Even small, incremental improvements in independent reading and writing skills can have drastic effects on quality of life. Students who acquire even elementary language and literacy skills can access many more texts than a nonreader. Alone, functional literacy programs which focus on rote visual learning of words do not provide the skills needed to read text with understanding and write independently. Recent research has found comprehensive literacy programs focusing on word level reading and language comprehension skills are most effect for students with intellectual disabilities (ID). In this training we will explore this recent research, what to include in a comprehensive approach to language literacy instruction and practical activities to implement tomorrow.