Mainstreaming Special Needs

Introduction

            The Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) stipulates that all disabled Americans have a right to access free public education. Tidmarsh and Volkma (10) points out that after enacting the IDEA, a lot of debate has surfaced with regard to the best method of offering public education to students with special needs. One of the approached adopted with the aim of fostering positive educational experiences for students with special needs is mainstreaming, which involvements the placing special students in regular classrooms at particular time periods depending on their skills. The outcome of mainstreaming is that both regular and special classes are combined. Schools that have adopted mainstreaming maintain that specials students lacking the capability of functioning in regular classes, to some extent, should be placed in special education. According to Wisconsin Education Association Council (para. 10), mainstreaming special students has the primary objective of giving special needs students the opportunity to acquire the necessary socialization skills and have access to matching education as their regular counterparts while at the same time allowing them to have access to special education classes and resource rooms.

The National Research Center on Learning Disabilities (para. 4) points that mainstreaming has gained popularity in many schools, whereby special needs students are mainstreamed into regular classes during a given time of the day. For instance, special education students can spend the English class with regular students whereas the special education classes are used in mathematics education. It is imperative to note that mainstreaming can be customized in accordance with the judgment of the both special education and regular education teachers. Given this kind of arrangement, the proponents of mainstreaming argue that it allows special needs students to make a good use of the resources at their disposal. In addition, advocates of mainstreaming and inclusion maintain that combining regular and special needs students plays an integral role in fostering understanding tolerance while at the same time preparing all students to function better outside the school environment (Karen para. 5). Despite these potential benefits, mainstream special needs students has been criticized on various accounts. Amidst this controversy, this paper argues in support of mainstreaming on three accounts: higher academic performance; improved social skills; and higher self esteem among specials needs students.

One of the most notable positive outcomes of mainstreaming is higher academic performance. A number of empirical studies have affirmed that mainstreaming is more effective academically when compared to exclusion practices. The (National Research Center on Learning Disabilities (para. 10) points out that mainstreaming allows special needs students to benefit academically from the peer tutoring model associated with regular classroom. In this regard, mainstreaming does not imply that special needs students are left to learn on their own; rather, there are assistants who not only help students with their assigned academic activities, but also offer the required support to the teacher with regard to developing lessons, modifying assignments, and offering instructional support for all students. In addition, special needs students placed in regular classes do not only get support from the instructional aide, but also receive educational and social support from their regular peers, which is derived from cooperative learning, study groups and participating in class discussions.

Research has affirmed that mainstreaming special education enhance the academic performance of special students. Schiller and Fran (para. 5) argue that this is the most outstanding advantage of mainstreaming special students. When mainstreaming is implemented properly, the National Research Center on Learning Disabilities maintains that the teacher makes use of inclusion strategies in order to helps both regular and special students excel academically. According to Karen (para. 5), mainstreaming allows special needs students to be taught in an ideal environment that allows them to grasp new communication techniques while encountering other realities of life. Moreover, mainstreaming special needs students allows them to improve their educational efforts and goals because of the fact that they are competing with other regular students.

A study conducted by the National Research Center on Learning Disabilities revealed that the graduation rates for students with disabilities in the United States increased by 14 percentage points during the period 1984-1997, even though this study does not provide a distinction with regard to the students who enrolled in segregated, inclusive, or mainstreaming programs. The National Research Center on Learning Disabilities stipulates that direct instruction provided in the resource room is an effective instructional method that can be used to increase the academic skills of students; therefore, resulting to an increase in the abilities that are applied by students in a regular education surrounding. When comparing full-time placement in either a special or a special education class with mainstreaming, Tidmarsh and Volkmar (para. 10) points out that both full time and part time placement of special needs students in regular classrooms have been proved to result in higher academic performance, particularly among students having mild educational abilities.

The second benefit associated with mainstreaming is improved social skills among the special needs students. In this regard, the Wisconsin Education Association Council asserts that the mainstreaming education model acknowledges that education is not only about academic achievement, but also about socialization. In this regard, it is apparent that mainstreaming provides an opportunity for special needs students to develop bigger friendship circles, which is the contrary when they were placed in a special classroom that is strictly self-contained. Through mainstreaming, special needs students have a chance of interacting with regular students in a manner that cannot be facilitated by a special education classroom environment. Schiller and Fran (para. 10) points out that many special needs students usually have a recognized need to enhance their social skills. As a result, placing them regular classes characterized with student diversity can play an integral role in helping them develop and improve their social skills.

