User:Nberr001

INTRODUCTION: The practice of placing students with disabilities in regular classrooms, either with or without, special supports, instead of in separate special education classrooms, is known as mainstreaming (Mainstreaming in Education,1). Mainstreaming is also known as “integration”, or “inclusiveness”. The mainstreaming of students with special needs being placed into a customary classroom has been extremely controversial. Although the controversy regarding this matter remains extreme, the number of those supporting it outweighs those that are opposed to it. HISTORY OF MAINSTREAMING EDUCATION The controversial subject of mainstreaming is fairly recent. Mentally disabled children were always separated from society. On November 29, 1975, the abandonment of the education for children with special needs came to an end. President Ford signed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act which required the government to fund the education of disabled children from the age of three to twenty one. This Act was also known as Public Law 94-142, and marked the foundation of mainstreaming (Mainstreaming Handicapped Children, 2). Before the Education for All Handicapped Children Act was passed, only one out of every five students with disabilities was accepted in public schools. It was against the law, in many states, for children with certain disabilities to even attend a public school. These disabilities included children that were deaf, blind, psychologically distressed, and mentally retarded. Although the Education for All Handicapped Children Act was a positive step towards having equal education opportunities for all children, a downside was that more than one million children in the United States did not have access to any public schools (Mainstreaming Handicapped Children, 2). Most of these children were residing at state institutions. At these state institutions, disabled children were not being educated or rehabilitated. It was more of a means of segregation and exclusion from the real world. The Education for All Handicapped Children Act was later renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. In the 1980’s students with minor disabilities were beginning to be placed in the classroom with regular students, while students with major disabilities remained segregated in a classroom of their own. Parents and teachers began to see that this method was beneficial to the education of the disabled children. As a result there are now part time special education teachers and teachers aides to help in the classroom (Mainstreaming Handicapped Children, 3). DIFFERENT TYPES OF MAINSTREAMING There are three different types of mainstreaming or “integration”. These different types are known as locational, social, and functional integration. Locational integration is the first category of integration (Mainstreaming, 1). In this category, the students with special needs are taught in the same location as those students without special needs, but in separate schools. Locational integration obviously does not permit much interaction between those students with special needs and those without special needs. The second type of integration is known as social integration. This category consists of having those students with special needs in a different classroom of those students who do not have special needs (Mainstreaming, 1). However, all students regardless of different needs are together in extracurricular activies, lunchtime, playtime, etc. Social integration provides more chance of socializing between special needs students and regular students. The third type of integration is known as functional integration. In functional integration both groups of students (those with special needs and those without) partake in the same classes and curriculum as well as extracurricular activities. Functional integration provides for the most social interaction in comparison with locational integration and social integration (Mainstreaming, 1). ADVANTAGES Mainstreaming has been a controversial issue and has become a public discussion, by capturing the attention of educators and the general public. Many people assume that mainstreaming means that all special education classes should be closed and that all students, no matter what their abilities may be, should be placed in a classroom together. This is not the case. Mainstreaming is not an “all or nothing” topic. The main goal of mainstreaming is to “provide equal educational opportunities to handicapped students by placing them in the educational environment that best fits their needs” (Teaching Mainstreamed Students, 1). At times the environment that suits the needs of the disabled child may be a regular classroom, maybe not for an entire school day, but for part of the day. Other times a disabled students needs may not include the regular classroom. These children are placed in the environment that will best suit their educational and social needs. However, the majority of handicapped students spend at least some part of their day in the regular classroom. It is proven that when there are opportunities to respond, learning improves. (Teaching Mainstreamed Students, 18). When children with disabilities are educated in the regular classroom there are more opportunities to respond because they are being exposed to a regular curriculum. It has been proven that when children feel that they are expected to do well, their educational development advances. It has also been proven that educating handicapped children and regular children alongside each other better prepares all students to function better in the world outside of the classroom (Mainstreaming in Education, 1). “Studies show that special-education students who are mainstreamed have higher academic achievement, higher self-esteem, a greater probability of attending college, and better physical health than special-needs students in self-contained special classrooms. They are more likely to graduate and find employment. In fact, graduation rates of disabled students increased by 14% from 1984 to 1997” (National Research Center on Learning Disabilities, 2005). As one can see, mainstreaming has many advantages. DISADVANTAGES Although mainstreaming has many advantages, it also has its downsides. A handicapped child that is placed in a regular classroom may feel left out or looked down on by the other classmates. These students may feel embarrassed when they need extra help with certain tasks, and may prefer to work in a special education classroom where everyone is working at the same pace. This leads to a serious disadvantage of mainstreaming (Mainstreaming in Education, 1). A teacher may need to spend significant amounts of times devoting her attention to the special needs student, which takes away from her devotion to the entire class. Some people question the teacher’s ability to deal with a special needs student. Another issue that has been questioned is whether or not the expectations of the class will be lowered to that of the slowest student (Mainstreaming in Education, 1). Mainstreaming special needs students with regular students can be challenging. CONCLUSION There is a positive side and a negative side to mainstreaming. The pros and cons need to be compared for each student individually in order to find what is most appropriate for the student, the teacher, and the environment they are in. RESOURCES Kim Harries. (December 19, 1997). "Mainstreaming". Retrieved September 15, 2007, from http://ematusov.soe.udel.edu/final.paper.pub/_pwfsfp/00000127.htm "Mainstreaming in Education".(2005). Retreived September 15, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mainstreaming_in_education Meisal, Julius C. (1986). "Mainstreaming Handicapped Children: Outcomes, Controversies, and New Directions". Hillsdale, New Jersey. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Stephens, Thomas M. (1988). "Teaching Mainstreamed Students". Elmsford, New York. Pergamon Press Inc. National Research Center on Learning Disabilities (2005). "Twenty-five Years of Progress In Educating Children with disabilities through IDEA. Retrieved September 15, 2007 from http://www.nrcld.org/resources/osep/historyidea.shtml

Questions

1) The practice of placing students with disabilities in regular classrooms, either with or without, special supports, instead of in separate special education classrooms, is known as:     a) Student placement b) Mainstreaming     c) Functionalism d) Separate education 2) Which act required the government to fund the education of disabled children from the age of three to twenty one? a) Government funding act   b) Disabled children act c) Funding education act   d) Education for All Handicapped Children Act 3) This act was also known as:   a) Public Law 94-142 b) locational law   c) transportation law d) disabled children law 4) Which of the following is not a type of mainstreaming a) locational mainstreaming   b)social mainstreaming c) functional mainstreaming   d) joining together mainstreaming 5) Which one of the following is an advantage of mainstreaming?   a) Students feeling left out b) Teachers having to direct their focus away from the class to teach a disabled child   c) Students feeling embarrassed when they need extra help d) Disabled children having more opportunities to learn

Essay Question

What is your opinion about mainstreaming? Explain. I believe that mainstreaming is a positive step towards the education of disabled children. I think it has many advantages. . Many people assume that mainstreaming means that all special education classes should be closed and that all students, no matter what their abilities may be, should be placed in a classroom together, but this is not true. The main goal of mainstreaming is to provide equal educational opportunities to handicapped students by placing them in the educational environment that best fits their needs. It has been proven that when children feel that they are expected to do well, their educational development advances. It has also been proven that educating handicapped children and regular children alongside each other better prepares all students to function better in the world outside of the classroom. Studies show that special-education students who are mainstreamed have higher academic achievement, higher self-esteem, a greater probability of attending college, and better physical health than special-needs students in self-contained special classrooms. They are more likely to graduate and find employment. These are the reasons why I believe that mainstreaming is a positive step toward the education of the disabled.