Comments about ‘Teaching students with intellectual disabilities in regular classrooms: good for kids, or good for budgets?’

Special Ed can be divided into three sections, depending on the disability. Look at test scores, and teacher feedback.

Just that simple. Don't need extra funds, or programs.

I once was faced with trying to teach a severely disabled student who was mainstreamed into my split 5th and 6th grade class. It was a situation that carried a wide mix of blessings and disasters.

He needed and profited from the mainstreaming. His classmates learned compassion. There were wonderful things that happened. Socially.

But at the same time, I wound up shortchanging him and his classmates. Academically.

Mainstreaming can work and work wonderfully. But it MUST have as component parts an aide assigned to help the child. It simply cannot work in a split grade classroom. (Split grades are another whole ball game.) And I was trying to operate in an area in which I had no training, experience, and very little assistance and support.

If it is done properly -- with full support from the school district and administration, it MIGHT work well. But without those things . . . .

I suppose more teachers would be excited about this concept if they had proper support and not 40 or more students in their classrooms...