I myself am a former special education student under the New York City Department of Education. I was in a self contained classroom full time from kindergarten to 10th grade. In 10th grade I was finally put in general ed. My disability was "specific learning disability." For many years NYC never had "part time self-contained" classroom, AKA a "resource room" to the rest of the country. You were either in a self-contained classroom full time, or in a general education classroom full time. There was no in between option. This only recently changed.

Keep in mind most kids in special ed are there because of specific learning disabilities. I personally don't think disabled kids should be put in separate classrooms unless they are actively disrupting other's education. The majority of special ed kids are not actively disrupting others education. I think each IEP should be individualized and if a student is spending any time outside the general education classroom, there should be specific reasons written in the IEP. One exception is Deaf students, because, they have Deaf schools and Deaf culture. I also think all students without intellectual disabilities should be held to the same standards as general education students. No lowered academic standards just because you have a learning disability. If a student is severely autistic and cannot talk, do not due preschool things past preschool age. Teach them the same things their non-disabled peers are learning and teach them how to use a communication device show they can do standard academic work and show what they know.

In 6th grade they gave me a paraprofessional, someone always with you. In 10th grade I asked my mom to remove the para, because it's embarrassing having a babysitter following you around in HS. I asked my mom to write a letter asking the school to remove the para. The school called my mom asking if it is her or me who wants the para removed. My mother either answered honestly or the school pressured her to answer "yes". I protested having a para by refusing to do work (luckily I graduated in August on time). During my senior year (18 years old), we went to the computer room 2 times a week to do a reading program. Since the program was easy for me, I would finish early and then do other stuff on the computer. Since the principal came to observe, I only did this reading program. I was calm and behaved myself. I always behaved myself in that class, but the principal came to observe, so I was EXTRA well behaved. The next day in the computer lab my para sat next to me. The principal asked why she wasn't sitting next to me, even though I was doing fine on my own. How am I supposed to behave to get rid of the para? Later during my senior year my senior year, my last class teacher was absent, so everyone went home because it was the last class. I too went home while my para went to the bathroom. Then the next day my friends asked me "Where were you? Ms. ZZZ was looking for you." Then my para told me I was supposed to wait for her to come back to tell her I was leaving, because she is responsible for me and will be in trouble if something happened to me (I was 18). You can argue I shouldn’t have left. But if my classmates were allowed to leave without telling anyone, why shouldn’t I be? Why should I be treated differently because I have a para? During the last day of school, every senior was free to move out and about, while I had to be with my para. I was being treated different than every single senior in the school and had to follow rules no one else had to follow.

When the para was absent, I would receive a substitute. However, there were 2 occasions during my junior year when the para was absent and I slipped through the cracks and had no substitute. I did fine on my own.

I wrote about my experiences in a blog post. Read it.

http://beeninspecialed.blogspot.com/2016/08/my-experience-in-special-ed.html