Mainstreaming from a Residential Setting

Two of the rights stated in P.L. 94-142 that have created concern and confusion with regard to programming in residential schools for the deaf are the rights to an "appropriate education" in the "least restrictive environment" (LRE). Programs for deaf children with comprehensive services and a communicating milieu provide the LRE. The California School for the Deaf (CSD) in Fremont has a population of 520 students drawn from Northern California. Since 1980, 57 student placements have been made to the mainstreaming program. At CSD the LRE is not the distance between the home and the school, but the place where students have the opportunity to succeed in a total communication environment. The mainstreaming program's basic philosophy is that students who can benefit will have a mainstreaming experience. However, if a student cannot cope, appropriate adjustments will be made.