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What's the Difference?
Mainstreaming Physically Challenged Teens By Carma Haley Shoemaker
When a physically challenged teen navigates his wheelchair down the halls of his high school, the way in which he reacts with and to other teens can depend a lot on how he got there to begin with. While many think that mainstreaming physically challenged teens to public schools is best, the constraints of time and effort must be taken into effect.
"The percentage of students who are mainstreamed or included varies from state to state, city to city and town to town," says Anne S. Larkin, Ph.D., professor in the special education division and director of the Say Yes to Education Scholarship Program at Lesley University in Cambridge, Mass. "Some systems are fully committed to the concept, and their goal is to bring children with disabilities into their schools and provide the best services possible for these children. These schools develop excellent in-service and training for their faculty and paraprofessionals to ensure success for all students. However, other systems are being more cautious and sometimes [are] unwilling to include children with special needs and, therefore, their numbers are small and their commitment not as strong, or they will only include children with mild to moderate disabilities."
According to Larkin, this may be an even better option to minimize segregating disabled teens. "Inclusion is bringing students into regular classrooms to be active participants in all the same activities as their peers to the extent possible," she says. "They may be fully included, or partially included, depending on the determination of the IEP team. [An Individualized Education Plan (IEP) is a specialized agreement between all aspects and personnel including parents, teacher, doctor or other medical professional, principal, school board, etc., to ensure the needs and wants of a person who is physically challenged are being met.] Both mainstreaming and inclusion are common practices in most states. But oftentimes, inclusion offers better options and creates better relationships between the 'included' students and their peers, their teachers and other school staff."
