ABSTRACT
The United States is increasingly moving toward inclusive environments whereby students with a range of abilities, including those with the most significant support needs, are considered full members of their neighborhood schools and classrooms. As such, teachers must be equipped with mindsets and tools to support all students in inclusive classrooms as they build community, plan instructional units and lessons with all students in mind, and provide individualized supports and interventions to promote access to learning. This chapter provides foundational knowledge about disabilities and then dives deep into how students with different abilities can be supported in today’s 21st-century classrooms through Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS), the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), and individual adaptations (accommodations and modifications) including collaborative participation and support plans. Readers will be left with a belief that all children can learn and the knowledge to support all children in a developmentally diverse classroom.
