The subject of how to educate mentally disabled children has become a very important and controversial topic because it is estimated that 1 in 150 children in the United States have some form of mental disability. There is no cure, but with the right education, these kids can grow up to live independent lives. The question is what is the right education? The controversy is mainstreaming disabled students into regular classrooms, is it more helpful or harmful than keeping them in self-contained or special education classrooms? Education for disabled children desperately needs to be brought to the forefront and revamped in order to better accommodate individual needs, keep them from being bullied by other students and help them grow up to be productive adults.
Cindy Long is the author of the article "Mainstreaming Benefits Autistic Students". She is a senior writer and editor for NEA Today, the magazine of the National Education Association (Long). She has written several articles on disabilities in the education system, so she is definitely credible on this topic. Long insists that inclusion programs assist disabled children in the transition from a special education format to a traditional classroom with specialized teachers and treatment plan. Long argues that enrolling disabled students in traditional classes is successful, it gives them a chance to observe proper behavior and social conduct so they can learn how to manage their own behaviors and have a chance to be more independent productive adults. Long states, "A big factor for autistic students' future success, say the experts, is being educated in traditional classes, where they can learn to interact with their peers and to control or modify their behaviors." She concludes her argument by pointing out that the mainstream program has taught respect and tolerance to the other students and educators as well (Long).
Disabled children should be put into separate classrooms determined by their disability and how severe it is. In the public education system children with a variety of disabilities, physical, emotional and mental are all grouped together in one class usually called the "special education" class. Learning disabilities and disorders are an umbrella term for a variety of learning problems. Children with learning disabilities see, hear, and understand things differently. This difference affects how they receive and process information. This can lead to trouble learning new information and skills, and putting them to use in school and everyday life (Kemp M.A., Smith M.A. and Segal Ph.D.). How beneficial is it for disabled children to be integrated into traditional classrooms for part of their school day (Long, Mainstreaming Bennefits of Autistic Students)? Does Inclusion or mainstreaming disabled children into a traditional classroom help them obtain needed social skills? Integration allows the disabled children to view a normal school setting and show them acceptable social behavior. It will also help teach the other children tolerance, patience and hopefully kindness. Integration also helps disabled children acquire and practice skills necessary to become productive adults in the outside world. Allowing children with disabilities to spend time in a traditional classroom helps them strive for more than just what is acceptable. The disabled children tend to try harder to keep up with the other children. It gives them a sense of accomplishment and helps their self-esteem.
At first, the majority of people thought mainstreaming was socially harmful for disabled children and that they had a hard time fitting into traditional classrooms with other students. It caused a lot of distress to the disabled kids, because the other students did not socially accept them. The children were sometimes made fun of, laughed at and made to feel academically inadequate. The teachers did not have the proper training to know how to handle the children being integrated into their classroom. Attempts to mainstream children with disabilities, would be more difficult without a coherent plan for training teachers (Avramidis and Norwich). The teachers interviewed, identified several factors that would affect the success of inclusion or mainstreaming, including class size, inadequate resources and lack of adequate teacher preparation. As the teachers' experience with inclusion increased, their opinion of the inclusion program became a more positive one (Avramidis and Norwich).
The manner in which the teacher handles the children in the classroom, determines the success of mainstreaming children. Success is largely dependent upon the teacher. The damage to the disabled children's self-esteem could be enormous and mainstreaming may be viewed as a negative experience. If the teacher takes the time to explain to the class what a disability actually is, it helps promote knowledge and understanding and it can benefit the entire classroom. The teacher needs to lay down rules for the class to follow so that they know bullying will not be tolerated. Inclusion is successful when teachers can teach their students to accept one another's limitations and flaws. Students also quickly learn that superficial differences are far less important than friendship, trust and humor. Mainstreaming became a very controversial subject among the educators and the parents alike. The concept of mainstreaming needed educators to come up with a cohesive training plan to help guarantee the success of the program. The Special Education Advisor blog defines mainstreaming as "selective placement of special education students in one or more 'regular' education classes". In some schools, mainstreaming of students with disabilities is used only for those classes in which the child has ability to keep up with their peers (Baker).
Are disabled children receiving a better education in a self-contained classroom? Some educators feel certain that children with disabilities get the best education in the self-contained classroom with special education teachers and staff. The self-contained classrooms are usually small and allow for individualized attention and specific instruction by specially trained teachers. There are those who feel that self-contained classrooms have a negative impact on the children with disabilities when they reach adulthood. Teachers in self-contained classrooms have lower expectations of their students, which work against helping students to achieve their full potential. Self-contained classrooms promote segregation of students, which then allows the children to feel excluded from the rest of the school population and from society when they become adults. The self-contained classrooms promote helplessness and inappropriate social skills. Self-contained classrooms can protect vulnerable students from the complicated and cruel outside world. Teachers and educators need to have a part in the decision making when it comes to the education for children with disabilities. The teachers know better than anybody does what is best for the children with disabilities, they work with them on a daily basis. The schools need to allow teachers to be involved in their own curriculum so they will do a better job.