Just like any other form of inclusion practice, the Wisconsin Education Association Council (para. 10) points out that mainstreaming enables special needs students to acquire social skills by observing, which allows them to have an understanding of the world surrounding them; as a result, this helps them in becoming acquainted with the regular community. The Wisconsin Education Association Council asserts that mainstreaming special education is especially helpful to children having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and autism. A study by Tidmarsh and Volkma pointed that through interaction with non-disabled children of the same age, children suffering from autism were six times more likely to forge social relationships outside the classroom (para. 5). Owing to the fact that children suffering from autism spectrum disorders often have extremely limited interests and have difficulties in social interaction and communication, interacting with their regular children can benefit them significantly. Besides helping special needs students, mainstreaming also helps regular students by opening communication channels between special needs and regular students. Tidmarsh and Volkmar (para. 10) asserts that if special needs are incorporated in regular classes, all students increase their sensitiveness since special needs students require additional assistance. In addition, mainstreaming plays an instrumental role in creating a classroom atmosphere characterized by tolerance and understanding, which prepares both regular and special needs students to fit in the outside world. The National Research Center on Learning Disabilities reports that regular students in mainstreaming education programs exhibited increases in improved understanding of other people, self-worth, tolerance and self concept.

The third notable advantage of mainstreaming is that it helps to improve the self-esteem of special needs students. Incorporating special needs students in regular classroom settings have helped them increase their confidence and self efficacy. The National Research Center on Learning and Disability reports that students special students in a mainstreaming program are more confident, in the sense that these student had the feeling that they were equal to their regular counterparts; as a result, they did not see the need to receive different treatment. Despite the efforts and initiatives aimed at enhancing acceptance, it is a fact that the stigma of being different will always exist. As a result, combining students with diverse abilities into a single classroom does not only benefit special needs abilities but also benefit regular students through teaching them the skills to work with individuals who are different. The Wisconsin Education Association Council points out that mainstreaming reinforce patience, collaboration, acceptance and compassion among all students; these are life-long skills that will benefit the students at later stages in life. Through mainstreaming, most students will be exposed to their peers with special needs, which imply that will acquire tolerance skills that may turn out to be helpful outside school. In addition, as the regular students will be learning tolerance, special needs students will be learning about the behaviors that are acceptable and those that are not.

In conclusion, it is apparent that the benefits of mainstreaming education are vast in the sense that all students, both regular and special, can benefit from the mainstreaming education model. Mainstreaming results in higher academic performance; improved social skills; and higher self esteem among specials needs students. Mainstreaming allows special needs students to benefit academically from the peer tutoring model associated with regular classroom. Regarding improved social skills, mainstreaming recognizes that child education is not just about education, but also socialization. It is apparent that mainstreaming provides an opportunity for special needs students to develop bigger friendship circles, which is the contrary when they were placed in a special classroom that is strictly self-contained. Lastly, mainstreaming helps to improve the self-esteem of special needs students. Incorporating special needs students in regular classroom settings have helped them increase their confidence and self efficacy. Nevertheless, it is imperative to acknowledge that one of the main challenges that hinder proper implementation of the mainstreaming model relates to teacher training. Teachers require extra training to be able to teach in a mainstreamed classroom. Overall, when implemented properly, there is no doubt that mainstreaming can result in a positive educational experience for both special needs and regular students.

Works Cited

Karen, Pakula. “Should children with special needs be taught in a mainstream class?” 2 July 2011. The Sydney Morning Herald. Web. 15 April 2013.

National Research Center on Learning Disabilities. “Twenty-five years of progress in educating children with disabilities through IDEA.” 2007. NRCLC.com. Web. 15 April 2013.

Schiller, Ellen and O’Reilly, Tom, Fiore Fran. “Marking the Progress of IDEA Implementation.” 2013. Office of Special Education Programs. Web. 15 April 2013.

Tidmarsh, L and F Volkmar. “Diagnosis and epidemiology of autism spectrum disorders.” 2003. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. Web. 15 April 2013. Wisconsin Education Association Council. “Special Education Inclusion.” 2013. Weac.org. Web. 15 April 2013.