The purpose of this study was to investigate teachers' perspectives on the appropriate skills and settings for literacy instruction, the factors influencing their decisions about literacy instruction, and the barriers to literacy instruction in general education classrooms. A sample of special education teachers (n = 69) of students taking the…

The history of the educational movement for students with severe disabilities began with an emphasis on FAPE, opening the doors to education for all students; progressed to a greater focus on LRE, encompassing the assumption that the default setting ought to be the same one that typically developing peers occupy; and recently arrived at access to…

The reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act and the No Child Left Behind Act requires that students with extensive support needs have access to, participate in, and make progress on the general curriculum along with their grade-level general education peers. This article suggests that the terms used in this…

Research strongly supports including students with extensive support needs in general education settings and providing them access to the general curriculum. Yet, there is limited research indicating how to provide them authentic access to this curriculum. This article explores several instructional approaches to provide access including (a) use…

Promoting access to the general curriculum has emerged as a central theme of the standards-based reform movement, challenging educators to identify effective strategies for supporting students with disabilities to access the numerous social and learning opportunities within general education. We examined peer support interventions as an…

School-wide positive behavior support (SWPBS) is a systematic and effective approach for broadly improving student behavior across school environments. SWPBS includes data-based strategies for supporting all students along a continuum of need and intensity based on a three-tiered model of prevention. Students with the most significant behavioral…

Throughout its evolution, school-wide positive behavior support (SWPBS) has explicitly promoted the perspective that it should involve all students in a given school setting. However, the literature on SWPBS has not always fully and clearly addressed the involvement of students with severe disabilities. This article will (a) briefly review the…

In this article, the author recognizes and responds to the three major themes of the four articles focusing on the use of school-wide positive behavior support (SWPBS) with students having the most serious problem behavior: needed research, including students with severe disabilities at all support levels through adaptations, and avoiding further…

Three young children with severe, multiple disabilities were taught to utilize a voice output communication aid (VOCA) to request access to preferred items and/or peers during play activities. Acquisition of VOCA use resulted from a naturalistic intervention strategy that consisted of creating communication opportunities, prompting the participant…

Increasing the participation of youth with severe disabilities in general education has remained a consistent and prominent focus of legislative, policy, and research initiatives. We examined the perceptions of high school staff regarding the goals, barriers, benefits, outcomes, and supports associated with including adolescents with severe…

Promoting access to the general curriculum for students with disabilities has emerged as a central theme of recent legislative and policy initiatives. Ensuring that students with severe disabilities benefit fully from the myriad learning and social opportunities available through the general curriculum remains an important challenge, particularly…

It is now the responsibility of educators to provide for the education of severely handicapped students in what has been referred to as "the least restrictive educational environment." This paper discusses least restrictive educational environments in relation to segregation versus integration, interactions with nonhandicapped age peers,…

In this article, the author comments on the paramount article "Toward Realization of the Least Restrictive Educational Environments for Severely Handicapped Students" by Brown, Wilcox, Sontag, Vincent, Dodd, and Gruenewald. She states that the article contained amazingly persuasive and logical ideas that guided the dramatic changes in service…

We studied parents' perceptions of the effects of their nondisabled child's participation in a classroom in which a child with severe disabilities was enrolled full time. Survey responses from 389 parents indicated that they generally perceived their nondisabled child to have benefited from this experience. A minority of parents held negative…

This article presents a critical analysis of the principle of the least restrictive environment (LRE). The article begins with a review of the origins of LRE in professional writings and law and moves next to a discussion of how LRE has been operationalized in terms of a continuum of residential, educational, and vocational services. Building on…