Should mentally retarded students be included in general education classrooms? Support your answer with facts.

Answer 1

First, as a special education teacher, the correct terminology is a student with mental retardation. And yes, students with any disability should be included into general education classrooms to the fullest extent possible.

Does this mean all students all the time? Certainly not. For some students, the fullest extent possible means they play at recess together. For others, they go to music, art or PE class together. Every child with disabilities has unique conditions that dictate the fullest extent possible that is best for him or her. In Special Education lingo, this is called LRE (least restrictive environment) and it's the law. Part of the reauthorization of IDEA (P.L. 105-17), LRE states that children with disabilities will be educated with their non-disabled peers to the maximum extent possible.

Another consideration to ponder is what sort of support is going to be provided to the student, the general education teacher and the other students? If none, then there's a big problem! Inclusion and mainstreaming take time and training. To drop a child with a severe disability into a classroom with an untrained teacher and unprepared students is a recipe for failure.

So, the summary to my long winded answer: Yes, with proper training and ample time, students with mental retardation should be (and must be, according to the law) included in general education classrooms.

Answer 2

The answer to this depends on a lot of issues. Kids with developmental delays...be they autism, Downe's syndrome or other disabilities, can do really well in a tradtional class room if:

1. The teacher has the knowledge, experience and abilities to work with these students. Special ed is a specialty in the education field, just like pediatrics is a specialty in medicine. While you can take your child to any Dr., you would not want one who had never had any experience treating children. Same with special ed...you would not want to place a special needs child in a class with a teacher who has no experience working with special needs students.

2. The school provides the support, assitance and technologies needed to make the inclusion go as smoothly as possilbe. Many special ed students will need some extra help in the classroom. They may need dedicated aides to help keep them on task, assist with things like writing or transportation, or help with personal care. The student may need things like allowances for more time, picture schedules, adaptive technology. If the school is unwilling to provide these services, then you will be facing an up hill battle.

3. Finally, there is the special needs student themselves. Generally speaking, inclusion is done into peer groups...the student is placed in classes of children in the same age group...not by developmental abilities. This can be tough if you have a student at the developmental age of a fifth grader going into a tradtional high school biology class. This setting could be extremely frustrating..and even dull...for the special needs student, so behavioral issues could arise. Also, a student with this level of developmental delay may need classes such as life skills, self help and vocational skills that he may not be getting if he is full integrated into a regular HS schedule. In this case, having the student integrated into classes he or she can enjoy and participate in..art, music, home ec, computer skills...while taking the other classes needed through special ed can be the best of both worlds.

Inclusion in tradtional classrooms can be, if everything and everyone can do what is needed, a wonderful thing for any special needs child. It is not however the perfect solution for every special needs child and should not be "mandatory"..something many school systems across the country are considering as a way to stretch the special ed budgets. My son was in an inclusion situation for Kindergarden (he has autism and, at the time, was only minimally verbal). His teacher had a strong special ed backround, there was an aide for the class as well as a dedicated aide for my son, We set social goals for the year as well as academic. My son loved his school, his classmates and all went well. We moved prior to his beginning first grade, Inclusion did not go well. He was then placed into a self contained special ed class, but the teacher had no expereince in autism and the majority of the students had severe physical as well as developmental disabilities. In the end, the school system acknowledged they had no placement that would fit our sons needs and he was placed in a non-public program, which is where he is today (4 years later) and where he will continue his education. We may at some point consider inclusion again, but only if we feel that doing so is what is best for our child.

Answer 3

It depends. Intellectual impairments cover a continum. Many high functioning children can benefit from at least some general classrooom experience.

Others can't--sad but true. These need special instruction that is designed to maximise their potential (e.g. teaching skills needed to perform daily activities, etc.).

The biggest problem we have is that lack of training--or willingness--on the part of teachers and administrators as well as lack of resources for special education usually means neither happens. More often than not, such students are simply segregated into a separate room with a special ed teacher who may be well-intentioned but has neither the help nor the resources to do more than supervise what ends up being little more than a day care center.

Answer 4

No students that are mentally retarded shouldnt be included in general ed classrooms because they need specialized teaching and many of them are not able to keep up with the work for normal students. Most children who are mentally retarded are also several grades behind which takes them time to catch up.

Answer 5

This depends on how severe the cognitive disability as well as the child's specific needs. Very often it is appropriate to serve moderately mr kids in a gen ed class while they are young and the differences between their abilities/interests and that of their peers are not as noticable.......the older the students get, the wider the intellectual and social gap becomes...the spec ed students curriculum needs change as well................they should def. have access to their peers for socialization, but if geometry is NOT something they are going to attain or use then they are NOT being best served in that sort of classroom, but would benefit more from a class that was teaching them job skills or money math.....they could still attend a drama class or a home ec. class or weight training....there are zillions of options in a high school where kids with mr can succeed w/ peers, but for someone w/ moderate mr, chances are they will not have all their academic needs well met in a gen ed setting by high school....and very often, middle school.

Answer 6

It really depends upon how you define mental retardation. My daughter has down syndrome which is labeled as a form of retardation. However, she's smart as a whip, fits in well with "normal" children, she's not blind or deaf and understands very well. She does everything any other child can do. It takes her a bit longer, but she can do it. So, I would say that she would fit fine in a regular school. They have IEP programs where slower children would get extra attention and they DO have teachers equipped to deal with children with certain disablilities. So I guess it really depends on how severe the disablitiy is.

Answer 7

Yes!!!!!!!!!! My son is 14 years old.and he is mental retarded(I hate that word).For along time he was restricted to only a special ed class.This was in Cleveland Ohio.Then the board of education said that they have to start mixing these kids with regular ed kids for a small portion of the day.Although my son did good in classes like these I just thought it was not good to put him in a room of kids that can clearly see he was different from them.(Yeah I thought wrong alot).Now we live in Texas.The school system my son goes to does not have special education at all.I about panic when I moved here and found that out.This is his first year in that school system and he is in regular ed classes with the same work as his peers except he gets accumadations.Like if the kids are expected to do 50 math problems in 30 minutes my son is expected to do 15 math problems in 30 minutes and if he does not get all of them done on time and if he showed great effort in trying to do all of his work then he can bring the work home to finish it without getting into trouble or getting a bad grade.I can honestly say that taking my kid from a special ed program to putting him in a school that does not have special ed has really helped him not only learn better but he has mature alot this school year.

Answer 8

I would say no, most teachers aren't trained on how to teach and handle them and even if they were they wouldn't be able to work with the rest of the class at the same time. It isn't about giving the child less rights, it's about making things better for them.

Answer 9

yes becouse if you want this children to ever have any chance of getting better . you can not keep them bottled up in a sped classroom sorting paperclips. and being babyed. in the real world they are not going to be seperated from the world for the rest of there life. if you want them to get better you are going to have to give them a chance

Answer 10

we mainstreamed the mentally retarded children

they were not in our classroom but they were all in a class at our school...it was fantastic bec ause we got to kinow them...

our whole grammar school knew them all

one day in school we talked about it..this time we were in the 7th grade..it was so interesting..the children learned compassion...

they realized we were not all that different,,,,and more