Paraeducators are frequently assigned to work with disabled students as a means of providing access to the general education classroom. However, the provision of a paraeducator does not guarantee equitable access to classroom-based learning opportunities, authentic peer interactions, or attention from certified teachers. While paraeducator support is often intended to provide students receiving special education services with access to the general education classroom, this practice may further perpetuate segregation under the guise of full inclusion. We provide concrete evidence-based tools for educators to use in Individualized Education Program meetings and in daily practice when evaluating the decision to assign a student a paraeducator and to ensure that students are receiving equitable access to educational opportunities.
Positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) is an evidence-based practice for reducing interfering behavior in schools and improving students’ social, emotional, and behavioral skills and academic outcomes. The multi-tiered PBIS framework organizes a continuum of behavioral support, intervention, and response practices within a schoolwide framework intended for all students, staff, and school settings. However, research shows students with extensive support needs (ESN) and the educators who support them may be largely excluded from their school’s implementation of PBIS. Relatedly, research indicates a need for PBIS teams to address data collection and data-based decision making in PBIS for students with ESN. This article provides practical tools, resources, and recommendations for school-based teams to conduct assessments and make data-based decisions to help ensure students with ESN are included in and benefit from PBIS.
Culturally responsive collaboration is crucial for effectively supporting children with extensive support needs, particularly within culturally diverse communities. However, Indian American families of children with extensive support needs often face challenges navigating early intervention services. This article recommends eight practical strategies to enhance practitioner-family collaboration with Indian American families. These include reflection on one’s own cultural beliefs, asking questions rather than assuming, addressing language barriers, avoiding generalizations, understanding the impact of the model minority stereotype, navigating disability-related cultural stigma, including community leaders, and engaging in continuous learning. In summary, by embracing cultural responsiveness, early intervention professionals can effectively support the development and well-being of children with extensive support needs and their families, fostering collaborative and inclusive early intervention programs. These strategies may also serve as a foundation for inclusive practices across other culturally diverse populations.
Many autistic children want to connect and build friendships with their classmates. Facilitating these relationships often requires educators to use intentional supports and practical strategies that remove common barriers to forming friendships between autistic children and their neurotypical peers. In this article, we offer four strategies early elementary educators can use to facilitate meaningful and reciprocal friendship opportunities. The four strategies are: (a) providing all students with social emotional instruction, (b) creating structured opportunities for social interaction, (c) teaching peers about autism, and (d) promoting friendship opportunities.
Students with extensive support needs (ESN) who exhibit challenging behaviors are often excluded from general education classrooms despite legal requirements mandating education in the least restrictive environment. Educators can support students with ESN by designing accessible classroom positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) that create proactive, inclusive environments. This article provides practical strategies for creating, adapting, and implementing three core components of classroom PBIS: behavior expectations, lesson plans, and acknowledgment systems. A vignette throughout the article illustrates how general education teachers, in collaboration with special education staff and families, can implement accessible classroom PBIS to promote meaningful inclusive education for students with ESN.
Positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) is a multi-tiered framework for promoting prosocial student behavior implemented in thousands of K–12 schools across the United States. Within PBIS, a strong foundation of Tier 1 preventive support is provided for all students to promote prosocial behavior and prevent behavioral challenges. For students who require additional support, targeted Tier 2 and individualized Tier 3 interventions are provided in addition to Tier 1 to match students’ needs. The goal of PBIS is to create inclusive school cultures that promote effective and equitable learning environments for all students. Yet, in typical practice, students with extensive support needs (ESN) often have limited access to the full range of PBIS supports. This article will discuss and provide examples of how educators can layer support across Tiers 1, 2, and 3 to ensure students with ESN are fully included in and benefit from all aspects of PBIS.
Work-based learning experiences support students with extensive support needs to prepare for post-school employment. Although these experiences can occur in the school or community, experiences in the community are particularly important for students with extensive support needs because they provide opportunities to learn in natural settings and under real work conditions. A common barrier to offering community-based work experiences is lack of transportation. In this article, we share strategies transition personnel in Illinois found effective for overcoming existing transportation barriers. We also include tips for providing hands-on work-based learning experiences when reliable transportation options are not yet available.
