Despite efforts over the past several decades to improve the delivery of transition services for youth with disabilities, outcomes continue to be unacceptably dismal for most youth, including high rates of unemployment, residential independence, and financial dependence, concurrent with low rates of enrollment in college or other postsecondary…

Postschool outcomes for students with disabilities have been dismal for quite some time now. Although recent data from the National Longitudinal Transition Study 2 indicate some improvement, students with severe intellectual disabilities continue to transition into segregated employment at unacceptable rates in spite of a multitude of studies,…

This article presents a critical analysis of the principle of the least restrictive environment (LRE). The article begins with a review of the origins of LRE in professional writings and law and moves next to a discussion of how LRE has been operationalized in terms of a continuum of residential, educational, and vocational services. Building on…

This article presents a critical review of Steve Taylor's Caught in the Continuum. Steve Taylor describes the flawed thinking associated with the "least restrictive environment" (LRE) principle and the related continuum model of human services that linked severity of disability with segregation, and required improvements in skills as a…