2:00-3:00 PM Eastern, Thursday, May 22. 2025

Self-Perceptions of Teachers of Students with Severe Intellectual Disabilities

Allison McKinney Slifer

School inclusion has undoubtedly helped countless numbers of students with disabilities access the space and company of appropriate peers in order to increase social and learning opportunities. Meeting the basic needs of children with severe intellectual disabilities can be challenging for practitioners in this model. In addition to teaching content, teachers are responsible for a multitude of responsibilities during the school day. Content delivery must be highly engaging, intensive, and repetitive. Evidence-based interventions for this population are minimal. Special educators report feeling insufficiently prepared to teach this population (Ruppar, et al., 2016). This lack of resources and pedagogical understanding directly impact effective teaching, inhibiting student access to appropriate learning. Interviews were conducted with teachers of students with severe ID to evaluate their job responsibilities and pedagogical preparedness as they relate to their teaching effectiveness.

By the end of the session, participants will be able to:

• Identify the perceived barriers to effective teaching that teachers of students with severe ID encounter.
• Illustrate the multitude of responsibilities outside of teaching that these teachers manage and how they directly impact the teaching and learning of students with severe ID.
• Connect teacher needs to possible professional opportunities in their own programs to improve teacher and student outcomes.
• Hear from self-advocates about their own experiences with effective instruction in K-12 inclusion settings.
• Critically evaluate their own teacher preparation for working with students with severe ID.