This article explores the significant impact heightened immigration enforcement and deportation fears have on undocumented and mixed-status families’ ability to access early intervention services provided under Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). It examines systemic barriers, resulting in adverse developmental outcomes for children, and proposes inclusive, culturally responsive strategies to enhance support for these vulnerable populations.
A large body of research has suggested that self-determination, or acting as the causal agent in one’s life, has positive impacts for all people across the life course. This article describes the rationale for using an evidence-based intervention designed to promote self-determination as people set and work toward self-selected goals, the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction (SDLMI), in supervision settings to support professional development of practitioners in working in disability support fields. The SDLMI has been extensively researched in diverse education settings with people with and without disabilities, and its developers suggest it can be transferred to any context and overlaid on any content area. Essentially, the self-regulated goal setting process can be used for any type of goal, in any context. Steps and considerations for clinical supervisors to follow when implementing this intervention with supervisees to promote self-determined professional development are provided.
Adapted books can serve as a support for students with complex support needs in general education classes. However, creating adapted books can be difficult for a special education teacher with a demanding schedule. Therefore, this article presents a feasible and efficient process for creating adapted books extended from the guidelines originally developed by Apitz et al. This process begins with special educators becoming familiar with the story through summarizing and outlining the original text. Next, collaboration with the general education teacher is recommended to identify the essential themes and key vocabulary. Special educators are encouraged to follow the book’s plot structure and use visual supports, such as images or videos, based on key events in the text. Also included in this article are suggestions on how teachers can more effectively and efficiently adapt books using modern technology tools, such as ChatGPT and DALL-E.
During the first 4 months in office, the Trump administration initiated federal initiatives and substantial policy shifts in the U.S. Department of Education that directly affect how students with disabilities, including those with extensive support needs (ESN), access education, and health services. The purpose of this article is to describe (a) how the federal government has historically supported the inclusion of students with ESN in public schools, (b) how the Trump administration has shifted the role of the federal government in supporting transition-aged youth prepare for post-school life, and (c) recommendations for how advocates can continue to promote equity, opportunity, and inclusion for transition-aged students with ESN in light of the current political context.
Student voice and agency can be leveraged to move away from deficit ways of thinking about disability and instruction. This framework offers an alternative to goal setting and instruction that aligns with student strengths and interests. Building on Person-Centered Planning and asset-based pedagogy literature, six steps make up this framework for student-centered, inclusive instructional planning: (1) Communication Inventory, (2) Centering the Student, (3) Making Action Plans, (4) Ecological Assessment, (5) Gather and Reflect, and (6) Inclusive Goal. This process, when taken up with several key commitments (i.e., prioritizing critical reflection), can be used to: get to know students, transition students to new school teams, facilitate student-centered annual Individualized Education Programs, or engage in the evaluation process.
The focus on self-determination across the life course in the disability field is long-standing. One of the most commonly utilized self-determination interventions is the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction (SDLMI). This article describes SDLMI: Community, an adaptation of SDLMI for community-based delivery to advance inclusive outcomes for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. In addition to describing SDLMI: Community, we highlight the implementation catalysts and barriers of SDLMI: Community that participants with intellectual and developmental disabilities, their supporters (e.g., direct support professionals, family members), and trained SDLMI facilitators shared during anonymized, individual exit interviews completed by external program evaluators. We use this information on implementation catalysts and barriers to provide guidance for ongoing implementation of this research-based practice for practitioners.
Educators (broadly defined as classroom teachers, administrators, and teacher candidates) often share similar concerns about the feasibility of including students with significant support needs (SSN) in the general education classroom. This article shows that not only is inclusion possible, it is a student’s right. The authors believe that advocating for inclusive education must center the perspectives, experiences, and expertise of individuals with disabilities. Thus, two disability advocates, Jordyn Zimmerman and Brittanie Hernandez-Wilson, respond to and negate five common reasons for not including students with SSN in the general education classroom and curriculum. Inclusion advocates can use this article to discuss inclusive schooling, reflect on misconceptions, and identify strategies to meaningfully include students with SSN within their home schools and general education classrooms.
