Inclusion Strategies and Interventions, Second Edition. Toby J. Karten
teaching and monitoring social-emotional skills, and other individualized IEP adaptations.
If it is determined that a student meets eligibility requirements, a team of school staff and a student’s family develop an IEP. The IEP has measurable annual goals written for each student’s unique needs. It includes the provision of supplementary aids and services and the reasonable accommodations required. The IEP states the student’s involvement and participation in the general education curriculum, extracurricular activities, and nonacademic activities (Center for Parent Information and Resources, 2017b).
In the United States, the general education or “regular” classroom is the first placement option unless it is determined that the nature or severity of a student’s disability is such that even with the necessary supports and aids in place, the student would not achieve a satisfactory education. In 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court established a higher standard for determining the educational benefit a student is entitled to receive under IDEA with Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District (U.S. Department of Education, 2017). This decision considers the unique circumstances of an individual student, including the appropriate services with educational benefit more than de minimus. In Endrew’s case, less is not better. The student, Endrew F., has autism and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and the court found he was not achieving adequate consistent and sufficient progress and educational benefit in a general education classroom. The U.S. Supreme Court ruling raises the bar for students with disabilities and encourages schools to consider each individual learner’s profile, rather than providing standardized, one-size-fits-all instruction and services (McKenna, 2017).
Inclusion sometimes involves a combination of services and environments, such as a student receiving replacement instruction for mathematics in a separate pull-out resource room, while the rest of his or her instruction is in the inclusion classroom. A team of professionals and the child’s parents, along other individuals who have knowledge of the student and how to interpret the evaluations and data make the individualized appropriate placement decisions. Sometimes the IEP team will place students in the general education classroom with a co-teacher or instructional assistant for all or part of the instructional time. A student’s academic, behavioral, emotional, and social needs may also call for a combination of services or special classes or a separate school, even though these are more restrictive environments. For example, resource or push-in teachers can go into a general education classroom three days a week and then schedule the student for extra help, practice, or remediation in a pull-out program of intervention on the other two days.
As an offshoot of IDEA, response to intervention (RTI) examines student learning and screening data to determine appropriate interventions and monitor students’ progress (Buffum, Mattos, & Malone, 2018). RTI is part of a multitiered system of supports. MTSS and RTI are not synonymous. MTSS provides a framework for struggling students to learn at their individual levels in inclusion classrooms before receiving special education services. It includes academic and behavioral supports that reinforce and enrich student learning.
Students with and without exceptionality receive Tier 1 core instruction. Core instruction includes the essential knowledge that all students should receive. A general or special education teacher may pull students who require Tier 2 or Tier 3 interventions into small groups that receive instruction in the general education classroom or in another environment from the same or different provider. During this intervention time, the premise is that no new instruction occurs in the general education classroom that these students would miss. Otherwise, the students who often need more help will be learning less and fall behind their inclusion peers.
These instructional decisions are made by teachers, related service providers, student support teams, and school interventionists. They monitor student progress using both formal and informal assessments. All the placement decisions are based on students’ IEP goals and objectives, so each placement is unique to each student. General and special education teachers also use co-teaching models in inclusion classrooms to accept roles and responsibilities for the multitiered supports (Karten & Murawski, 2020).
Legislation drives many decisions regarding inclusion. For example, No Child Left Behind (NCLB; 2002) was the main educational law from 2002 to 2015. It advocated for high outcomes for all students to narrow achievement gaps. The intention was for prepared educators to deliver a quality education to all students. NCLB included a system of accountability that demanded increasingly successful learning opportunities for students with disabilities in general education settings. This emphasis on accountability caused many school systems to revamp their inclusion programs. Then, the 2015 Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA; 2017) replaced NCLB with a major focus on positive student outcomes, closing achievement gaps, and increasing equity and instruction quality (U.S. Department of Education, n.d.).
RTI, along with other systems of academic, social, and emotional supports, services, and interventions, is set up to assist teachers in providing a quality education to all learners. When educators view all students as general education students, all students will receive solid core instruction. Screenings and assessments will identify and document students who need further supports and instruction, and they receive additional academic and behavioral interventions, as needed.
Laws such as IDEA (2004b), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (1973), and the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA; 1991) extend accommodations and modifications to students with disabilities in school environments and other public and private settings. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 offers accommodations and modifications to the academic setting or environment. Case managers, teachers, and related service providers collaborate with the student’s family to determine the appropriate placements and related services, which include accommodations for instruction, assessments, and environmental supports. Adaptations include accommodations and modifications. Accommodations do not change the learning outcomes for a student or the content (what is taught), while modifications alter what students are expected to learn. For example, a mathematics accommodation allows a student to solve two-step multiplication word problems assigned over a period of two days due to low attention or stamina, while a modified mathematics assignment requires the student to solve one-step word problems that have less complexity and simplified wording.
IEPs and 504 plans are unique to each student with a disability and a team develops the types of placements, supports, accommodations, modifications, and related services the student will require to reach his or her fullest potential. These supports can include services such as the following.
• Providing a student with ADHD more frequent breaks during a longer assessment
• Offering increased feedback about organizational skills to a student who lacks executive functioning skills
• Setting up an informal behavioral plan for a student who is impulsive
• Scheduling a school psychologist or guidance counselor to check in more frequently with a student who is depressed
• Consulting with an occupational therapist if a student with autism needs help with routines or cannot easily transition from one activity or class to the next
• Ensuring a student in a wheelchair can access books on higher shelves in a media center
• Adapting the physical education program
• Highlighting important information
• Providing seating options to avoid glare or distractions
• Scheduling sensory breaks
• Sharing written or picture schedules
When IEPs align to the general education curriculum, but are not individualized, their purpose is diminished (Auman-Bauer, 2018). IEPs are not magical documents that automatically ensure students will achieve by the presence of formal signatures and agreements to adhere to agreed-on goals. Some IEPs and 504 plans are not meaningfully written, individualized, or comprehensive enough if they do not include pertinent assessment information, baseline data, or appropriate accommodations (Capizzi, 2008; Karten, 2019a).
In addition, IDEA only requires IEP teams to place short-term objectives in IEPs