This 3-year study examined how primary grade teachers and their teacher assistants taught reading and the language arts to a boy with multiple disabilities in inclusive classrooms. Qualitative research strategies are used to describe and explain the boy's participation in literacy activities from kindergarten through second grade. Findings are presented chronologically by the boy's grade placements, from kindergarten through second grade. Analyses revealed the following: (1) inclusion is a learning opportunity that enables teachers to improve their understanding of teaching and learning; (2) inclusion sensitized teachers to the needs of children in their classrooms; (3) other children benefited from the boy's inclusion in their classrooms because they learned to accept academic and physical differences as part of everyday life; (4) special children can be as socially and academically isolated in a regular classroom as they are when in separate facilities or programs, as not all regular classroom teachers willingly assume academic and social responsibility for special needs children in their rooms; (5) teacher assistants had a tremendous influence on the success of the boy's inclusion by accelerating or impeding his progress; and (6) successful inclusion requires teachers to creatively plan learning activities for disabled children that parallel the literacy task demands of other children. (Author/JDD)