As of December 1, 2024, there were 751 employers with 14(c) certifications (or in pending applications) in the United States paying over 36,000 individuals with disabilities subminimum wage. Efforts across the states to eliminate subminimum wage to reach fair wage and employment first for people with disabilities have shown that this is a complex and urgent issue that remains unsolved. This article will provide a brief history regarding subminimum wage and sheltered workshops, discuss the current state of 14(c) employment across the country, the relationship between sheltered workshops and transition-age youth, briefly describe a model program being implemented in the state of Illinois and make recommendations on how to support competitive integrated employment (CIE) of people with disabilities. Supported and customized employment, parental attitudes, the role of the employment specialist, the importance of developing a transformative business model and providing benefits counseling will be briefly discussed.
Being self-determined has often been challenging for students with complex support needs due to limited opportunities to express themselves. Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) can help students exercise self-determination by providing means to communicate their preferences and choices effectively with a variety of communication partners. The authors of this article introduce four strategies for educators to use when enhancing the self-determination of students with complex support needs who use AAC while honoring their communication: (a) interpreting ways the student communicates, (b) modeling words to express preferences and choices, (c) introducing a ranking scale for weighing preferences, and (d) facilitating meaningful choice-making.
Meaningful family–teacher collaboration within individualized education program (IEP) meetings is essential to establish effective educational programming for students. However, parents and guardians (referred to as family) do not consistently report positive experiences in IEP meetings, often reporting playing a passive role in the IEP process. However, despite innumerable challenges, COVID-19 revealed an opportunity to enhance collaborative family–school partnerships within the IEP process through videoconferencing. For this reason, this paper aims to present recommendations for educators to integrate videoconferencing within the IEP process: preparation before the IEP meeting, facilitation and moderation during the IEP meeting, and follow-up and follow-through of commitments after the IEP meeting.
This article provides a nuanced exploration of the experiences of an intern participating in a Project SEARCH Supported Internship in England. Delving into the intern’s journey, the article provides insights into the effectiveness of the Project SEARCH Supported Internship model of delivery as a vocational training program for individuals with intellectual disabilities and/or autism. The contextual summary sheds light on the broader landscape of supported internships in England, positioning them as a growing strategy to improve employment opportunities for this demographic. As a response to the growing imperative for inclusive employment practices, supported internships emerge as a bridge, facilitating the transition from education to the workforce. The interview underscores the significance of tailored support mechanisms and highlights the transformative potential of these programs in fostering professional development and social inclusion for individuals with intellectual disabilities and/or autism in employment.
Students and young adults with complex support needs often lack opportunities to engage in work experiences during the transition process. Historically, available experiences are offered in a narrow range of occupational sectors. Inclusive postsecondary education programs not only provide real work experiences in community settings but can also provide pathways to meaningful career development and competitive integrated employment in non-traditional occupational sectors. In this article, we will (a) summarize the research literature supporting meaningful career development and work experiences for students with complex support needs, (b) present a first-person account of a student’s experience in an inclusive postsecondary education program, and (c) provide readers with research-informed practices and steps to promote high-quality career development. Research-informed practices reviewed will include engaging with community partners, collaborative career planning, creating opportunities for skill acquisition, building student workplace independence, and evaluating workplace performance.
This article introduces a professional development model designed to equip direct support professionals (DSPs) with evidence-based practices (EBPs) to enhance their instructional skills, as well as improve community inclusion and post-school employment outcomes for adults with extensive support needs (ESN). This article outlines a simple approach to professional development that involves six crucial steps: (a) assemble a team and conduct a needs assessment to identify gaps in DSPs’ knowledge, (b) develop tailored content to address these gaps, (c) deliver professional development sessions on EBPs, (d) support DSPs in implementing learned EBPs with individuals with ESN, (e) monitor DSP progress and provide micro-training to address areas of improvement, and (f) teach DSPs to track the progress of the learners they support. This framework improves DSPs’ instructional knowledge and provides a replicable model to improve support services for adults with ESN.
