Mainstreaming and Inclusion Vs. Self-Contained Classrooms for Special Needs Education

Legislation, along with research findings seems to indicate that:

1. Educating students with their nondisabled peers in inclusive settings appears to be the most desirable placement choice.

2. An inclusive setting should be considered first, before removing a child with a disability from the regular education classroom.

Thank you for your attention!

“Know the person, not the disability, in fact look past the disability and you will see a person, a person who has the same thoughts and feelings as anyone else.”-Unknown

Inclusion Research

• A study performed in the Netherlands matched students in mainstream (inclusive) programs with their peers in segregated special education programs. The authors concluded that after four years, the students who were mainstreamed showed more academic progress than those who were in the special education setting (Peetsma et al, 2001).

Social Improvements Through Inclusion

And one more thing...

For a full research on this topic with data go on this site

www.oswego.edu/~leblanc/nasp.ppt

Two great books on Inclusion are:

Inclusive and Heterogeneous Schooling by Mary A. Falvey

&

Creating Inclusive Classrooms by Spencer Salend

Cole & Meyer (1991)

Conclusion

What is Mainstreaming?

• Mainstream is the practice of bringing disabled students into the “mainstream” of student life. Mainstreamed students attend some classes with typical students and other classes with students that have similar disabilities.

• Mainstreaming represents a midpoint between full inclusion (all students spend all day in the regular classroom) and dedicated, self-contained classrooms or special schools (disabled students are isolated with other disabled students).

Social Improvements Through Inclusion

Academic Improvements Through Inclusion

% of Students’ Grades Improving Over 1-year Period

Owen-DeSchryver, Carr, Cale, & Blakeley-Smith (2008)

What is Inclusion?

Waldron & Cole (2000)

Mainstreaming and Inclusion vs. Self-Contained Classrooms for Specal Needs Education

• Inclusion is the practice of students with special needs spending most or all of their time with non-disabled students.

• There are two sub-types: the first is sometimes called regular inclusion or partial inclusion, and the other is full inclusion.

What is self-contained?

• A self-contained classroom means that your child will be removed from the general school population for all academic subjects to work in a small controlled setting with a special-education teacher.
• Students in a self-contained class may be working at all different academic levels, with different textbooks and different curricula.
• Self-contained classes offer structure, routine, and appropriate expectations, but some students may require a higher level of specialization.

Academic Improvements Through Inclusion

% of Students Receiving C or Better in Respective Classes

Why Inclusion or Mainstream Vs. Self-Contained

• Response to accommodating all students in the most appropriate educational setting.
• Demands more local control in schools and classrooms and less bureaucracy in the state and district, and a focus on collaboration and a teaming of experts.
• Celebrates diversity and has the philosophy of addressing the individualized needs of all students.
• Implements many teaching strategies that are proven to be effective in education, through academic and social aspects such as cooperative learning, constructivist activities, and problem solving (Holahan & Costenbader, 2000).

Rea, McLaughlin, & Walther-Thomas (2002)