Essential issues are concepts/practices that must be considered when planning an IEP and instructional day for a student who has a significant disability.  A description of each essential issue follows.

·          Ability to Contribute:  Schools have a responsibility to give each student the chance to make his/her contribution.  Without opening the door for ALL students to belong, we lose untold opportunities to gain from the presence of others, for it is only through their presence that we can begin to see what individuals have to contribute to a community.

·           Age-appropriateness:  Age-appropriateness means that the skills taught; activities, routines, and materials selected; and the language used must reflect the chronological age of the student.  These practices ensure that a student’s dignity is promoted and maintained, that responses from peers and society are positive, that student preferences are clear and respected, and that skill development and active participation in typical activities are enhanced.

·          Assistive Technology:  Assistive technology devices are any items, pieces of equipment, or product systems that are used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of a child with a disability.  Students with significant disabilities should have access to technology that will assist them in developing and participating in meaningful academics, social relationships, and employment activities. Both low and high technology approaches can be combined to allow students to communicate with others and to exert varied levels of control over their environments.

·          Friendships:  Friendships are relationships between two or more individuals that are based on mutual respect, interest, and affection for each other that lasts over time.  In order for friendships to develop, all individuals, regardless of disability level, should enjoy ongoing opportunities for interaction with a variety of people (across a variety of ages) and in a variety of settings (school, community, and work).  Students with significant disabilities are seldom provided opportunities to befriend age-appropriate peers, resulting in a ‘circle of friends’ with an unnatural proportion of adults.

·          Future-oriented:  Future-oriented means keeping “an eye on the future.”  When selecting activities and skills for instruction, selection should be based on current needs and future goals that will ultimately result in desired adult outcomes.  Information for making these decisions should come from student and family preference assessments and input of the instructional team.

·          Generalization:  Generalization refers to the ability to transfer learned skills to other settings and to demonstrate those skills with other people, materials, environments, and similar tasks.  In order to support generalization, systematic instruction should occur in a variety of settings, including classrooms, school campuses, and for older students, community and vocational sites.

·          Inclusion:  Inclusion refers to chronologically age-appropriate membership of students with disabilities in a variety of settings, including neighborhood schools, general education classrooms, community, and work settings, providing the necessary accommodations and supports to allow individuals to participate successfully in those settings. 

·          Partial Participation:  The principle of partial participation is an affirmation that students with significant disabilities can be taught to participate in activities with their peers across a wide variety of environments.  This principle calls for the provision of individualized instruction, adaptations, and supports to facilitate a student’s meaningful participation in activities, regardless of the level or complexity of the student’s disability.

·          Positive Behavioral Support:  Positive behavioral support (PBS) is a research based approach that emphasizes identifying and implementing strategies for supporting desired student behaviors, rather than relying on putative measure.  It incorporates the use of positive treatment approaches that are socially acceptable and foster student dignity.  The promotion of “quality of life” and inclusive opportunities underlies positive behavioral support systems.  Key features include environmental rearrangements, communication support, curricular modifications, reinforcement of appropriate behaviors and teaching replacement behaviors.

·          Self-determination:  Self-determination is the ability to make choices or express preferences and then have those selections honored.  It is the ability to identify a personal vision and to set and achieve goals.  Self-determination reflects personal traits and skills, including self-esteem, assertiveness, self-advocacy, control, choice-making, and creativity.

·          Student Dignity:  Student dignity refers to treating individuals with respect in accordance with their chronological age, individual differences, and preferences.  Identifying the preferences of students with significant disabilities is an essential component of developing and implementing effective instructional strategies.  Often, students with the most significant disabilities have difficulty expressing preferences and the instructional team must conduct systematic assessments in order to continuously identify, update, and build a menu of students’ preferences.  Preferences should be identified in the following areas:  activities, settings, materials, and partnerships.

·          Student Preferences:  Student preferences refers to students’ abilities to communicate (verbally or nonverbally) their likes and dislikes in order to promote a meaningful quality of life.  These preferences should be incorporated into the design and implementation of instruction for the student.