Inclusion Class
In an inclusion class or mainstream placement, your child will be in a regular education class with his age peers. In addition to the regular teacher, there will ideally be a special-education teacher whose job it is to adjust the curriculum to your child’s abilities.
Resource Room
Students who need intensive help to keep up with grade-level work in a particular subject may be placed in the resource room, where a special-education teacher works with a small group of students, using techniques that work more efficiently with a special-needs population.
Self-Contained Class
Placement in a self-contained classroom means that your child will be removed from the general school population for all academic subjects to work in a small controlled setting with a special-education teacher. Students in a self-contained class may be working at all different educational levels, with different textbooks and various curricula.
Out-of-District Placement
While a self-contained class may require your child to go to a school outside your neighborhood, an out-of-district placement places her in a specialized school specifically designed to address special learning or behavioral needs.
Which Class Is Right for Your Child?
That’s a question that needs to be answered based on your child’s particular, individualized needs. Ask yourself what kind of setting your child learns best, and what kind of setting is the least productive. Think about whether he has friends he wants to keep in touch within the mainstream, or whether the mainstream has been dangerous and unfriendly. Think about whether he needs structure and routine, or enjoys being with different teachers and kids. Think about whether there are one or two areas in which she needs academic help, or if every moment in school is a struggle. Speak to your child’s teachers, other parents, special education personnel, advocates in your area, and most importantly, to your child and try to gauge what setting would be the most productive, most beneficial, most stimulating, and least threatening place for your child to learn. Then monitor the situation closely. Your child’s placement is not set in stone, and you can always move your child if an arrangement becomes too hard or too easy.
