Mainstreaming (education)

Students have the ability to work one-to-one with special education teachers, addressing any need for remediation during the school day.

Many researchers, educators and parents have advocated the importance of these classrooms amongst political environments that favor their elimination.

[7] Dr. Kenneth Shore comments on the least restrictive environment by claiming, "Determining what is the least restrictive environment for a particular student requires balancing the need for the child to learn to integrate socially with his non-disabled peers with the need for the child to receive instruction appropriate to his abilities.

Students without disabilities who engaged in an inclusive physical education program reported increases in self-concept, tolerance, self-worth, and a better understanding of other people.

[18] Contact theory asserts that frequent, meaningful, and pleasant interactions between people with differences tend to produce changes in attitude.

The effect that a mainstreamed student has on the whole class depends strongly on the particular disabilities in question and the resources available for support.

In many cases, this problem can be mitigated by placing an aide in the classroom to assist the student with special needs, although this raises the costs associated with educating this child.

This includes being less abstract and more concrete in content, changing lighting, simplifying the design of the classroom, and having a predictable structure and routine rather than novelty.

[21][22] Some research has suggested that teachers who are not aware of students' special needs, later may choose not to adopt the required modifications.

[25] Resulting in students with special education needs (SEN) spending 25% of their time working outside of the classroom, and a reduction of teacher interaction in a whole class setting from 30% to 22%.

Therefore, mainstreamed students will spend time in a resource room where they can receive more individualized attention from teachers.

A survey conducted in the UK (2000), composed of 300 teachers found that two-thirds of students with SEN were regularly working with TAs for an average of 3.7 hours per week.

The survey concluded that TAs were used as alternative to teacher support, which has shown to result in unintended and troubling consequences for students with SEN.

The buddy system aims to have the younger student learn the benefits of having and sustaining a positive and supportive friendship.

A student who spends the entire day in a regular classroom with non-disabled peers is considered fully included.

[33] Many of these children were segregated in special buildings or programs that neither allowed them to interact with non-disabled students nor provided them with even basic academic skills.

Initially, children with disabilities were often placed in heterogeneous "special education" classrooms, making it difficult for any of their difficulties to be addressed appropriately.

In the 1980s, the mainstreaming model began to be used more often as a result of the requirement to place children in the least restrictive environment (Clearinghouse, E. 2003).

The IEPs must more clearly relate to the general-education curriculum, children with disabilities must be included in most state and local assessments, such as high school exit exams, and regular progress reports must be made to parents.

Mainstreaming or inclusion in the regular education classrooms, with supplementary aids and services if needed, are now the preferred placement for all children.

This piece of legislation includes 19 reforms that improved the development of curricula and teacher training, in addition to special education access.

During the same time period, children with disabilities who were of school age did not or were not able to access education at very high rates.

This reform came with many challenges, such as non-accepting school cultures, inadequate teacher preparation, and lack of or insufficient resources.

The attempts that were made during this reform in education caused problems because the country was so unique with its history, politics, and culture.

[citation needed] China did not have schools for individuals with disabilities until the American and European missionaries established institutions for the blind and deaf.

With all the new changes, in 1979 China began to recognize that intellectually disabled children should attend these special schools.

The reform suggested that greater autonomy needed to be present within the schools and that implementation of compulsory education was a must for all children.

This supported the idea that states had to establish special schools or classes for those that had disabilities in hearing, vision, or intellect.

This idea is termed, sui ban jiu du and this simply means "learning in a regular classroom".

It helped to resolve the issues of low enrollment rates of children with disabilities and the lack of special education teachers.