ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the development of curriculum practices for students with severe disabilities and examines three components of the 1997 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act that have the potential to significantly impact curriculum design. During the last quarter century, the definition of effective curriculum for students with severe disabilities has changed dramatically. The functional approach to curriculum was a vast improvement over earlier models, yet the content of functional curricula was largely idiosyncratic, with no established criteria for determining what was functional or relevant for an individual student. The earliest attempts at curriculum design for learners with severe disabilities were based on those students' behavioral characteristics or "developmental levels". As the field has moved increasingly toward educating students with severe disabilities in the general education classroom, questions about appropriate curriculum content have become increasingly evident.
