Should Students with Special Needs be Placed in the Regular Classroom?

There can be little doubt that for many years, students with special needs were not placed in the regular "mainstream" classrooms. Indeed, these students were often not only outside the regular classrooms, but were placed in different schools outside their own neighborhoods. The reasons for this were varied, but for the most part it was to make sure the needs of the students could be met with the greater resources supplied by the different class/school. This includes learning materials, but more importantly human resources such as educational assistants and special needs assistants. However, in today's realm of education students are rarely put into these classrooms. In fact, students are integrated into the same regular classrooms where their friends and neighbors are. The problem which arises however is the same level of support that these students need is certainly not provided. The classroom teacher has increasingly had to modify and accommodate their program for the students with very little outside support. Considering that this has been done in an age of skyrocketing classroom numbers, it has been problematic. Indubitably, there are positive and negative arguments to the question about whether students with special needs should be in the regular classroom. My contention however is that the question is not entirely clear-cut and needs to be examined on a case by case basis. Before we can adequately examine this whole idea, we need to discuss what constitutes "special needs". Indeed, once again there is no clear answer to this question. Special needs can be a variety of needs from physical (visually impaired, hearing impaired), intellectual (learning disability, mild intellectual disability, developmentally delayed) and in truth the list goes on. In fact, within these variety of identifications there are other factors which are usually present. For example, a learning disabled student may also have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and have behavior components which make it very difficult to function in the regular classroom setting. The bottom line is that there are a multitude of special needs, and they are rarely put into "simple, neat" categories.Knowing all this then, what is the argument for putting these students into the regular classroom? First of all, these students have the right to go to school and be with their friends and neighbors. Too often they have been asked to travel by bus to schools which are a great distance from their home. They will be at these schools with students who they barely know, and have little chance of forming lasting friendships outside of school hours. They are simply too far away. This is a huge disadvantage in terms of forming social relationships and social skills. Also, in this day in age of cost-cutting in education resources are tending to be pooled more at the individual school level. This is an attempt to have these students attend school in their own areas. Schools and boards are being given money for this and it needs to be taken advantage of. Lastly, classroom teachers for the most part have recognized their role in all of this. Numerous teachers have received additional qualifications in the area of special education so they can increase their ability to help their students. It would be a shame not to use this increasing base of knowledge and skill.

While there are some good arguments for students remaining in their home schools/classes, there are also points against this. First of all, sometimes the needs of students are simply too great for the neighborhood school to have a chance of meeting them. While resources inside the individual schools may increase to meet these needs, the sad truth is the actual resources are still sadly lacking. For instance (and this is from my own personal experience), if there is a student who has severe behavior issues, most of the teacher’s efforts will be directed at this student. There really is no choice in this matter. The needs of that student will outweigh the needs of others and must be addressed. Secondly, if resources are lacking, should the special needs student not be in an environment which is more equipped to help him/her? It would be absolutely frustrating for the student if this were not the case. Also, although other students often try to help those students with special needs, they at the same time are often targets for such things as bullying. This is especially true for less “obvious” special needs such as learning disabilities or behavior disorders. The other students do not understand the needs of the various students and will quite often tease and bully them.

Considering the pros and cons of this argument, only one conclusion can really be made. Whether a special needs student is part of the regular classroom, or needs to attend a different class/school depends entirely on THAT student. If the needs are too great to be met adequately by the school, alternative arrangements must be made. If the needs of the student can be met by the local school, they should be part of that school and welcomed as part of that community of learners. Teachers should accommodate and modify where needed, and make sure all their students understand the need to treat everyone with respect and as individuals. Fairness is not always sameness… that is a simple fact. Good teachers know that all students are different and there is no “one size fits all” secret to teaching. Nowhere is this truer than with students with special needs.

For the viewpoints of another on this issue please visit: http://ryntales.blogspot.com/2007/03/to-integrate-or-not-to-integrate.html: