ABSTRACT
The Italian law provides that education of the handicapped child may be pursued through a cooperation between the normal class teacher and a specialist teacher, trained to treat disabilities, who is generally defined as a 'support teacher'. The legal regulations are applied not only to state 'compulsory' schools, which in Italy include eight grades for children and young people from 6 to 14 years; nine years ago, the integration was extended to state kindergartens, for which support teachers have also been provided. The pressure put on the political system by these wide changes in the general perspective of education seems to be stronger if people consider the serious crisis faced in those years by the 'special' educational institutions. According to the new scheme, the education of children with handicaps in public/mainstream schools has been made the responsibility of education, and is to include learning, training and socialization, whereas responsibility for re-education has been given to medical professionals.
