| Abstract: In the United States, every student has the right to a free and appropriate education in the least restrictive environment possible. The least restrictive environment, inclusion into the general education setting, allows for students to learn the academic and social repertoires necessary for educational success in the presence of general education peers. However, for students with disabilities, there are many obstacles that prevent them from fully accessing the general education curriculum. The CABAS Accelerated Independent Learner Model (AIL) has identified verbal developmental cups/capabilities and academic literacy skills that increase the likelihood of academic and social success for students with disabilities in an inclusive setting. Through implementing protocols to induce the relevant cusps, capabilities, and skills, the AIL model has created procedures through which students are taught the necessary skills to be successfully included into the general education setting. The purpose of the present discussion is to explain the cusps/capabilities necessary for inclusion, the ways in which students are instructed in order to increase their likelihood of success, and the criterion utilized to allow students access to the general education setting. |