Mainstreaming

Along with assistive technology, the concept of mainstreaming deaf students is very relevant in today's environment. Mainstreaming is based on an “equal access/opportunity” approach that places students whether they have special needs or have hearing loss into general education classrooms. This means accommodating students’ needs in order to succeed and assimilate them in a general education classroom. For example, in grade school I had a 504 plan each year that laid out the accommodations I needed (FM system, seating in the front of the classroom, access to notes, minimized background noise etc.). These accommodations allowed me to be mainstreamed amongst my hearing classmates. In my opinion mainstreaming can be successful for those who have moderate hearing loss that can be helped by hearing aids like myself. Oftentimes with mainstreaming however, the student is the only one with hearing loss in their respective schools. For me, this led to a lot of frustration in my case. No matter how hard I tried to be a hearing person, I still missed things in class. I still had hearing loss. This is why as I have said many times in previous blog posts, sign language became my escape from my otherwise “hearing world”. Based on my experiences, I would urge parents of those with cochlear implants who have worse hearing than someone like me, to explore options that include ASL and insight into the Deaf community. This would allow them to acquire the best of what both worlds have to offer. The main point I have stressed throughout my blogs is that hearing aids or cochlear do not cure deafness. With or without technology, one who is deaf is still deaf. This is one of the most important things to keep in mind when selecting an education system for a deaf child. Thank you for visiting alookintodeafeducation.org! 

Here is a link to read more on mainstreaming: 

http://www.raisingdeafkids.org/learning/choices/mainstream/