Mainstreaming

5 Pages 1248 Words

Mainstreaming is the process of placing disabled children into a non-disabled environment, such as a classroom. This has become a very controversial subject because there are so many sides. Parents are pushing for there children to be placed into a normal classroom and teachers are pushing them away.
To be successful in life everyone must learn to get along with a varied of different people. Going to school is a good way to learn this. This allows everyone to work and get to know many different types of people. Mainstreaming can be one way that students can learn about different people and interact with them.
Inclusion and mainstreaming are around the same thing but can be confused with each other. The biggest difference between the two is that mainstreaming means that the students only receives a portion of his or her education in a normal education setting while spending the rest of the time in a special ed classroom.
Some positive effects mainstreaming have non-disabled children are they tend to be more sensitive towards the disabled. They also have more self-esteem after being in a classroom with a disabled child. When a disabled child is placed into a regular classroom the teacher works more with group work so that the kids are all interacting together.
Studies have shown that on standardized tests, disabled children in regular classrooms perform as well as those in special education classes and their classroom behavior is improved (Carrington 1). Studies have also shown that parents have benefited as well.
Teachers concerns play a huge part in deciding weather a parent wants to have their child in a regular classroom. If the teacher isn’t optimistic about the outcome of the student then why should a parent place their child with him or her? Many teachers are worried that they don’t have the technology or the knowledge for the disabled children being placed in there classrooms. Every Special Ed teacher wants to se...