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High-achieving disabled teens shatter stereotypes – They learned alongside their non-disabled peers, instead of being segregated.

It would be easy to define 18-year-olds TJ Hancock and Elise Thomas by their Down syndrome — or by their enviable accomplishments.

TJ, whose friends call him "Teej," is a student body officer, manager of Jordan High’s basketball team and president of the men’s choir. Elise swims competitively for Skyline High School, volunteers at Red Butte Garden and is an accomplished skier.

But these talented teens aren’t outliers, say their parents and teachers. They embody the culmination of a decades-old trend in special education known as inclusion, or mainstreaming, that education officials say has produced unexpected academic and social gains for countless students.

"The bar has been raised. We put kids in inclusive settings for social reasons, and they picked up more academics than we thought they would."

By Kirsten Stewart

The Salt Lake Tribune

Full Story: http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_14394596?source=rv

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