Mainstreaming Students Free Essay Example

In an ideal world all kids would be born without disabilities. This concept is not possible though and in some cases children are born with special needs. The kid might have just one special needs or several. An impairment can be mild and treated with medication or the special needs can be severe and the child will require continuous guidance. As soon as the child ends up being of age to go to school, the problem of whether or not to position the child in a routine classroom or special requirements class arises.

This is when mainstreaming comes into location.

A large range of research has been done on impacts of mainstreaming on discovering handicapped kids. The term “mainstreaming” has actually been used to explain the transition of unique needs kids into the routine classroom (Brown, 1997). Mainstreaming or inclusion in general is the practice of educating children with impairments in a routine class along with non-disabled trainees. Making them part of the students daily life in the class (Allen, 2005).

Kids that are mainstreamed are not kept isolated from there normal establishing peers.

Mainstreaming takes location in the regular classroom throughout the day depending on the abilities of the kid and how much they can deal with at one point. What this is stating is that the trainee will receive any unique education beyond the classroom to assist them out more. Mainstreamed children will spend time in and out of the classroom depending on their own standard needs and desires. Mainstreaming is practiced in many schools across America (Gordon, 2007).

In the previous disabled children were constantly considered differently and put into separate schools or buildings.

On November 29, 1975, the separation of regular trainees and unique needs kids ended, when President Ford signed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, known as Public Law 94-142. This law marked the beginning of mainstreaming. The law was amended in 1983 by Public Law 98-199, which required schools to develop programs for handicapped children. The act was relabelled the People with Disabilities Education Act (CONCEPT) in 1992 (Giuliano 31).

The child’s parents and the school district must together make the best decision for each child individually (Goldstein 12). A child who is already mainstreamed in preschool can be expected to continue in a mainstream environment. The professionals who worked with the child and the child’s parents are usually able to give a recommendation about the best placement for the child. The advantages of mainstreaming are that the child will be able to interact with his regular peer group. There are many disadvantages of children being placed in a special school separate from their peers.

It stigmatizes the child with a disability isolating them from being around normal developing peers unable then to pick up or imitate normal behaviors. It also makes the non-special schools less diverse without the special needs student present. There are also advantages of full time inclusion into an inclusive school. The students and their families are less isolated in their community and the child attends the same school as the peers in their neighborhood as well as brothers and or sisters that the special needs student may have.

The special needs student also is not seen as different generating self worth and higher self-esteem allowing them a sense of belonging and accepting to a peer group. The goal of inclusion is not to erase differences but to enable all students to belong in an educational community. The students with disabilities in a mainstreamed classroom can look up to their peers as role models of behaviors that are appropriate thus learning these behaviors in the long run, something that could not occur in a special school. Mainstreaming is an important topic in special education and the educational community.

With mainstreaming and inclusion comes diversity in our public schools and allows children to realize that everyone has different characteristics that make them unique and to embrace these differences and learn from them. Bibliography Allen, Mary K. , and Donald W. Crump. “Peer Acceptance, Teacher Preference, and Self-Appraisal of Social Status among Learning Disabled Students. ” Learning Disability Quarterly 3. 3 (2005). JSTOR. Web. 5 Dec. 2012. Brown, Miranda. Least Restrictive Environment, Mainstreaming, and Inclusion. N. p. , July 1997.

Web. 5 Dec. 2012. <http://www. education. com/reference/article/mainstreaming-inclusion/>. Giuliano, Rachel. “Perceptions o f Advantages and Disadvantages Regarding Mainstreaming Children with Disabilities. ” (2010): 31. Web. 5 Dec. 2012. <http://www2. uwstout. edu/content/lib/thesis/2010/2010giulianor. pdf>. Gordon, R. (2011, December 23). The pros and cons of mainstreaming students with disabilities. In Helium. Retrieved December 5, 2012, from http://www. helium. com/items/2270455-the-pros-and-cons-of-mainstreaming-students-with-disabilities.

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