ABSTRACT
Providing access to the general education curriculum for students with disabilities is a prominent goal of special education in the US and has led to increasingly inclusive classrooms and service delivery models. Approximately 13% (6.7 million) of public-school students in the US, ages 3 to 21, have been identified as having a disability and receive special education services (Institute of Education Sciences [IES], 2018). Over 60% of these students currently spend the majority of the school day in general education classrooms, and it is common for elementary and secondary teachers to instruct students with special needs as part of their typical job responsibilities (IES, 2018). Educators grapple with planning and implementing instruction that addresses not only typical diverse needs, such as time, space, and difficulty adjustments, but unique needs as well, such as an intense schedule of reinforcement or a need for augmentative communication. This chapter will provide general and special educators with a practical model for analyzing features of the learning environment and implementing needed adaptations based on student characteristics and recommendations for better integration of adaptations for students with disabilities and other special needs.
