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This article provides teachers and administrators with a description of foundational principles and curricular approaches to create meaningful educational experiences for secondary students with intellectual disabilities in inclusive general education classes. The four principles provide: (a) the least dangerous assumption, (b) partial participation, (c) blending academic and functional curricula, and (d) curricular fairness. They provide school personnel with a conceptual framework to guide practice. The curricular approaches of: (a) multi-level curriculum and instruction, and (b) curriculum overlapping provide practical ways to implement varied and individualized learning outcomes within shared classroom activities. When school personnel understand and apply these principles and approaches, they can provide the foundation for creating more inclusive high school experiences for all students.
Sarah (pseudonym) a student with Down syndrome, had an elementary school experience similar to students without disabilities in her community. She attended the school in her neighborhood where she was included in general education classes throughout the school day. During these early years of school, Sarah developed interests in science, reading, and art. She also developed friendships that regularly extended beyond the school day. In middle school things began to change; teachers started expressing concerns about what they perceived to be a widening academic and functional gap between Sarah and her classmates. As a result, she spent more time in a special education resource room receiving one-to-one or small group instruction with other students who also had intellectual disabilities.
Sarah spent less time with her nondisabled classmates and correspondingly less time engaged in the general education curriculum. Sarah's parents noticed that she stopped asking them to look up science or history topics online, rarely mentioned the names of classmates, and was no longer invited to go places with friends. By the end of middle school, Sarah's education shifted primarily to a daily living skills program (e.g., laundry, shopping, housekeeping), justified as being important to prepare her for adult life even though these areas were not considered school priorities for students without disabilities.
Sarah's high school experiences continued along an increasingly segregated path in terms of both place of instruction and curricular content. Her school days were filled with daily living skills, sheltered work experiences, and leisure activities almost exclusively with peers who also had some type...