Placing Special Education Students in the Regular Classroom Can Be Detrimental to All

Intellectual Conservative ^ | 08 December 2004 | Steve Leadley

[kiki04]

Any other teachers with an opinion? I subbed last year, and was in a second grade class with an ED student. He threw fits on a regular basis, one time throwing a chair at his aid.

The whole class suffered because of his behavior, but his parents SUED the school to keep him in a regular classroom.

[LibertarianLiz]

It is called “Inclusion.”

Nothing new under the sun. It used to be called "mainstreaming".

[infidel29]

You posted this for all the DU lurkers here tonight didn't you? Just to show them that studies show that the left-behinders shouldn't associate with the regular folk.

[bannie]

...and they're DELIGHTFUL on the playgrounds! Usually larger (older) than the other children and without any concept of "other."

[dljordan]

My wife was a special ed teacher at a private school for several years. She quit and went into advertising, she said it was less stressful.

[Hi Heels]

I thought this was brought in during JFK's administration. He instigated legislation that would forbid "pigeon holing" special ed students. Also released many borderline mental patients from the wards. That's how we ended up with schizophrenics on the street....

[blackeagle]

i had to sit next to one of the special ed students, very quiet but i was expected to show him everything 3 or 4 times and still do my work in the required time.

[EarlyBird]

Didn't read the article -- didn't need to. All I can say is: Duhhah!

[ozzymandus]

They did this when I was in jr. high about 40 years ago. Bad idea, very disruptive.

[Bombardier]

I ended up resigning from the school district I was teaching in because of the number of Behavior Disordered kids I had to deal with. I was unable to teach the other students because of the constant disruptions of the BD kids, and the administration refused to do anything to alleviate the problem, so I just resigned out of sheer frustration. Currently I'm applying for teaching jobs in different states, and failing that, I'll just go into the cattle business with my uncle. I figure I'll just give history lessons to steers.....at least they listen better than some of the kids I was saddled with.

[ladylib]

That's completely unacceptable. You are not an employee of your public school system. You are a student.

[SteveMcKing]

Why should it be un-nerving for a pretty 10 year old girl to sit next to a boy who makes frequent marriage proposals and randomly takes her things off her desk?

[NYpeanut]

As in all matters, it's best to avoid sweeping generalizations. Some "special education" students do quite well and don't drag other students down, adding a degree of empathy to a classroom; some are misplaced to the detriment of everyone.

Some parents of "special education" students are quite rational about their child's educational program; some are nazi-type advocates looking for attention and a chance to wave a bloody shirt.

[speekinout]

I think this stuff dates from the Carter Admin., not the JFK one.

[kiki04]

I hope you find a position, the world needs more conservative history teachers!

[kiki04]

Agreed. My nephew is autistic, and just started KG. We are delighted that he is being mainstreamed. He is doing very well, and as long as he is doing well my sis will keep him in a regular classroom.

[blackeagle]

oh i understand that. thankfully due to a scheduleing conflict i was transfered out of that class after 3 weeks, so it didnt affect me much.

[cupcakes]

I don't understand why they would keep him in, unless your system has really subpar disability programs. Well, I do understand. The women we work with in Ry's class and beyond tell us their nightmare stories of parents who want to "fix" their kids. They are in steady denial that their children will be normal someday. Certainly, there are times that those evaluating may be overestimating the situation, but some parents have been to independent evaluators with the same diagnosis and still they live in la la land, which imo leads them to insist on something that may be detrimental to the child.

That said, this caught my eye:

Rather than continue to place these students in a small classroom environment where they are afforded individualized attention from special education experts, they have been integrated into the regular education classrooms so as to soften the stigma of being labeled “special.” In the attempt to impart social acceptance, schools have educationally stifled these students.

I don't think by any means this is standard for all schools. In our system, the child is evaluated prior to kinder and every year beyond while in school and the determination is made how much time, if not all of the time, they will need to be in the special ed classroom. Obviously, for children who only have minor or even moderate speech delays, they probably wouldn't need to go there for more than 1/2 hour a couple times a week, but for children, like my son, with autism, it may be necessary for him to spend a good portion of his day in a more specialized classroom joining the other students only for the more hands on and visual learning experiences, especially in the early years of his education while he is still adjusting to the stimulus of being in a large classroom(hopefully that will be a non issue someday since everyone is positive on him going to the same small Christian school my daughter does where he likely to be only one in about seven kinder students and where he will see the same faces he sees week after week in church making it less overwhelming.)They also have no issue with a child "taking a break" in the special ed rooms when it is obvious they are overstimulated.

[ApplegateRanch]

Bingo! Not "new" at all.

In the '50s, when I was in grammar school, we had three "sections" for each class, each in a separate room or area; or, at a different time, since we ran double shifts.

By the time I hit high school, that ended.

Those in the "slow [learners] group" were later felt to have been stigmatized, and those in the "fast [learners] group" were felt to have been 'unfairly privileged', so "mainstreaming" was invented.

The "slow learners" would benefit by being exposed to more opportunities for learning; and would have their self esteem boosted. The fast learners would benefit by the experience of "helping" the slow learners, and EVERYONE would benefit from "more diversity" & maybe stop calling the "slow" "retards" or worse.

The slow remained slow & dull; the fast were bored to tears, and lost opportunities for enrichment. The middle also suffered, because they had needed time and attention taken away from them...but supposedly everybody felt good & got promoted, and nobody was "stigmatized" for life.

Oddly, the "slow" still knew nothing, and couldn't reason their way out of a paper bag when they graduated...but they felt great, and knew 'they had their education' because they had a paper that said they did.

A little leaven spoils the whole lump, and whenever these experiments are tried, rather than the top raising the bottom up a rung, the bottom drags the top down two rungs instead.

Liberals never learn...or even remember.

[tiki]

My granddaughter had a BD boy in her class and they found out in the 1st week that he cared what she thought so to keep the peace the teacher sat him by her. They tried once or twice to move him away from her but he would misbehave and go from As to Ds and they'd move him back. This went on for 3 years. They did ask her consent. Then his mother got married and they moved and she never ever said anything about missing him but she does worry about him a little. I can see the difference in her this year, I think she is relieved to have lost that responsibility.