12/19/2025
Quick Question Educators:
When things get hard, do supports move into the classroom—or do students move out?
Introducing the Five Features & Continuum of Supports
Here’s a moment many of us know too well. A lesson feels busy. A student with a disability needs help. Someone says, “Let’s just pull them for a bit.”
It feels practical. It feels helpful. But over time, it quietly changes who belongs, who participates, and who learns together.
The Five Features & Continuum of Supports gives teams a clear way to think about this moment. Instead of asking “What does this student need?” it asks: “Do our supports preserve what peers without disabilities experience?”
The Five Features asks if disabled students:
Location – are where they would be if they weren’t disabled?
Accessibility – use the same space and materials with similar ease?
Participation – engage in the same learning processes, not parallel work?
Affirmation – are engaged in an environment that respects disability as part of human diversity?
Agency –have ownership over their learning?
Supports fall along a continuum—from universal and aligned to alternate and restrictive. The shift often happens quietly. This framework helps you see it—and change it.
What’s one support in your building that might feel helpful; but actually limits location, accessibility, participation, affirmation, and/or agency?
McSheehan, M., Apgar, J., Taub, D., Schuh, M., & MacLeod, K. (2025). Continuum of supports and features for inclusive education. Evolve & Effect, LLC.
https://courses.evolveandeffect.com/products/digital_downloads/Continuum-of-Supports
