By Michelle Tuccitto Sullo
Investigations Editor
If students with disabilities are going to succeed in regular classrooms, their instructors need to have the training and preparation to teach them.
Attorney David Shaw of Bloomfield, who represents the plaintiffs in the ongoing P.J. litigation, asserts many teachers aren’t trained enough, and disabled students still aren’t getting enough access to the curriculum.
“We are trying to teach them to be functioning adults and they need to learn to get along with their peers and future employers,” Shaw said. “These kids can do amazing things. If you have low expectations, like you think they won’t learn to read, then that is what happens.”
While Shaw’s primary focus is on intellectually disabled students, his concern has been echoed by experts in other disability areas.
“Parents fought to get their kids included in regular education, then the problem was that the teachers didn’t know how to teach them,” Shaw said.

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