Literacy plays an especially important role in aided augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) because spelling and writing support precise communication. Fortunately, the importance of literacy is reflected in federal legislation that mandates that all students, regardless of ability, receive comprehensive literacy instruction. Unfortunately, little is known about the literacy learning opportunities provided to students with intellectual and developmental disabilities and complex communication needs (IDD/CCN). What is known results from descriptive, ethnographic investigations. These data provide a rich, contextualized understanding of learning for a restricted sample of students, but do little to quantify the literacy learning opportunities of students with IDD/CCN or characterize specific emergent literacy learning opportunities. The aim of the current study was to quantify and examine the emergent literacy learning opportunities provided to students with IDD/CCN in a sample of special education classes in the United States. A concurrent embedded mixed methods design was used. The primary study asked teachers of students IDD/CCN (n = 54) to quantify the emergent literacy learning opportunities they provide in their classrooms. The secondary study was a qualitative case-study that richly describes emergent literacy learning opportunities in the natural context of individual classrooms (n = 5). Survey results show that instruction is not comprehensive, but rather splintered, infrequent, and highly variable. The results suggest that students with IDD/CCN receive infrequent emergent literacy learning opportunities. Furthermore, the opportunities they do receive do little to support students with them in becoming conventional readers and writers. Encouragingly, both data sets suggest that special education teachers are providing more literacy instruction than the historical data suggested. However, the qualitative data show how vestiges of traditional special education, with its focus on one-on-one instruction and mastery, have largely prevented teachers' efforts from translating into increased learning opportunities for students. Therefore, there is an immediate and urgent need to support teachers in maximizing the time they spend teaching all students while attending to all aspects of comprehensive literacy instruction each day. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]