This volume guides readers toward understanding and meeting the needs of students with exceptionalities. This book maintains the critical information of the traditional introductory text: the history of special education, state and federal legislation, and the role of the courts. It elaborates the steps in the identification and assessment process as well as the development of an individualized educational program (IEP). It describes critical directions in special education, such as the least restrictive environment and the continuum of services. Through discussing movements such as the Regular Education Initiative, it traces how we arrived at the controversial sentiments of today. This text provides an objective overview of responses of experts who feel positively or negatively about directions toward inclusion.

Intended as a text for undergraduate and postgraduate courses (B.Ed./M.Ed.; B.A./M.A. Education) and diploma level courses in Education as well as for courses in Special Education, this compre-hensive and accessible book provides a sound base for understanding Special Children through an insightful and incisive discussion on Special Education. The text dwells on exceptional children, or children with special needs, who either suffer from various deficits or disabilities, or are gifted. Such children include the mentally retarded, the visually and hearing impaired, the emotionally disturbed, those with autism, cerebral palsy, and the deprived, as well as the gifted and the creative. This well-organized and pedagogically rich text should be extremely useful to students as well as professionals—special education teachers, those engaged in guidance and counselling, educational policy makers, and field workers, who have an abiding interest in the education of exceptional children and in special education. KEY FEATURES  Includes student-friendly features like illustrations, examples, tables, and research-based experimental findings.  Provides a complete picture of exceptionality, from the early years of human history to the present day.  Gives case histories to practically illustrate the subject.

There are good reasons why Exceptional Learners has been the introductory text trusted to prepare hundreds of thousands of special education and general education teachers. Its depth, lucidity, clarity, and coherence combine to make a text appropriate for students at all levels: graduate and undergraduate, from introductory to advanced. Continuing its reputation as the standard bearer in the field for accuracy, currency, and reliability, the tenth edition increases its coverage of Autism Spectrum Disorders, collaboration and co-teaching, research-proven classroom applications, and references to professional standards (CEC and INTASC), and includes information on the 2004 IDEA reauthorization and its implications.

This engaging text and media package, designed for students of special and general education, provides a rare glimpse into the lives of persons with exceptionalities, their families, and their teachers. Focusing on human exceptionalities across the life span, it employs a traditional organization beginning with four foundations chapters covering such important topics as the historical and legal contexts of special education, service delivery models, cultural and linguistic diversity, and a full chapter on parents and families. Ten categorical chapters, each of which share a common organizational format, follow these chapters. The Second Edition includes a new full chapter on ADHD, Persons with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, reflecting growing prevalence of this disability. Each categorical chapter also features sections on transition, cultural diversity, technology, instructional strategies, and family considerations. The Making Inclusion Work feature, prepared by in-service teachers, offers strategies for effective inclusion and appears in most of the categorical chapters. The FREE CD-Rom includes video cases that focus on the teaching of children with exceptionalities, paying special attention to inclusion and working with families. A margin notation in the text, Video Case Connections, directs you to specific videos that are keyed to relevant areas of text coverage.

With Making a Difference as its central theme, the Seventh Edition of this bestselling text recognizes that more than ever before, educators have the opportunity and ability to make a real difference in the educational experiences of their students with disabilities. Students and teachers have long relied on this comprehensive overview of the field of special education and the ways in which all teachers can help students with special needs to succeed in school and reach their full potential. The text is brimming with evidence-based practices, ready-to-use teaching tips, and up-to-the minute information about technology applications and contemporary inclusive practices--all tools that teachers can use with students of all abilities, from those who struggle to the most gifted. The text uses authentic stories from real people, current news events, and examples from contemporary popular culture to examine the positive effects of over 30 years of IDEA and many years of social activism on the lives of individuals with disabilities, their families, and the educators and professionals who work with them.