CREATING SOCIALLY SUPPORTIVE ENVIRONMENTS FOR FULLY INCLUDED STUDENTSWHO EXPERIENCE MULTIPLE DISABILITIES

This investigation analyzed the effectiveness of an intervention desig ned to facilitate the social inclusion of three students who experienc ed significant physical and intellectual challenges and, for two stude nts, dual sensory impairments. The children were full-time members of two first-grade and one four th-grade classrooms. The individualized i ntervention package included three major components: (a) provision of ongoing information to classmates about the communication system, adap tive equipment, and educational activities of the students with disabi lities in the context of naturally occurring interactions between the students and their classmates or during ''club'' meetings; (bi identif ication and utilization of various media that could serve as the basis for interactive exchanges between the focus students and others; and (ci ongoing facilitation by educational staff of social exchanges betw een students and their classmates through the establishment of a ''bud dy'' system, arrangement of interactive activities across the day, and prompting and interpreting communicative exchanges when necessary, Al l aspects of intervention were implemented by educational staff includ ing general education and inclusion support teachers, paraprofessional s, and related service personnel. An analysis of the interactive patte rns between the focus students and others indicated that when the inte rvention was fully implemented, there Ir,ere increases in (ai reciproc al interactions with peers, (b) focus student-initiated interactions, and (c) focus student-initiated interactions that were comments (with no increase in requests or protests). In addition, there were decrease s in assistive interactions with paraprofessionals. The social validit y of changes in interactive patterns between the focus students and th eir classmates was established through interviews with the students' f riends and their teachers.