Should Students with Severe Intellectual Disabilities Be Based in Regular or in Special Education Classrooms in Home Schools?

Abstract

All students with severe intellectual disabilities should attend the schools they would attend if they were not disabled; that is, their home schools. In a home school, each student must have an individualized educational program (IEP) that requires individualized instruction in chronological age-appropriate regular education classrooms; individual instruction on school grounds, but not in regular education classrooms; and individualized instruction in a wide variety of integrated nonschool environments that will actually be used during nonschool days and hours. The resources necessary to develop, maintain, and enhance an array of social relationships with nondisabled peers and others over long periods of time and individually appropriate therapy services are also considered critical components of each IEP. The focus here is whether students with severe intellectual disabilities should be based in special education classrooms or in chronological age-appropriate regular education classrooms in home schools. Ten challenging issues related to these two options are addressed.