Some Considerations of Planning the Integration of Handicapped Children into the Mainstream

The integration of handicapped children into the mainstream of education often is seen as a question of administrative placement. As a result, educational issues critical to successful integration may not be thoroughly explored nor their solutions carefully planned. Without specific plans, a handicapped child may not be ready to integrate, nor the receiving teacher willing or able to accommodate the child. Some of these issues are presented in this paper along with consideration of directions for their solution. Specifically, they are (a) selecting likely candidates for integration, (b) planning what to teach in the special education class to prepare the child to integrate, (c) planning how to teach this content, (d) assessing the readiness of a child to integrate, (e) changing the attitudes of the receiving teacher, (f) providing support services, and (g) making a smooth transition To assess a child's readiness to integrate, a “competency-based assessment” is described. Here, the standards of a particular regular class are measured and the handicapped child's competencies are compared to these standards.