During the past 10 years, special educators have been debating the merits of mixing learning disabled and emotionally disturbed children. Recently, this debate has taken on a broader focus. Some special educators now advocate the use of generic categories and programs that include educable mentally retarded, learning disabled, and emotionally disturbed children. The efficacy of this new trend is addressed in this article. The learning characteristics of educationally handicapped (learning disabled and emotionally disturbed) and educable mentally retarded children are compared using five problem solving tasks. Based on the results of this study, several concerns are raised about the use of generic categories and programs in special education.
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