Analysis: Is Mainstreaming Students With Disabilities A Good Idea?

A stereotype that is often associated with special education is that its only for students with a severe disability. Special Education is for all disabled children no matter how severe or the need for the special education services. This stereotype often leads faculty and others to misclassify or inappropriately place students in a special education program. Another stereotype is that special education can only be performed in a “special” classroom with other students with a disability. Being placed in special education doesn’t mean that the student needs to be restricted from the other students without a disability. Children with a disability should be educated in general education classrooms with typical peers as much as possible. As teachers,

In some general classrooms, teachers tend to give more time and attention to children with disabilities, leaving general education students who may be struggling with little to no help. Socialization is another whole ballpark, inclusion could lead to children developing negative attitudes about peers with disabilities, especially if they feel they are receiving more attention from the teacher and other students in the classroom. Teachers of general education classes may have a fear of teaching students with disabilities. They feel they do not know them well enough and that they will make a mistake. This can then in return allow the teacher to push the student with a disability away and not give them the best education piece they can. These teachers feel like they should not have to change their classroom for a student that is coming to them. It also shows that these teachers are not trained properly in special education.

(“Special Education”). In addition, this makes children feel superior to their peers. In other words, it leads them to feel disconnected from the other students, like an outsider that does not belong. Because of this, students get easily frustrated with themselves and are apt to give up or even worse believe it is their fault they are different from others. In reality, the minds of these already low-level learners have the confusion of their surrounding peers to add on top of the mental stress they already exhibit. Lastly, these children are mocked, singled out, and verbally abused. In contrast to the belief that inclusion “breaks down social barriers,” it in fact only contributes to the building of them. Because of this, children feel depressed and withdrawn from the social activities that all their “normal” peers are able to participate in. In other words, special needs children learn less, feel perplexed, and become depressed due to mainstreaming. (“Intellectual Disabilities”). Clearly, this is not what any parent wants for their child, so why do they continue to support it?

Aside from providing children with academic benefits, it provides them with a better understanding and respect for diversity. Being in a setting with many different types of students with different needs and abilities provides students with a way to learn about differences and how they can help others. In the Success For All study, results showed that the children involved in the study had “a reduced fear of human differences accompanied by increased comfort and awareness.” (Stout, 2001) If children are separated in the school because of their developmental differences then they will never truly learn that it is okay to be a unique individual. The idea that it is acceptable to be different should become a common knowledge to our students. With that knowledge, our students can make the future a better place for everyone. It has been said that the goal of inclusion is to “create a world in which all people are knowledgeable about and supportive of all other people.” (Whitworth, 1999)

In the essay, “Giving Students Room to Run” by Lorna Green, she discusses her past experience with having a “special” needs student in a general education class and the reason why she became a teacher. In today’s society, if you were diagnosed with a mental disability or autism, you will be placed in a separated classroom with other students with the same disability. I do not agree with mainstreaming “special children” because no two kids are the same. There are children that needs more attention in a classroom, that a normal student. Special education classes benefit the student with mental disability because they will be able to learn at their own pace without trying to keep up with the normal pace of general education classes. In the essay,

“All children with disabilities must have an individualized education program (IEP), a free and appropriate public education, and be served in the least restrictive environment” (Esteves and Rao, 2008, p.1). Children whom have a leaning disability are looked at differently in society unfortunately, so we need to be there to help them learn that the negativity is not them. We need to help and support families and their children to understand we can help them be successful, it may take longer to get there, but what’s the rush after all we all learn on different paths and, levels. So why judge them if they need more time to process information, we can find avenues to assist them, which are parents like myself that have children in special education, it is just a classroom setting not a label that prevent them from being productive citizens, we need to be there resource as their educators, we not only educate the students, but we help educate the families to help their

Growing up in a private school I was not exposed to what the special education system is and what the purpose of this system was. I did have family members who were apart of this special education system but I never looked at them any differently than anybody else. When I graduated, and began my high school education at a public-school I was exposed firsthand of this special education system. In high school I was happy to engage and interact with children in the special education system. Arts and crafts, and board games were activating that many students including myself played with children in the special education system. I have learned that even though these children are put into a different education system than many others they are still human. They are a wide variety of

