From: Stephanie Lieberman
Email: sal@udel.edu
Course: Instructional Strategies EDST390 section 12
College: Universtiy of Delaware
Instructor: Eugene Matusov
ClassWeb: http://www.ematusov.com/EDST390
ChildrenObservations: No
Date: 05 Dec 1997
Time: 11:33:48
Remote Name: eagle.itc.udel.edu
Mainstreaming Special Education Students Mainstreaming special education students into regular education classrooms is advantageous to education. Both disabled and nondisabled students will encounter new experiences and gain knowledge about each other. Special education students can learn practical life lessons. They can interact with nondisabled students, learn basic social skills and advance mentally. They can be encouraged by the challenge of keeping up with a regular education classroom. Mainstreaming is beneficial because special education students can learn to interact in a "normal" society. They can learn about the attitudes of people in society. They can learn to defend themselves against prejudices and mockery that they may encounter. Moreover, regular education students can learn about the nature of the problems that special education students have. Once these students are educated about special education students and their problems the jokes can stop and the hate may go away. All children have the right to obtain an equal education. Special education students deserve the chance to be educated in a regular classroom. They are entitled to the chance to excel. Mainstreaming will affect the community, the teacher, the administrators, the parents, and the students; however, it is a positive change for all.
Mainstraming special education students into regular education classrooms is a way in which special education students can obtain a regular, nondisabled education. "Mainstraming is derived from the concept of retaining students with disabilities in the "mainstream" of education, rather then placing them in separate groups" (Gearheart 49). Mainstreaming tries to integrate handicapped or disabled students into regular class-rooms so that disabled students can have the oportunity to have a real education in which they can become associated with nondisabled people. We can also use the word integration synonomously with the idea of mainstreaming.
Mainstreaming is important in helping disabled children assimilate to the world and people around them. Mainstreaming is delt with in many different ways. Some schools are very unprepared for mainstreaming. Their students, teachers, and administrators are not propery educated about the handicapped students that they will have to deal with. They provide no support services and poor teacher training on how to deal with their new peers and students. On the other hand, other schools give great amounts of support to these people and their programs. They educate teachers, students, parents,and administators to ensure the comfort of all the people involved. Unfortunately, many schools mainstream only to comply with the law. These children have rights that are protected under the law.
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a law which protects the rights of disabled students and their parents. The law "clearly provides for all special programs and services required by students between 3 and 21 years of age who are disabled" (Gearheart 27). Under the protection of this law, disabled students can get an education so that they can try to overcome their disability. Mainstreaming is a special program that disabled students may get invilved in to try ot live a more normal life. The other law which guarantees disabled children the right to a good and equal education is Public Law 94-142. This law states that disabled students can get an education for free just as any other nondisabled student can. Children with a handicap deserve to have the same opportunities shown to them as any other child. Disabled children are protected under these laws because many people with handicaps are discriminated against. Furthermore, many schools are not willing to change their ways of doing things. All of these children have the right to an equal education.
Minastreaming disabled students means a great deal of change and adjustments must occur in the schools in order for all to benefit. Administrators, teachers, and parents must learn to work together. Principals must educate and prepare all people involved. Parents must concern themselves with their children. A strong sense of communication and trust is important. The commitment of parents of nonspecial needs children to the program will ease the initial experience for the parents of special needs children and will provide support to the teachers. Teachers must learn to deal with students who have behavior problems, who need individualized attention, and who have no social skills. All must learn to communicate and interact with one another. These changes also require a change in cirriculum. The cirruculum must apply to both disabled and nondisabled students for anything to be successful.
Nondisabled students are used to a certain type of education. Mainstreaming will change what a student is used to. Studies show that this change is a beneficial, positive one for students with or without disabilities. Children with disabilities will benefit from their experience and nondisabled children will not be harmed. Also, the development of children is not harmed or stunted in anyway. "...investigations support the notion that the development of such children is not harmed by these programs" (Peck 54). This is a positive program for all students involved.
Another concern is that integration may slow down the rate of the classroom. Peer tutors can help a disabled child to understand and grasp the information being presented while learning it themselves. Through this type of help, students are always learning. They can learn the information that they need to know for school while learning about different people and their abilities. Overall, mainstreaming is more beneficial and helpful then detrimental. All of the problems and concerns can be solved through proper understanding and education. If teachers, administrators, and parents come together to learn about change then their children will be more open towards a change. Mainstreaming is important for both disabled and nondisabled students to grow and learn about one another. Mainstreaming is a positive change occuring in schools today.
References:
1- The Exceptional Student in the Regular Classroom (Sixth Edition) Published by Merrill, an imprint of Prentice Hall By Bill and Carol Gearheart and Mel Weishahn
2- Parent and Teacher Perceptions of Outcomes for Typically Developing Children Enrolled in Integrated Early Childhood Programs: A Statewide Survey From: Journal of Early Intervention Volume 16, number 1, winter 1992 By Charles A. Peck, Patricia Carlson, Edwin Helmsletter
3- The website that I found talks about the Human Rights Operations Group. You can get all sorts of information on having people trained to effectively communicate with special needs students. You can check this website out at: http://www.lowwwe.com/ihrt/index.html Enjoy!
Thanks. Stephanie Lieberman