Families with children who have autism and other developmental disabilities move to Madison, Wis. from all over the country so that their children can attend Madison schools, where students are included in regular classes and not segregated, according to a recent article in The New York Times.
About 12 percent of students are identified as disabled nationally, but in Madison, it is 17.5 percent. Eighty-eight percent of elementary students with disabilities are included in classes, 81 percent of middle school students, and 63 percent of high school students.
It costs the school district $23,000 to educate a student with autism, as compared to $12,000 for a typical child, according to the article. However, this cost is still less than it would be to segregate students into separate classes.
Madison is considered one of the three leaders in inclusion of students with disabilities, along with schools in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, N.C., and Clark County, Nev.
View A School District that Takes the Isolation Out of Autism in its entirety.
