The paper addresses the educational needs of severely handicapped students with emphasis on the redirecting and redesigning of current thinking, curriculum structure, and teaching methods so that students develop functional skills. Stressed are the need to reconsider the definition of the severely handicapped, the purpose of their education, and the needed emphasis on functional education. Noted is the need for curriculum to be structured around the selection of critical skills, taught on a functional basis, and based on the domains of residential and vocational skills. Teaching methods which should be changed are also considered, including the structuring of instruction, modification of performance criteria used, lessening of the emphasis on discrete trial format, and adoption of practices (such as using age appropriate curriculum and materials) that have been identified as being present in "good" programs. (Author/DB)