Centering Students with Learning Disabilities in Intervention Research: Implications for Educational Theory

The amount of time students with learning disabilities (LD) spend in general education classes has steadily increased over the past half century. This article addresses the need to investigate the impact of class-wide instructional approaches for students with and without LD in general education settings. We describe the process of developing and testing two class-wide, inclusive instructional programs that have yielded meaningful impacts on reading outcomes for students with and without disabilities and influenced educational theories. To advance educational psychology research, theory, and practice, we also present recommendations for conducting rigorous intervention research that can improve understanding of the best ways to support the reading development of students with LD in inclusive settings.