTRACT
Integration is the key concept of a broad international movement that started in the sixties. Its aim was to bring about a fundamental reform of the system of provision for the mentally ill and the severely mentally retarded, and of special education for pupils with special needs. This movement has been successful to a certain extent. In many countries provision for the mentally ill has changed considerably, due to the implementation of the concept of community-based mental health care. Institutions for the mentally retarded have changed as a result of three decades of debate about the concepts of normalisation and deinstitutionalisation. The evidence presented in this book demonstrates that the same holds for the field of special education. As a result of the integration movement, both the theory and the practice of special education for children with special needs have changed considerably. This is the case not only in countries with a one-track educational policy; even in countries with a two-track or a multi-track system the idea that students with special needs should remain in regular schools has become an accepted part of educational policy. In all of the countries described, segregated special education is a matter for concern and debate.
