How Much Time Should Students with Severe Intellectual Disabilities Spend in Regular Education Classrooms and Elsewhere?

Abstract

Students with severe intellectual disabilities should be based in the same schools and classrooms in which they would be based if they were not disabled. However, a regular education classroom base in a home school is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for minimally acceptable education. These students should spend some of their time elsewhere. Nine of many factors to consider when determining the amount of time and the kinds of instruction that should be provided in regular education classrooms and other settings are addressed. The ideological and instructional assumptions underlying the benefits that can accrue from functioning in both regular education classrooms and elsewhere must be realized.