The Question Still Remains: What Happens when the Curricular Focus for Students with Severe Disabilities Shifts? A Reply to Courtade,Spooner,Browder,and Jimenez (2012)

Abstract

This article responds to rejoinder by Courtade, Spooner, Browder, and Jimenez (2012) of our initial article (Ayres, Lowrey, Douglas, & Sievers, 2011) describing the importance in making individualized curriculum decisions for students with severe disabilities. We point out our agreements with the rejoinder (reiterating statements from our original article) while also stating overarching disagreements, responding to Courtade et al.'s seven reasons to support a standards based curriculum, and concluding with general ideas on future directions for curriculum planning, research, and implementation. We continue to advocate for developing personalized curricula that meet the needs of individual students.