Prior to the concept of multiple intelligences, scholastic aptitude was oversimplified. Students were either smart, average or normal, otherwise they were likely segregated into a special education program. These programs viewed students as needing special education because they lacked the requisite skills to do what other students could do, instead of seeing other education methods as lacking the requisite skills to teach these students. The trajectory of alternative education arced away from this binary view of smart or dumb. Instead, it focuses on matching the correct type of instruction for the student's learning style. As a result, many schools that would have been thought of as "special ed" are now classified as "alternative/progressive".
While there seems to be an increase in students diagnosed with learning disorders such as ADD, progressive educators are finding that attention is not necessarily what a student lacks. Signs of being a visual spatial learner may manifest in similar ways to ADD. A hallmark trait of visual spacial learners is the ability to excel in some complex subjects while struggling with simple ones. Many of the kids who had been held back in traditional schools in fact had genius aptitudes and educators who couldn't see their ability. Progressive schools recognize the ability of a study even if it's not a common ability.
As with special eduction, the role and context of vocational schools has changed. Students at one time were encouraged to go in one of two tracks: college prep or vocational training. Generally, anyone who was able to navigate an auditory, sequential education successfully was encouraged to pursue college. Everyone who wasn't was encouraged to pursue vocational school. Here again, this function failed to recognize the extraordinary aptitude of many visual spatial learners. Vocational schools now employ a greater awareness of multiple learning styles. They are less apt to be perceived as an educational demotion.
While some alternative programs focus on specific types of learning styles and others focus on practical job training, others are tailored for students with a conspicuous talent in a certain area. These programs are often in the arts. They may focus on theatre and performance or visual art. Others might foster the education of gifted language students or those of physics or mathematics. Alternative education is trading a stigma for understanding. Any student who doesn't fit well in the traditional auditory sequential environment can probably find an alternative school where he can flourish.