ABSTRACT
The 1981 Education Act abolished the categories of handicap that up to that time had been used to link educational provision and resources to needs. These categories were replaced by a generic concept of ‘special educational needs’. Section 1(1) of the 1981 Act refers to a child having special educational needs ‘if he has a learning difficulty which calls for special educational provision to be made for him’. This will be the case where he or she:
has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of children of his age; [or] he has a disability which either prevents or hinders him from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided in schools.
