"Of course all students are included no matter the kind of disability. It's a matter of civilization! Not to include is barbarian!" Thus spoke Dr. Nora Ferro, a psychologist in the Italian national health service whose work is with the public schools of Rome.

I first learned about Italy's national policy on including students with disabilities in regular classrooms from Dr. Gunnar Dybwad, Brandeis University Professor Emeritus, and an international authority on disability issues. Beginning in the mid-70's, publications from UNESCO and OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) claimed that educational programs for students with disabilities in Italy were the most inclusive of all the countries of Europe. The movement toward integration evolved in the 1960s when psychiatric hospitals and institutions for people with disabilities were closed and health services were reorganized into decentralized units for each region of the country. This fostered a strong anti-segregation movement in education. The first law passed by the Italian Parliament concerning education for students with disabilities was in 1971, National Law 118, which established the right of compulsory education for children with disabilities in regular classes of public schools. Prior to the passing of the law there were school districts already integrating students with disabilities such as Parma and Florence, and as the Italians say, "The law followed the practice because the practice was right." In the beginning the emphasis was on socialization and acceptance. The Italians now call this early period "integrazione selvaggio," or wild integration.

The movement went forward without knowing all the answers. Nora Ferro said, "We were convinced of the rightness of integration and if we waited to know all the answers, we might never have begun and meanwhile lives were being wasted." In 1977, National Law 517 specified strategies for implementing integration: maximum size of integrated class is to be 20; maximum number of students with disabilities per class is to be 2; special services for students with disabilities be integrated in the classroom; classes tracked by ability are to be abolished; special education teachers are to be teamed with regular education teachers in integrated classrooms, both teachers interacting with all students.

Since 1984, Syracuse University has sponsored seminars in Italy led by me, where participants observe preschools, elementary schools, and secondary schools in Italian cities and villages and meet with national and regional leaders. As American terminology and application has evolved from "mainstreaming" to "integration" to "inclusion," the Italian terminology has evolved from "integration" to "insertion" ("studenti inseriti"), implying that a student is simply and naturally a part of the class and not just a fulfillment of the law. This article is based on interviews and observations made in May and June, 1994.

Presently in Italy there are about 100,000 students with severe disabilities. (Only students with severe disabilities are labeled in Italy.) Officially the special education teacher/student ratio is 1 teacher to 4 students; in actuality there are about 43,000 special education teachers (sostegni) in Italy creating a ratio that is almost 1 teacher to 2 students. Although the law states that there be no more than 2 students with disabilities to a class, in practice there is usually 1. Nora Ferro stated in May, 1994, "It was important that everyone had to be in school and with the least stigma possible. Yes, we made mistakes, but we knew that we had to take risks in order to be open to change. Now we are looking for a deeper meaning for students with disabilities. They need to know why they are in school. It is not enough to just be there and be loved. Students must have an individualized program that prescibes the program to match the ability and always in the same classroom. Examples of different approaches are sign language and braille. In the early years we rejected sign language and braille as stigmatizing; now when there is a student who is deaf or blind, the whole class learns sign language or braille." However, according to Dr. Ferro, there are still a few special schools left in Italy, run by religious orders of nuns in response to a small group of parents who want it for their children who are disabled. This decision by parents is carefully scrutinized by the school districts because the national philosophy considers special schools an aberration. Currently in Rome there is a small school for students who are deaf and another for students who are blind.

The National Director of Study and Development of Innovations in Education is Dr. Rafaele Tortora. He spoke to our group about the history of inclusion in Italy, saying how socialization was the main goal in the early years of integration, but in later years there was increasing emphasis on academics for students with disabilities. This emphasis was reinforced by National Law 711 which was passed in 1992. Dr. Tortora explained how the intention of this law is to involve the entire class and school with the academic progress of students with disabilities. He also said that a "good special education teacher works more with the regular education teacher than with the student" and both are to stress the "positive selective description;" that is, a teaching approach that works on what the student can do (developing the student's potential), not on what the student cannot do. Dr. Tortora said that this year the Ministry of Education is involving all principals in teacher inservices to further refine the national policy of "insertion" of students with severe disabilities. As decreed by national law, all teachers have 40 hours of inservice a year.

Dr. Tortora referred to the academic evolvement in Italy as a "cultural development." He defined the Latin culture primarily as placing emphasis on who the person is, on the autonomy and dignity of the person. He contrasted this with his perception of the culture of Northern Europeans and the United States which he defined as emphasizing what the person has, fostering individualism and competition.

In Italy, education for students with disabilities combines the services of schools with the national health agency whose regional and local units provide diagnosis and therapeutic services. Members of health units: physicians, psychologists, social workers, nurses, speech, occupational, and physical therapists, are part of the team that supports the classroom where there is a student with a disability.

