And then came mainstreaming.....
When I first began working in the special education field mainstreaming was a new term. Inclusion was just being born. I worked in a self contained program.
We had our own bathroom, our own kitchen, our own laundry room. We even had real beds, showers and couches. Our house also had two classrooms with desks and chalkboards. We had our own phone and an intercom to link us to the rest of the school. We had three teachers and one aide and 8 students.
Our students were wonderful people. They ranged in age from 14 to 22. They were incredible.
Once a week the students would go to Art. The Art teacher was not a special education teacher. He was a regular Art teacher. The students all loved going to his class.
Our students went to chorus for Music. Those that were able ate in the cafeteria. The teachers ALL ate with them.
Many students went to English class, and Math class in the regular curriculum. They also had English for Everyday life with me and I also taught self help skills. We had a pre-drivers ed class to teach them the basics for those who would someday go for a driving class.
Now with three teachers and an aide, that ratio is pretty good when you only have 8 students. Our kids flourished. All of them had jobs that they went to during school. They earned money in the community, and they all had bank accounts that we taught them to maintain. (One of my students graduated with enough money in his account to buy himself a car) We had the ability to take these kids in our cars to go to the store. Every Friday my math class went out to breakfast and did menu math. We were in the community and we were everywhere. We went shopping and did errands and we ate in public restaurants and we were very active. Our students were participants in the Special Olympics. We were an active Special Olympic group and one of our students was chosen to go on the International Tour.
When the mainstreaming laws hit, our inclusion into the community had to slowly stop. Our students were now included in the history and the math classes. The teachers had so much work to do to modify the curriculum and help the kids with their studies that we no longer had enough time in our day to take the students to the mall and to their jobs. Many students had to give up their jobs. Bank accounts were gone. Jobs were stopped and students slowly lost. No longer were we able to teach the students laundry skills and safety skills. They had to take Health class in the mainstream. People looked down on the Self contained program we had.
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