Raven's Guide to
Special Education
Mainstreaming
There has been a nationwide movement to change regular classrooms so that mildly disabled (and many moderately disabled) students will be educated with their non-disabled peers. This movement of "full inclusion" is consistent with federal regulations that require public schools to provide children with disabilities special education services in the least restrictive setting. Mainstreaming has become an important way to meet this requirement.
People who support mainstreaming argue that removing disabled students from the regular classroom stigmatizes them and often fails to improve their academic performance. By placing these students in regular classrooms, they will have a better learning environment, be better accepted by their non-disabled peers, and become as independent as possible. Mainstreaming also provides a service delivery system that is more adaptable to individual children.
Mainstreaming will be successful to the extent that both parents and educators are committed to it. If it is forced by legal action, or if a teacher is unwilling or unprepared, it may be worse for a disabled student than better. Successful mainstreaming is a team effort involving teachers, parents, the school principal and specialists such as the speech pathologist and psychologist. Regular classroom teachers are perhaps the most important part of this team. For mainstreaming to work, these teachers must become knowledgeable about students with disabilities. They also must be provided additional resources such as regular in-service training, lower class sizes, and help from special education specialists.
Mainstreaming can benefit regular classroom teachers by giving them the opportunity to make a significant impact on a student with a disability, to develop a broader perspective, and to become a more effective teacher. The teaching techniques developed for working with children with disabilities often prove to be effective in educating non-disabled students. Another benefit of mainstreaming is that it helps the parents of disabled students feel better about their children and themselves. With help and support from regular teachers and specialists at the school, these parents can feel less isolated and can learn new ways to help their children.
Teachers can provide mainstreaming in a variety of ways depending upon the strengths, weaknesses and specific educational needs of each disabled student. When a special education student is enrolled in a regular classroom, the teacher needs to understand the student's disability and its effect on classroom performance. This will allow the teacher to plan appropriate activities that will build upon the student's current skills and promote success. The student likely will benefit from placement in the regular classroom if the teacher will take the following actions:
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Arguments for mainstreaming |
Arguments against mainstreaming |
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| It is nearly impossible to achieve socialization in abnormal settings.
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Not every disabled student can benefit from mainstreaming.
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| Instruction and training
given in segregated settings do not prepare students for participating in integrated settings.
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If not done well,
mainstreaming may result in greater prejudice, stereotyping, and rejection of a disabled student.
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| Regular education teachers trained in mainstreaming techniques will be more effective in dealing with non-disabled
students having exceptional problems.
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Placing a disabled student
in a regular classroom without adequate support may demand so much teacher attention that
other students will be neglected.
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| Disabled and non-disabled
students will learn to understand and appreciate each other by attending the same
classroom.
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Large class sizes
interfere with the ability of regular teachers to meet the needs of both disabled and
non-disabled students.
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| Special needs students who
have not been given special education labels already are in regular classrooms.
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Mainstreaming is being
forced through legal actions without considering the appropriateness of the placement.
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| Mainstreaming can help
special education students develop self-confidence, new skills, and greater independence.
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Many regular teachers are
poorly prepared to meet the needs of disabled students placed in their classrooms.
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| Mainstreaming can help non-disabled students appreciate individual differences and become comfortable with disabled students. | Many administrators do not provide adequate support to regular teachers receiving disabled students. |
If you have a special education student in your classroom, interact with the student as you would with any other student. Give extra help only when the student needs it. Sometimes the student will only need a little help, such as extra time to complete an assignment. At other times, however, the student will need to spend time individually with you to learn a new skill. Your school's special education teacher can help you plan appropriate ways to help. For any student with special needs in your class there are some important steps to take:
Get to know the student. Learn about the student's strengths, weaknesses, and interests. Talk with the special education specialists at your school, and read about the student's disability so that you will feel comfortable, prepared, and confident.
Meet regularly with the student's special education teacher. Have meetings to exchange information, monitor progress, revise goals and objectives, and develop agreed-upon methods for working with the student.
Attend parent conferences. Attend the special education meetings held for a student mainstreamed into your classroom. This will help you learn more about the student and get to know his or her parents. Work together with them. Find out their concerns, and ask them for suggestions.
Be realistic. You may be unsuccessful when you begin working with a special education student in your classroom. Do not frustrate yourself or feel guilty. Instead, be realistic about what you can provide and be persistent in your efforts. Ask others to help you assess the effectiveness of what you are doing and develop alternative teaching strategies.
Plan your day. Provide a variety of activities, alternating between those that are noisy and quiet, and organized and unstructured. Students with emotional or behavioral problems may be especially sensitive to the activity level in the room or the pace of instruction. They may need structure and routine to function at their best. A special education student sensitive to the noise or activity level of the classroom may need more quiet time than what other students will need. If such a student has difficulty attending, make activities brief at first. Lengthen them as the student learns to attend for longer periods of time.
Promote social interaction. Students with disabilities sometimes feel isolated from other children. Mainstreaming offers them the opportunity to work and play with other children and to learn new skills by seeing others do them correctly. Organize classroom activities to promote this peer modeling. Try not to exclude a special needs student from any activity so that the student does not feel different or inferior.
Give extra help, modify the activity, or require less of the student so that he or she can participate. Break down skills into sub-skills. Students with disabilities may not have learned some of the prerequisite skills needed for learning a new skill. For these students, first teach the prerequisite skills, then break down new lessons into sub-skills that are easier for the student to learn.
Respect confidentiality rights. Student with disabilities and their parents have special, legal privacy rights. Therefore, do not share confidential information about such a student with other parents, students or staff members who are not working with the student. Do not include any special education records in your student files, and only write down the confidential information you need to work with the student