The Fact and Fiction of Consultation

T h e current professional literature suggests that consultation is a service delivery model whose time has come. Although there is little agreement regarding a definition of consultation, its utility in general seems to have accrued widespread support. One compelling rationale for consultation as a service model has evolved from the mandates prescribed by P.L. 94-142. Specifically, P.L. 94-142 requires that (a) children wil l be educated in regular classrooms with the provision of such support systems as are necessary to accommodate individual differences, (b) children are to be considered handicapped only after receiving adequate instruction, and (c) handicapped children wil l be educated, to the maximum extent appropriate, with nonhandicapped peers. Consultation has been offered as a means of realizing these legal mandates. In addition, many proponents of consultation believe that education outside the mainstream has the detrimental effect of social and academic isolation upon mildly handicapped students. These proponents suggest the alternative of consultation as a means of mitigating the stigma suffered by many mildly handicapped students who are in pull-out programs (Lloyd, Crowley, Kohler, & Strain, 1988; Reisberg & Wolf, 1986).