Telos of Special Education for Students with Severe Disabilities

We overview several key issues of the past, present, and near future of special education for students with severe disabilities. We contextualize the Telos of special education by briefly remarking on its historical roots in the United States, then delve into several issues we believe are critical for advancing toward better outcomes for students with severe disabilities, including the increasingly alarming shortage of special education teachers and short-sighted responses to address it. We also discuss issues related to curricular decisions, and the apparent tension between access to general education (i.e. academic) curriculum and teaching other life altering repertoires for students with severe disabilities. Attention also is given to the evidence-based practices movement in special education, including the apparent rigidity of intervention protocols and slow advances toward clarifying for whom and under what conditions an intervention is effective. Our intention is to generate discussion about and interest in areas where consensus among stakeholders appears feasible such that policy and law can be influenced in ways that advance toward realizing the Telos of special education for students with severe disabilities.