Promoting Social Connections Across Environments for Students With Severe Disabilities

Building and maintaining positive social relationships is important to every young adult’s quality of life. However, supporting the social inclusion of middle and high school students with severe disabilities can be extremely challenging. Moreover, promoting social inclusion in one classroom may have little impact on social outcomes in other classrooms, in the hallway, in the lunchroom, or out in the community. This article provides a practical framework for how professionals and peers can partner to support the social inclusion of students with severe disabilities across environments. In addition, easily accessible descriptions of research-based assessment and intervention strategies along with references to other tools and practitioners’ guides are included