1 Introduction Creating Opportunities for Students with Intellectual and Multiple Disabilities is a revision of Meeting Challenging Needs (Saskatchewan Education, 1989). The original Meeting Challenging Needs represented state of the art research and applied instructional strategy for the education of students with intellectual and multiple disabilities. Meeting Challenging Needs proposed and promoted an educational process that: ensures highly individualized, child-centred program development documented through a personal program plan; purposefully invites and shares educational responsibility with the students family; provides education with age-appropriate student peers who are not disabled; provides carefully planned and systematic instruction; develops individualized educational goals that are functional for the life and life direction of the particular student involved; is future orientated; adopts teaching methods that are as natural and least intrusive as possible; utilizes age-appropriate materials and furnishings; provides instruction in the home and community as well as in the classroom and other school environments; supports a transdisciplinary problem-solving and decision-making model and the subsequent practice of integrated related service and instruction; and supports teachers as decision makers. Meeting Challenging Needs also served as a guide to many Saskatchewan educators who were developing inclusive practices for educating students with an intellectual or multiple disability. The evolution of special education throughout the 1990s tended to follow this inclusive direction. Published research in the 1990s, while acknowledging the difficulties of such a multi-dimensional process, overwhelmingly supported inclusive education. Inclusion, with its inherent richness provided by a wider curriculum and an increased number of environments, social networks, natural life experiences and problem-solving opportunities, has been cited as the most rational and effective means of preparing students for life as an adult (Calculator and Jorgenson, 1994; Fisher, Sax and Pumpian, 1999; Stainback and Stainback, 1996; Wilson, 1999). Creating Opportunities for Students with Intellectual or Multiple Disabilities 7 Purpose of the Revised Manual This revised manual is provided as a resource to assist with educating students with intensive educational needs. Although the document focuses on meeting the needs of students with intellectual and multiple disabilities, the processes and practices described are appropriate for students with a broad range of needs. For example, the school structures and successful practices outlined in Chapter 4 set the stage for effective education for all students. Chapter 5 provides information on building collaborative school teams. The process for developing personal program plans outlined in Chapter 6 is appropriate for all students who require individualized programs. In addition, many of the instructional strategies, transition planning and positive behaviour programming can be applied for students with a range of learning and behavioural needs. Throughout the last decade the scope of special education has significantly broadened. As a result there has been a much wider range of expectations placed on teachers. This document provides guidance with regard to some of the increased demands. Much of what was included in Meeting Challenging Needs remains relevant and has been retained. This revised manual includes: a philosophical statement and rationale; a description of the nature of intellectual disabilities and multiple disabilities; the relationship to the Core Curriculum and Common Essential Learnings; the effective practices as defined by research and experience; and strategies for program development and organization for instruction. Although the entire process of effectively educating students with an intellectual or multiple disability is comprehensive and multidimensional, certain components tend to require greater attention and a broader knowledge base. Accordingly, these components have been developed in added depth within this document. These components include: collaboration and team building, including family involvement and working with a paraprofessional; assessment and the personal program plan; instruction; developing social skills and social networks; sexuality; 8 Creating Opportunities for Students with Intellectual or Multiple Disabilities the issue of abuse; developing communication skills; behaviour management and the concept of positive programming; and transition. This revised manual has been designed to support the collaborative educational team in an inclusive environment. Please note, however, that the processes suggested can be used in a range of educational settings. It is acknowledged that the nature of educational planning is highly individual, involves family decision making and may require a range of instructional environments. Creating Opportunities for Students with Intellectual or Multiple Disabilities 9 2 Philosophy The Chapter at a Glance Inclusive Education What is an Inclusive Environment? Rationale: The Benefits of Inclusive Education Common Adult Outcomes Common Human Needs Language Development and Communicative Competence Social and Moral Development Functional Academic Development Benefit to Nondisabled Peers Avoiding the Effects of Exclusion Benefits to Teachers Benefits to Society Creating Opportunities for Students with Intellectual or Multiple Disabilities 11 Inclusive Education Basic to the education of students with intellectual disabilities or multiple disabilities is that this education should take place within an inclusive environment. What is an Inclusive Environment? Equitable Inclusion is about membership and belonging to a community. It is to be an integral part of; to be embraced. Inclusion implies the existence of a unified education system encompassing all members equitably. It is a value system that supports membership and belonging in regular education settings for all students. It acknowledges an often extreme variance of individual abilities, interests and needs within the general student body. It also recognizes the need to support this diversity and that this support is acceptable. The guiding principles for supports to inclusion include: education of all students in age-appropriate regular education classrooms in neighbourhood schools; comprehensive assessment; individualized goal setting (inclusion is an individual student focus pursuit); collaborative team work; the family as integral members of the collaborative team; creation of supportive and caring educational environments; systematic arrangement of general educational settings, personal support and instructional adaptations; embedded (or blended) teaching of basic life skills (e.g., personal management, motor skills, social skills and communication skills) within general education activities; individualized instruction that is carefully planned to attend to the specific needs of the individual student, but does not interfere with the feeling of membership and belonging in the classroom; use of age-appropriate materials and instructional settings; trained and committed personnel; assistive technology; carefully planned transition; and accountability through continual evaluation and adjustment as necessary (Hilton and Ringlaben, 1998). 12 Creating Opportunities for Students with Intellectual or Multiple Disabilities Inclusion exceeds the meagre idea of physical placement and assimilates the basic values of participation, friendship and interaction. Inclusion involves the basic practices of good teaching and good teaching, ultimately, is an accepting relationship between two people (Rainforth and York-Barr, 1997; York-Barr, Kronberg and Doyle, 1996). A Focus on The realization that support for students with intellectual or multiple Ability disabilities is both necessary and acceptable may require a shift in focus. The focus must move from a deficit orientation to an ability orientation; from a you cant do it so you cant be part of it to you cant do it now so I must find a way to help you be a part of it (Downing, 1996, p. 9). All students are perceived as capable of learning and achieving. All students are viewed as having strengths and weaknesses and will excel in some skills but not in others. Educating a student with an intellectual disability or multiple disability, therefore, is not a matter of developing deficit areas to a point of an inflexible normal standard. Ample opportunities to develop areas of strength should also be provided (Downing, 1996). Meeting the For teachers to effectively plan and support students with an needs of teachers intellectual or multiple disability, they require planning time, consultative services and professional training regarding educational diversity and multi-level learning. Teachers also require administrative support, support from other teachers and parental support. Successful experiences are more apt to generate positive attitudes of acceptance. Rationale: The Benefits of Inclusive Education The inclusive process is not without its innate challenges and problems. Effective inclusion requires a carefully planned and collaborative professional commitment. Properly orchestrated, however, its benefits are impressive. Current literature and research abounds with opinion and efficacy data that support the process. On the other hand, data that supports the benefits of a segregated approach is limited