Torrigiani Institute in Florence was a residential institution for children with cerebral palsy. In 1962 Torrigiani Institute began to change its focus under its progressive director, the late Dr. Adriano Milani-Comparetti, a neuropsychiatrist. Dr. Milani-Comparetti maintained that children belonged at home with their families and the necessary therapies are to be made available for them. These beginnings encouraged some parents to enroll their children with disabilities in regular schools, pushing school districts to integrate students with severe disabilities before the first national law was passed in 1971. Dr. Milani-Comparetti began day centers in the major cities of Tuscany to make available outpatient services. Torrigiani became a diagnostic center where families could come for a succession of days with overnight accommodations to join with doctors and therapists to plan services and supports. Together, families and professionals affirmed the abilities of the child at the same time that they identified disabilities.

The current medical director of Torrigiani Institute is Dr. Anna Gidoni, a neuropsychiatrist and formerly an assistant to Dr. Milani-Comparetti. In one of her discussions with our group, Dr. Gidoni described the Torrigiani approach, "We don't jump to give labels to a disability as though it were a disease; we identify the abilities of the child; we seek the environmental situation of the family that may give cause to the child's behavior; we search and we affirm the emotional resources of the family instead of weakening the family with the offer of remedial treatments." She went on to say that the family input is critically important and counters the "perverse, vicious circle that is formed when a child with a disability is born and the family is told that some therapies might help." Parents come to Torrigiani from all over Italy and are listened to by the professionals. Dr. Gidoni exclaimed, "All parties are considered thinking adults!" When parents ask to be told answers, according to Dr. Gidoni, she and her Torrigiani colleagues respond, "No, let's think together; let's explore together." From this joint planning emerges a program. Dr. Gidoni adds, "Yes, we do the assessment and are very precise, but assessment is one little detail of the whole picture; there are shadows, lights, depths, and other figures." She went on to say, "You have to elaborate on other factors: sadness, but also hope; negatives, but all possible positives.

Laura Piccinini is a pyschologist from the local health service unit (Unita Sanitaria Locale or USL) in an area of Rome. She works closely with schools to develop programs and appropriate supports for students with disabilities. One of her schools is the Scuola Media Saxa Rubra, a middle school, in La Storta area of Rome. We went into a sixth grade where scenic murals painted by the students cover three walls and the fourth wall is of windows looking out at the same scene. Among the students in the class is Titiana who has cerebral palsy. According to Laura Piccinini, Titiana comes from a poor family that lives in the public housing of the school's neighborhood, located in the periphery of Rome. (The central areas of Italy's cities have historic preservation laws and expensive housing. People who are poor and marginalized live in the periphery of cities.) Laura Piccinini says there is little stimulation in Titiana's home and refers to the area metaphorically as the "Bronx." We also meet the sostegno (special education teacher), Paola Muti. She emphatically tells us, "The most important thing a sostegno can do is to coordinate activities between regular teachers and Titiana. I am a teacher of the class, not only of Titiana. I have the same authority in the class as other teachers. In middle school students change classes with their various subjects. All parents come to speak to me because I know the children best. I'm with them all day, every day, the other teachers have their own subjects. All in the class need help. The student with the disability benefits the whole class." Visitors to the classroom observe how naturally Titiana is part of the class. Paola Muti, with Laura Piccinini's input, has adapted the curriculum for Titiana. Her desk is one of a cluster of four desks and we observe cooperative learning throughout the day. A clock with one hand was made for Titiana who cannot tell time. There are pictures on the clock and one is of a bus. For example, when the hand reaches the bus, Titiana knows it is time to go home. At one point Titiana, sensing the lack of Italian language with two of the American visitors, begins to teach them some Italian vocabulary. The American visitors were most impressed by the support the students gave to each other.

We visited an elementary school near the center of Rome, Scuola Botticelli, whose principal is Stella Maris Ferrari. She shared with us a pamphlet written for parents in 1993, distributed nationally, explaining education reform laws passed in 1985 and 1990. "Parents were confused with all the changes so these pamplets, in staightforward language and with clever cartoons, were done to mitigate the confusion that comes with change," said Stella Maris Ferrari. Among the changes are three teachers for every primary grade, one each for Italian language, science/mathematics, and social sciences/ history. Music, art, physical education and "educazione all'immagine" (literally, education and stimulation of the imagination to counteract the effects of media, particularly television) are taught among the three teachers. Another innovation addressed in the handbook is that classes are to remain together, students and teachers, for the five years of elementary school. We observed a circle of 21 fifth graders who were assessing in very positive terms the results of five years with the same teachers and students. Anna Pozzi, a psychologist, led the group which included teachers as well as students. Eighteen of the twenty-one students have been together for five years. Two of the students had started in first grade, moved away, then prevailed on their families to return to the area so they could rejoin the class. The twenty-first student moved to the area this year and joined the class. She is Stefania who is labelled mentally retarded. Her classmates helped her articulate her answers. There is obvious support but no patronizing. The students refer to their five-year class experience in family terms. One student said, "I can share my problems with my class and feel safe because they are my family."

