Why Is It Important To Place Children With Intellectual Disabilities In Regular Classes

976 Words4 Pages

I feel it’s important to place children with intellectual disabilities in regular classes for several reasons. The first is that it provides for social skills necessary to carry them through adulthood. Social limitations often impede success in these individuals as adults, so it’s crucial that children are taught to socially acclimate early in life. Children with intellectual disabilities not only are lacking in intellectual functions, but also in adaptive functioning (Pennsylvania State University World Campus, 2015). Adaptive functioning includes the social and emotional maturity of that child compared to his or her peers. I feel that the only way to improve on social and emotional maturity is to have children with intellectual disabilities interact with children who don’t have intellectual disabilities as this provides an “ideal” social situation and mimics “real life” communication skills. This teaches children age-appropriate ways to act and interact …show more content…

In the case of an intellectually disabled child acting out, it may just be a pattern based around a specific subject or subjects that they have trouble with. At that point in time, a plan should be put in place either for behavioral intervention strategies or so that he or she should be in the regular classroom for certain subjects while in the special education classroom for others. If behavior is constantly an issue, then mainstreaming may not be the best idea at this time, though is something that can be looked at in the future. I feel that at least for what my son’s school calls the “specials,” music, art, library, phys-ed, and guidance time, intellectually disabled students should participate with those in their grade