Abstract
Despite research demonstrating the benefits of inclusive education, schools continue to struggle with effectively including students with extensive support needs (ESN) in general education settings. This challenge often stems from educational teams’ lack of knowledge, skills, and tools needed to implement evidence-based practices. This project aims to support the implementation of inclusive evidence-based practices (EBPs) for students with extensive support needs (ESN) by providing professional development (PD) to educational teams. The two-day, PD workshop is designed to equip educational teams (e.g., special education teachers, general education teachers, related service providers, and paraprofessionals) with the knowledge, skills, and tools necessary to effectively implement four evidence-based practices that promote inclusion: collaborative teaming, functional communication training (FCT), the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework, and progress monitoring with data-based decision-making (DBDM). These evidence-based practices were selected following a comprehensive review of the literature. This project also seeks to bridge the research-to-practice gap by empowering educational teams to implement these practices, thereby supporting the meaningful inclusion of students with ESN in general education settings. The authors recommend the development of a comprehensive series of professional development workshops focused on a broader range of evidence-based practices that promote inclusion, as the current project has been limited to only four such evidence-based practices.