Educational Provision for Mildly Intellectually Disabled Children in Queensland: Development and Decline

From the mid‐twenties to the early seventies children now designated as mildly intellectually disabled were the recipients of the greater part of the special education budget and the energies of special education staff in Queensland. These students were by far the largest category of children with special needs catered for by the Department of Education's special education section. The thrust towards separate provision for this group came from within the Department itself supported by visiting experts, with no apparent need for parent advocacy. The integration debate and expansion of services to more severely intellectually disabled children appear to have directed the mildly disabled group back into the educational mainstream, raising the question of whether the expertise and support developed over the years within special education have accompanied them.