Journal of Research & Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities-TASH: A Case for Inclusion

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TASH Research Journal Article

This article used theory, historical records, and empirical

research to make a case that inclusive education, in which

students experience significant proportions of their day in

the age-appropriate contexts and curriculum of general

education, is a research-based practice with students who

have extensive support needs. We begin by noting that there

are regressive trends occurring in educational placements in

our country and that these are causing alarm. Next, we establish

guidelines for defining a useful, research-based practice.

These guidelines include considering what education

should be achieving for all students as a standard and using

a view of scientific causality that acknowledges complexity.

We then show how constructs from ecological theory and

group processes theory, which provide accounts for human

growth and learning, relate to location of educational services

(i.e., context) and curriculum (i.e., content) decisions.

Throughout this discussion, we show educating students using

an inclusive education approach is supported by these

constructs, whereas other widely used special education are

not. We then review both historical and empirical data from

institutions and schools and show that these data provide

empirical support for the primary theoretical position of this

article that context, together with curriculum content, matter

crucially when educating students with extensive support

needs. We concluded that there is theoretical and empirical

support for using general education contexts and curriculum

content and for not using other contexts and curriculum

content both in educating students with extensive

support needs and in conducting related research.

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TASHjournalVol33-34.pdf