This article was written as a response to Ayres, Lowrey, Douglas, and Sievers (2011) who commented on the degree to which promoting the teaching of functional skills had a higher probability of leading to a more independent life for students with severe disabilities. In doing so, the authors take issue with the use of a standards-based curriculum and suggest that working on grade-level content seizes time that could be allocated to teaching skills for adult life. We suggest that a standards-based curriculum affords students with severe disabilities a complete educational opportunity and need not preclude personally relevant instruction. In our rejoinder, we first describe our points of agreement (evolving curriculum, contribution of research on teaching functional skills, dismal transition outcomes), and then suggest seven reasons why a standards-based curric- ulum is appropriate. Our reasons include: (a) right to a full educational opportunity, (b) relevancy of a standards-based curriculum (c) unknown potential of students with severe disabilities, (d) functional skills are not a prerequisite to academic skills, (e) standards-based curriculum is not a replacement for functional curriculum, (f) individualized curriculum is limited when it is the only curriculum, and (g) students creating their own changing expectations through achievements.

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Seven Reasons to Promote Standards-Based Instruction for Students with Severe Disabilities: A Reply to Ayres, Lowrey, Douglas, & Sievers (2011)

Two mail surveys, one with a follow-up, were conducted to determine if consensus existed among general and special education teachers on (a) the conditions and supports that are critical to includi...

Teachers' Perceptions of the Supports Critical to the Success of Inclusion Programs

The purpose of this study was to explore the acceptance of peers with mental retardation (MR) in an Italian elementary school hosting a cluster of pupils with severe and profound MR. A similar school in which most pupils have little regular contact with children with disabilities participated for purposes of comparison. To assess social acceptance, we presented photographs of hypothetical children together with vignettes describing the protagonists' social behaviour. Respondents indicated how likely they would be to include the hypothetical child in social activities and which of the adjectives on a checklist they would ascribe to the child. Although most of the participants responded that they would include the hypothetical child in most social activities, sociometrics revealed that five of the six children with moderate disabilities who were integrated in the regular classes of both schools were rejected socially.

Social acceptance of children with mental retardation: Testing the contact hypothesis with an Italian sample

Both the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 1997 and the No Child Left Behind Act (2002) require the provision of an alternate assessment for students who cannot participate in state or district assessments with accommodations. Most states have defined performance indicators for these alternate assessments linked to their state standards. In this article, we consider five curricular philosophies (i.e., developmental, functional, social inclusion, self-determination, and academic) for students with severe disabilities and analyze how they are reflected in the performance indicators of states selected from an earlier study on curricular alignment. Overall, these states reflected a blend of academic and functional philosophies in defining reading and math performance indicators with few examples of social inclusion, self-determination, or developmental philosophies. The predominance of an academic philosophy was especially evident in states that experts and stakeholders identified as having performa...

A Content Analysis of the Curricular Philosophies Reflected in States' Alternate Assessment Performance Indicators:

During this 3-year field study, we examined the experiences of educators and children as they participated in the full educational inclusion of one child with severe disabilities. Data from interviews, sociometric measures, videotapes, and field notes were used to present the perspectives of administrators, general and special educators, students, and Taylor's parents. Benefits to Taylor and her classmates are discussed as well as recommendations for support of schools beginning full inclusion efforts.

Taylor's Story: Full Inclusion in Her Neighborhood Elementary School.

This article addresses integrated public school education for students with disabilities from both a legal and an educational perspective. Variables critical to public integration, including the influence of the media, the need for increased dissemination of legal and educational findings, the need for well-developed IEPs, and a critical examination of the existing data base are discussed.

Pamela J. Gent

Papers

Public Integration of Students with Handicaps: Where It's Been, Where It's Going, and How It's Getting There: