Mainstreaming Of Special Education Student In Regular Classroom

Introduction

Mainstreaming is a legal policy mandated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) that addresses the placement and participation of students with disabilities in general education classes to the degree appropriate to meet their needs. Students with disabilities are integrated with their nondisabled peers for all or a portion of the school day and for all or only a few classes, depending on the students' characteristics and the accommodations required. Previously, mainstreaming was invoked primarily when moving students from special education classrooms to general education classrooms, typically for nonacademic portions of the school day, such as art, music, and physical education. More recently, it has included reintegration into content area (e.g., science, social studies) and even core academic subjects (e.g., reading, math). Notwithstanding this focus on the return to more inclusive, normalized settings, the special educator has principal responsibility for the mainstreamed exceptional child and works collaboratively with the general educator to ensure that curricular and/or behavioral modifications are implemented effectively. (Vaughn, 784)

Mainstreaming of Special Student's Education

In actual practice, the terms mainstreaming and inclusion, and to some extent, least restrictive environment, are used interchangeably; however, they can have very different meanings, and at a minimum are not synonymous concepts. Least restrictive environment, a principle mandated by IDEA, states that students with disabilities must be educated with their nondisabled peers to the maximum extent appropriate. Inclusion refers to the notion that placement of students with disabilities in the general education setting (alongside their nondisabled counterparts) is a right of all students, with special education support services being provided within the general education setting as needed. Advocates of full inclusion believe students with disabilities should be educated only in the general education setting. The courts have expanded on the notion of mainstreaming by stating that it should be pursued as long as it is consistent with providing students with disabilities an appropriate education; that is, students should receive educational services with nondisabled peers as appropriate, but not necessarily exclusively in general education. (Turnbull, 12)

The law does not require inclusion. It requires that children with disabilities be educated in the least restrictive environment, which, for the majority of students, includes at least partial inclusion in the general education classroom. The most recent reauthorization of IDEA uses language that favors inclusion of students with disabilities in general education settings; however, most in the field of special education concur that this should not eliminate the continuum of services (range of placement and service delivery options) available to students. The educational needs and characteristics of some students with disabilities are such that separate classes and/or pull-out services are required for part or all of the school day. Although there is debate in the field among advocates of full inclusion and those who favor maintaining the range of placement options, there is definitive agreement that students with disabilities need to be educated in the most normalized environment available and that extensive experiences with nondisabled peers are critical to their ...