The document includes three papers presented at a roundtable discussion of issues concerning The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) and the field of special education. Following an introduction by K. Wyatt, a paper titled "Categorizing Children and Funds" by M. Reynolds addresses the problems associated with categorizing exceptional children and with tying the funding to children who are identified with a label. Dr. Reynolds advocates the funding of personnel or programmatic units which would have great flexibility in delivering services to all high risk children. In "Issues in Early Childhood for the Handicapped," J. Gallagher stresses the value of early childhood programs and outlines the structural problems presenting barriers to the establishment of eary childhood programs. He calls for multidisciplinary approaches to the problem with CEC assuming the leadership in initiating a broad reaching interdisciplinary plan for extending preschool programs for handicapped children. The final paper, "A New International Role for CEC" by S. Ashcroft, makes 11 proposals for increased CEC involvement in international special education leadership. Following each paper are excerpts from discussions by prominent individuals in the field of special education. (SBH)