Many strides have been made in understanding the genetic-environmental transactions that fulfill and facilitate development. Applying this knowledge, special educators have been successful in ameliorating or improving many impairments, particularly when working with the child's parents. However, poverty, adolescent pregnancies, child abuse, and nonfacilitating parenting are needlessly creating populations of special needs children. This paper argues for a national family policy to assist the families who reside in poverty and to provide parenting classes for all students in the late elementary and junior high school. It is proposed that these two efforts would do much to prevent needlessly impaired and handicapped children and would provide a new generation with the skills needed to facilitate their children's potential.
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