Former Mainstreamed Student
I, too, was mainstreamed all of my school years. When I first started in elementary school, we had a pretty large Deaf education program with many Deaf students. At first, I was mainstreamed for math, science and social studies, but for reading and language arts I was in the Deaf resource classroom. Later, I was mainstreamed for every subject. Rarely was I in the Deaf resource classroom during the last two years at the elementary school and middle school. My high school didn't have the Deaf resource program, but another high school across town did.
My brothers are both Deaf and attended the same schools as I did, but they had a difficult time making hearing friends and participating in extracurricular activities. I think the main reason why this happened is because they were not able to speak well. They both ended up going to a residential school for their high school years and were able to participate in several sports. They both developed a bond with several other Deaf students and I was always jealous of them.
I, on the other hand, was able to speak very well, but I didn't have very many friends, only one close friend and several acquaintances. However, I was able to participate in just about anything because of the speaking ability.
I have to agree with zawadigube, that mainstreaming isn't always fun. I did feel isolated at times and left out. Whenever my parents and I went to a football game for my brothers at the residential school, I was always with my brothers' friends catching up on the social skills that I needed.
Later on, attending college, I attended a public college for my BA and had interpreters in every class, but I never really felt 100% included. Fortunately, I was able to experience a "residential setting" at Western Maryland College for my MA in Deaf Education. The professors were either Deaf or hearing and fluent in ASL. Everyone was required to sign at all times, and I felt myself grow during this time. I was able to participate in any conversation, discussion and so forth.