Families need access to more information and opportunities regarding the choices they have to educate their disabled children. Families need to feel empowered to make informed decisions regarding their child's education and future, and not feel at the mercy of the education system. Families caring for people with an intellectual disability need their own support. Among the services for families, there are community supports, financial supports, advanced directives for future care, respite and emergency services, family education and support groups, and advocacy and legal supports (Reynolds B.A., Zupanick Psy.D., and Dombeck Ph.D.). Families and parents need to have a place to go where they can research all their alternative options for educating their children. Parents and caregivers created the best websites and they feature excellent resources for disabled children and their families. Familyconnect is an online, multimedia community created by the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) and the National Association of Parents of Children with Visual Impairments. Parents need a voice, a way to be heard, somewhere to get help, such as a community group, blog or website, where they can come together and exchange ideas. Parentcenterhub provides assistance to PTIs throughout the country. This site is a good place to visit to get information about PTIs and special education issues. Parent to Parent, USA (P2PUSA) is a national non-profit organization, which helps to promote access and equality in parent-to-parent support.
Children with disabilities have the same right to a good education as everybody else. Disabled children have a right to be in traditional class learning alongside other children if that is what the parents prefer. In 2001, the Government had brought forward the Special Educational Needs and Disability Bill, which extends the Disability Discrimination Act to education (Rieser). There remains considerable confusion and resistance to the development of inclusion from medical professionals, many who work in the education system and those who work in segregated private schools (Rieser). Disabled children also have the right to special education and specific instruction given to help them learn in different ways. The last 25 years have seen the growth of the disability movement arguing for an end to segregation and a strong push for human rights from parents and teachers. Teaching students with disabilities in regular classrooms is a complicated and controversial subject, however. The federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 1990 require all schools to provide services for children who need special education in the "least restrictive environment conducive to learning". The law requires that children with disabilities be educated with children who are not disabled to the extent that is appropriate (Baker). Even the courts have held that educating a disabled child in general education, while preferable, is secondary to ensuring that the child receives a free, appropriate public education (Wrightslaw).
The teachers and educators need to be allowed to get involved, for they know what is best for the children more than anyone else (Avramidis and Norwich). The teachers and educators have valuable knowledge to contribute, so give them a voice and allowed them to make some of the decisions on how things are done. United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew stated, "We believe in moving children toward a less restrictive environment when it's appropriate and possible." (Opposing Viewpoints) "In the long run, if a student stays their whole career in a self-contained classroom, they've got a 5 percent shot at a diploma. And that is immoral", said the DOE's chief academic officer, Shael Polakow-Suransky, "We cannot allow thousands of kids to be confined to failure". (Opposing Viewpoints) Many teachers worry that they are shortchanging their other students when they must cope with the meltdowns of a student who is mentally disabled. It demands a higher degree of coordination and planning among traditional and special education teachers, yet few school systems allot the time and resources to promote these exchanges. The teachers find themselves having to modify or make a lesson easier in order to reach students with learning disabilities. One teacher wrote in anonymously, "I am a general education teacher. One of my students, who has an IEP, interrupts class several times a day. It is not uncommon for him to blurt out comments and start singing, or even leave the room. I have been told that there is nothing the school can do about his behavior because the law is absolute. The district says 80% of our special education students need to be in general education classes 80% of the time. Is there a law that protects my general education students? Their education is being negatively impacted on a daily basis." (Wrightslaw). The law does not require that 80% of children be educated in traditional classes any percent of the time. It is the district that is using the formula of 80% (Wrightslaw).
I know that sometimes parents and the children feel helpless and hopeless when it comes to the education system. However, knowledge can be a very powerful tool. I feel it is extremely important to help deliver information to the people who need it most, the parents. That way they will feel empowered to make informed decisions regarding their child's education and future, and not feel at the mercy of the education system. Although constant reflection is necessary if we ever hope to be able to make clear determinations, about which specific strategies will help children to become happy, contributing citizens in the future (Baker).
Works Cited
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Avramidis, Elias and Brahm Norwich. "Teachers' Attitudes Towards Integration/Inclusion." Vers. 17:2. 2002. European Journal of Special Needs Education. Web. 12 Dec. 2014.
Baker, Celia R. "Teaching Students With Intellectual Disabilities in Regular Classrooms: Good For Kids or Good for Budgets?" 07 Jan. 2013. Desert News. Web. 27 Dec. 2014.
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Long, Cindy. "Mainstreaming Bennefits of Autistic Students." Feb. 2008. Opposing Viewpoints. Ed. Greenhaven Press. Behavioral Disorders. Web. 28 Oct. 2014.
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Reynolds B.A., Tammy, C.E. Zupanick Psy.D. and Mark Dombeck Ph.D. "The Choice of Educational Settings; The Pros and Cons of Mainstreaming Children with Intellectual Disabilities." 21 May 2013. MentalHelp. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
Rieser, Richard. "Inclusion, Education and Human Rights." n.d. World of Inclusion. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.
Taylor, Angela R., Steven R. Asher and Gladys A. Williams. "The Social Adaption of Mainstreaming Mildly Retarded Children." JStor 58.No. 5 (1987). Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
Wang, Huei Lan. "Should All Students with Special Education Needs be Included in Mainstream Education Provision." 2009. International Educational Studies 2.4. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.
Wrightslaw. "The Wrightslaw Way to Special Education Law and Advocacy." 22 July 2010. Child is Disrupting My Class - What Can I Do? Web. 26 Dec. 2014.
