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In October, November, and again in December, The Wall Street Journal ran articles--two of them on the front page--on special education in the U.S. The first article looked at the history of parents asking taxpayers to pay for private school tuition for special-needs children when the local public school district was unable to meet those students' specific needs. The second article looked at a backlash by parents and teachers against the increasingly popular practice of mainstreaming special education students. The third highlighted districts' decisions to place special needs students in mainstream classrooms based on the cost savings such a move engenders. The articles both fit into a larger ongoing discussion in the blogosphere of mainstreaming these students and touched off new conversations about students' needs and taxpayers' responsibility to meet those needs. Here's a roundup of the conversations women--parents, teachers, administrators, and others--are having about mainstreaming.
Kelly Gorski gets directly to the heart of the issue:
Some students who are mainstreamed can learn in a regular education environment and then seek external assistance through learning support teachers; other students, however, with more immediate needs, cannot or will not be their own self-advocates and therefore, help will be given too little too late.
In media, the kid in the wheelchair has become a kind of mascot, beloved by all in his gang, but this is only a fragile and idealized image. In a real-life classroom where all of the children are non-disabled except the one who drools uncontrollably, who hears voices, blurts inappropriate statements out, or who can’t read a simple sentence when everyone else can, further isolates himself, becomes secluded, will not ask for aid, and eventually close up to any other assistance offered since he/she is already branded “stupid.”
If these students feel the world is against them, and that if they open their mouth they will be ridiculed, it is easier for them to escape by pretending to be invisible and only look as if they understand. Regular and special education teachers can only do so much for a disabled student who will not open up, or who are smart enough to fake comprehension.
(Gorski has written more on the issue here).
Anne at the blog "Mainstreaming: A Special Education Debate" offers both a blog post analyzing the issue and a concise rundown (in the blog's sidebar) of the advantages and liabilities of mainstreaming. She points us to even more aspects of the debate delineated at Raven's Guide to Special Education, which includes these pros and cons:
Arguments for mainstreaming
It is nearly impossible to achieve socialization in abnormal settings.
Instruction and training given in segregated settings do not prepare students for participating in integrated settings.
Regular education teachers trained in mainstreaming techniques will be more effective in dealing with non-disabled students having exceptional problems.
Disabled and non-disabled students will learn to understand and appreciate each other by attending the same classroom.
Special needs students who have not been given special education labels already are in regular classrooms.
Mainstreaming can help special education students develop self-confidence, new skills, and greater independence.
Mainstreaming can help non-disabled students appreciate individual differences and become comfortable with disabled students.
Arguments against mainstreaming
Not every disabled student can benefit from mainstreaming.
If not done well, mainstreaming may result in greater prejudice, stereotyping, and rejection of a disabled student.
Placing a disabled student in a regular classroom without adequate support may demand so much teacher attention that other students will be neglected.
Large class sizes interfere with the ability of regular teachers to meet the needs of both disabled and non-disabled students.
Mainstreaming is being forced through legal actions without considering the appropriateness of the placement.
Many regular teachers are poorly prepared to meet the needs of disabled students placed in their classrooms.
Many administrators do not provide adequate support to regular teachers receiving disabled students.
The Baltimore Sun reprinted one of the WSJ articles on its blog, and the piece drew some passionate and informed comments from readers. Artie commented that mainstreaming, under the keyword "inclusion," has become a hot trend in K-12 education--but it's a trend that too often ignores the specific academic and behavioral needs of individual students:
The term "inclusion" has become so "the thing" in public schools that too many students are often pushed into the "mainstream" classroom before they are ready. There are two issues that I always considered during IEP meetings. For the majority of the children with an IEP, intelligence was not the problem at all! They very easily could compete with
