The Value of Community-Based Instruction for Students with Mental Retardation

Community-based instruction is “teaching a skill to a student in the actual environment as opposed to teaching the skill in a classroom with the expectation of transference, generalization, and application of knowledge when skill use is required” (Beirne-Smith, Ittenbach, & Patton, 2002). The five major areas of community-referenced curriculum are work, leisure and play, consumer, education and rehabilitation, and transportation.

Normalization is “the process of providing for, and to the maximum extent possible, treating an individual with special needs in the mainstream of society as if the individual has no special needs” (Beirne-Smith et al ., 2002). According to Beck, Broers, Hogue, Shipstead, and Knowlton (1994) normalization stresses environments and circumstances that are as culturally normal as possible to enhance behaviors that are culturally normal as possible. An example would be teaching the skills needed for daily living in the community. Practicing skills in the environment in which the skills are to be used gives the students with mental r

Community-based instruction with special education and general education students also has positive implications for the teachers of these two groups. They are able to develop a partnership to collaborate on the objective for community-based instruction in their curriculum. It gives the general education teacher a new perspective of the learning opportunities in the community rather than viewing it as just another field trip.

The curricular decisions for educators of students with severe mental retardation rest on the simple question “Will I need it when I’m 21?” Students who are eligible for special education have the right to be educated until they turn 21 years old. Therefore, teachers try to focus on teaching what will be most important for them to be independent when they are 21. Families and teachers must continuously look ahead to the future for each child (Beck et al ., 1994).

Both special and general education students have benefited from instruction provided in the community. Education in authentic environments is more meaningful for students with disabilities, for students at risk, for students who speak English as a second language, for gifted students, and for all other discrete groups. Before the inclusion movement these two groups were often engaged in community-referenced instruction separately. But now, new opportunities for all students to receive a challenging, rigorous, and individualized education in shared environments are possible. Instruction in the community also provides students’ opportunities to explore broader questions of social justice, politics, and civics. Interesting enough these are the aims of quality inclusive schooling (Kluth, 2000).

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