Mainstreaming

Mainstreaming is an older term for placing a student who receives special education into general education classes, often for part of the school day. It usually carries the idea that the child joins the regular classroom for subjects or times where they can participate, sometimes with the expectation that they keep pace with the class, while receiving specialized instruction elsewhere for other parts of the day.

People sometimes use mainstreaming and inclusion to mean the same thing, but there is a subtle difference in emphasis. Mainstreaming often frames the general classroom as a setting a child earns access to or visits for certain subjects, while inclusion starts from the assumption that the general classroom is the child's home base and support comes to them. Both aim to keep children with their peers rather than apart.

What matters more than the label is whether the arrangement actually works for your child: are they supported enough to succeed in the general setting, and is the balance between general and separate instruction right for them? In meetings, focus less on the term and more on the specifics — which classes, how much time, and what supports go with the placement.