One of the teachers, Rosa Pisano, shared a class photograph album with text, begun the previous autumn during the grape harvest. There was a scientific study of the grape, an analysis of fruit and vine. The grapes were gathered and the process of wine-making began in class. The grapes were crushed, twisted, strained, and allowed to ferment. For 68 days each child would taste the wine on the tip of the finger to check the degree of fermentation. When ready, the students bottled the wine and brought it home for holiday celebration. Rosa Pisano remarked, "It was 'acetello,' which means a little vinegar-tasting; but it was a good project for the class!"

In Florence we visited a secondary school, Istituto D'Arte (Institute of Art). As stated earlier, mandatory school in Italy is five years of elementary school and three years of middle school. Every student has the opportunity to go to secondary school all of which have specializations: art, science, classics, teacher training, etc. Most Italian secondary schools correspond to American senior high school plus one year of college. The great center hall of the Institute is filled with same size replicas of sculpture found in the museums, churches, and piazzas of Florence. In the center of the hall is a replica of Michelangelo's David. Students, clustered or singly, were seen sketching the sculpture. The students with severe disabilities take studio art classes and generally do not take the academic classes offered in the school. In the studio art classes where there were students with disabilities, nondisabled students rotated days to have the class integrated. The hours in the studio art classes are specially prized by all students. We observed an art laboratory of eight students, four of whom were developmentally disabled. We found the art projects sophisticated. The theme currently selected by the class was ancient Egyptian. The class had visited the Egyptian section of the Uffizzi Museum and was using the experience for inspiration. We viewed heads of pharoah in papier mache and murals with Egyptian themes worked on cooperatively by small groups of students. The instructors told us that there was socializing and "genuine friendship" among the students. Specifically they mentioned after school visits to the local coffee bar and an occasional small group to view a film.

In 1994, for the first time in the ten years of the seminar's existence, we went to a village in the south, a short distance from Naples. The village, Casanova, was the place of my ancestors, and where I periodically visit. I had been invited to observe their school and schools of neighboring villages. I was gently chided, "Why don't you bring your students to the south? To the other half of this country? To a small village in a rural area? To a place not picked by nationally known educators?" I responded, "Where would we stay?" My village friend responded, "We have a perfect place!" And so we stayed in a fourteenth century Franciscan monastery where we had very comfortable accommodations. Indeed, it turned out to be a favorite place. It sits high on a mountain, overlooking Casanova, with the volcano, Vesuvius, in the distance. The hospitality was unparalled. Delicious meals were provided, as well as a wheelchair-accessible bus to accommodate one of the American seminar participants. The elementary school of Casanova has five classes. In the third grade is Mario who has cerebral palsy and occasional seizures. The special education teacher periodically teaches the whole class and also has one-on-one instruction with Mario while the rest of the class is involved with a lesson. While we were there Mario experienced a seizure while working with three students in a cooperative grouping. The students paused until the seizure was over and them resumed their work.

In a middle school in a neighboring village, Carinola, the principal, Federico DeSantis, thoughtfully arranged for a teacher who is proficient in English to be in the school for the days that members of my seminar would be there. At the end of the day, the principal and members of his staff met with us. They shared their frustration concerning the disparity of resources between the north and south. They said that classroom materials and materials to maintain the school building were limited. The special education teachers said there was not enough funding for adequate therapies. When we were in the Rome Education Ministry, our group had brought up the north/south differences with Dr. Tortora. He responded, "Education resources are eqitably distributed from Rome throughout the country, but in the Italian system the funds go to the municipal leaders and where there are broad needs in impoverished regions, the local leaders have the authority to apply the education funds to other areas.

One of the Americans had met a teacher in Rome who doubted the wisdom of inclusion. It was the only negative reaction to Italy's national policy that we encountered. This was shared with Federico DeSantis and his staff. They were stunned that someone who teaches could have this exclusionary mentality about a student. Federico DeSantis told us, "Twenty-three years ago when Italians were just beginning to implement the law, there was excitement and tension of new beginnings, and also some fear of change. There is no issue any more. It is taken for granted that all children go to age-appropriate classes in their neighborhood schools as efforrtlessly as their nondisabled peers. There is no 'inclusion,' there is simply education for all children."