Mainstreaming is defined as the practice of teaching handicapped children in regular classrooms with nonhandicapped children to the fullest extent possible; such children may have orthopedic, intellectual, emotional, or visual difficulties or handicaps associated with hearing or learning. Do you believe that mainstreaming should be in the schools?

-I have personally struggled with the concept of mainstreaming, because I feel that all children deserve to have equal opportunities and to be treated equally. However, I understand that many handicap children aren't able to sit in a classroom without disrupting the clas and that these children need special attention. My father is a high school math teacher, and due to mainstreaming, he has two additional teachers in his classroom that assist students one-on-one. However, the problem is that the school has hired around 12 additional people to follow the children around and work with them, but most of them do not have a teaching degree. Is this right? It has also been found that these assistants are helping the students more than they should be, for example, giving them the answers. An incident like this happened in my father's classroom. What are your feelings about mainstreaming?

Most students who are a product of mainstreaming have disabilities that require them to have assisstance at all times. The government funds the school to hire people to help these children. However, I don't feel that it is right for the assisstant to give the children answers. It is belittling the child as a student and defeats the purpose of mainstreaming altogether. The whole point is to include students with special needs in a classroom to where every child has the same learning environment. It's unethical to assume that the child can not learn and therefore give them the answers.

I'm not sure how I feel about mainstreaming either. I do remember in middle school there was a girl with a disability that required someone to be at her aid all day. She wasn't able to even hold a pencil nor walk but was very intellectual. She would even admit that the aid would do more than what was required of her. That is wrong and I feel that there should be more supervision over the people that aid especially if they are going to be in a regular classroom. During tests she would have to go out in the hall with her aid because someone may hear her answers if she would've remained in the classrooom. I think someone should also supervise that as well.

I have a very good friend, Daniel, who was born without arms. In middle school, he had an aid walk around with him to carry books and stuff like that. However, Daniel is one of the brightest people on the planet. I do not think that there is a lot of people like him at all. Daniel does some incredible stuff with just his feet like buckle his own seat belt and should I say even dresses himself! If mainstreaming is left out of the school system, friends like Daniel get slid to the backburner and do not get the educational experience that they deserve. On the flip side, I have another aquaintance who was involved in a bad car accident. He has no control over his vocal chords, muscles around the mouth, or even his ability to control his right arm. Now, he has trouble communicating, but I believe that he still has the ability to learn, but maybe just not in the traditional classroom setting. In this case, mainstreaming I do not think would work.

I agree with the posts above. I feel mainstreaming can be beneficial for the child with disabilities, however I feel that mainstreaming is also equally beneficial to the children in the class with the disabled child. It teaches them tolerance and hardship. It also allows them to be around a disabled person so that it is a "normal" thing for them rather than a "weird" thing to be around someone who is disabled. It teaches them that not everyone is the same and that we should respect and not judge people. Mainstreaming should be situational. For some it might help them, for others, a one-on-one classroom environment might work better for them. I feel that it just depends on the child and/or the disablility.

Whether we like it or not, last I checked, mainstreaming was mandatory, if the student is able to function in a classroom setting. Right now I have about 12 students out of 80, who are identified with various degrees of disabilities. Some of them have legitimate needs, and others use their label as a crutch to slack off. Many kids who have modifications will not even use them because they are self advocates and strongly desire to overcome their disabilities.

I find it disgraceful and a disservice to the student if their shadow, who is supposed to helping them, doesn't even have a degree. Everyone in our school who follows an EC kid around has a degree. Most of our special ed team have their masters. However, I have seen and heard of special treatment given to EC kids. Sometimes they have separate settings where the EC teacher reads the quiz or test. Surprisingly, they do much better on these than if the classroom teacher were to read it. So, yes I do think some answer sharing, prodding, etc... goes on, and as a teacher I am not in favor of that.

However, legally, the kids have to have their modifications. We have to hope that our special ed co teachers and shadows value learning and not grades.

Primarily, I have LD kids, whose disabilities are not noticeable. However, in more extreme situations, I find mainstreaming to be necessary and a good step. I think it benefits the disabled child as well as the rest of the class by being exposed to differences.

It is difficult and time consuming to modify your teaching for one or two students, but with the rise in the diagnosis of ADHD and other emotional related disorders, IEPs and 504s are only going to increase.

Here is a link to an NPR story about a Chapel Hill man who compares his logic to mainstreaming students to raising animals.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... Id=4460341

I don't know if this program will link the above address, so you may have to cut and paste into your browser.

Some of the files are audio, but if you can access it, it is quite interesting....

I had special accomdations that test can be read to me. When I was in high school I used that more frequently, and eventually I eased out of that accomadation. My teachers never read my test to me because they were to busy. A special education teacher would do it. NOBODY never gave me answers. To help me focus with my ADHD it helped that someone was patient enough to read to me and that I was in a quiet setting. I had an IEP in school that helped me become successful. I believe that all children should be given the chance to mainstream in the classroom if they are able to.