Definition

1. Adjective:
   • (Of a person with a disability) placed in regular school classes: Describes the educational practice of integrating students with disabilities into general education classrooms alongside their non-disabled peers, rather than placing them in separate, special education classes.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • The school district has successfully mainstreamed several students with hearing impairments.
  • Her son, who has autism, is mainstreamed for most of his subjects.
  • The policy aims to ensure that all children who can be mainstreamed have that opportunity.

Advanced Usage

• "to be mainstreamed": This is the most common construction, describing the state or result of the integration process.
  • After years in a special program, he was finally mainstreamed into a fifth-grade class.
• The term is often used in educational, psychological, and sociological contexts to discuss inclusion policies and their outcomes.

Variants and Related Words

• Mainstream (verb): The action of integrating someone, especially a student with a disability, into a regular class or group.
  • The school's goal is to mainstream more children with learning differences.
• Mainstream (noun): The prevailing current of thought, influence, or activity. (Note: This is a distinct, more common meaning of the word "mainstream").
  • His ideas were outside the cultural mainstream.
• Mainstreaming (noun): The process or practice of mainstreaming students.
  • Mainstreaming requires adequate support for both teachers and students.

Synonyms

• Integrated: Brought into participation or membership in a group or system.
• Included: Encompassed as part of a whole, especially in an educational setting.

Antonyms

• Segregated: Set apart or isolated, especially in separate educational facilities.
• Separated: Kept apart from a regular class or group.

Related Phrases/Concepts

• Inclusive education: An educational approach that seeks to fully include all students, addressing and responding to the diversity of their needs.
• Least Restrictive Environment (LRE): A legal principle in special education (e.g., in U.S. law) that children with disabilities should be educated with children who are not disabled to the maximum extent appropriate. "Mainstreaming" is one way to achieve an LRE.

Adjective

1. (of the handicapped) placed in regular school classes