Prior to inclusive education, segregated special education classes were for students with special needs, since then many government frameworks, movements and acts have been put into place for fairness. Within the articles introduction, Boyle and Anderson (2015), mention the ‘World Conference of Education’ that in 1990, were the first to challenge the educational paradigm with the promoting idea that all students should receive an education in regular classrooms within their local school (as cited in Anderson & Boyle, 2015), later in the article it mentions there are still ongoing debates on this topic. However in my own examination of the article, education for students has progresses a long way and improved greatly. Students with special needs are placed in the general education setting and it is now the teacher’s professional job to provide appropriate teaching strategies and styles for a diverse population of students to enhance learning for all students, seeing that inclusive education means making sure every student feels welcomed and is learning in a safe, supported learning

I can vaguely understand why people with disabilities were segregated from those who were considered “normal” or average back in the early and mid 20th century. However, the whole-school approach makes more sense when explained by Forlin (2010) as the exceptions of all students by all school personnel. It is best for all students to be exposed to the other in order to best understand and perhaps learn from a different point of view.

In fact it is argued that regular education students that are exposed to a variety of disabled peers tend to have a higher tolerance to differences with people and less of an anxiety about approaching, befriending, and helping those with more needs then themselves. As this author from ehow.com points out; “Students with disabilities are often able to learn better because of the increased confidence that comes from not being segregated into classes for

The text states, “…an inclusive education is important for all students because everyone has difficulty fitting in at time and needs support (McLesky et al, p. 4).” Special education students are not the only students to benefit from this. All students are given equal opportunities to find their place within the classroom. Many of the same things we view as the pros of inclusion are viewed as cons. Our book states that there has been too much emphasis on providing students with disabilities access to general education classrooms so that they can receive the social benefits and too little emphasis on improving student academic successes (McLesky et al,

Often the lack of student progress is blamed on the student. Students are seen as having such severe disabilities that they are incapable of learning appropriate behaviour and skills. However, this answer is losing credibility. Research and experience are showing that students in segregated programs do imitate and learn, but often what they imitate and learn is the inappropriate behaviour of their classmates. Furthermore, there is growing documentation of students who seemed incapable of learning appropriate behaviour and skills in segregated settings achieving these previously unattainable goals once integrated into regular classrooms. It seems, then, that the adherence to current paradigms within special education has resulted in the creation and maintenance of what I term "retarded immersion" classes. Students are immersed in an environment of "retarded behaviour" and learn how to be retarded.

What is Mainstreaming? According to (Mainstreaming: The Special Needs Child Goes to School), Mainstreaming means that the special needs child attends a regular classroom along with students who are his or her actual (not development) age. Mainstreaming means that the child is not kept isolated in a special class, away from peers, but is included just like everyone else. Most children that have physical disabilities, learning difficulties, or emotional issues are placed into Special Education classes. In these classes, there are teachers who are there to help them exceed in things they normally would not be able to do. Every student is different and every child has their own disabilities. Each individual’s case can differ from being mild, moderate, to extremely severe. (Mainstreaming Special Education in the Classroom) Regardless of the issues they might face, it does not make their importance any less. “Each student’s abilities and deficits must be examined against the pros and cons of mainstreaming to come up with an optimal choice on a case by case basis.” (Brighthub Edu) There are individuals’ opinions on (www.debate.org) where they argue on whether students with special needs should be mainstreamed, and on one of the comments a person stated “Their rights are not more important than those of the normal children” No, they are not more important, but they are equally important. On another comment an individual said

What an excellent post. I enjoyed reading it. Thank you for sharing. I too work in general education and special education classroom. There are many benefits in being in an inclusion class. Students have endless opportunities to grow and excel in inclusion. Student’s get a chance to develop social skills. Along with making new friends and lifelong relationships with their peers. Students with disabilities have a sense of belonging. When you feel like you are a part you do better. When you do better you know better, and when you know better, learning becomes easy. Proverbs 18:24 says “A man that hath a friends must shew himself

Those who embrace full-inclusion believe that all children should be educated together in the general education environment. Supporters of inclusion think that it is best to educate disabled children with their non-disabled peers. They believe that special needs children benefit greatly from having the social interaction with their typical peers. Furthermore, their belief is that the typically developing child also benefits by learning to accept differences in others, as well as gain friendships and compassion (“Special Education”).