E-books: Special Education

From adaptive/maladaptive behavioral characteristics to varied instructional formats and components, this state-aligned guide covers all 31 competencies/skills within the two major domains. Measure your knowledge and prepare for the real exam by taking the 150-question practice test, which includes full answer rationales as well as question rigor and skill reference. Get the guide that get results. Be prepared to pass your special education certification exam the first time.

This volume will examine the history of special education by categorical areas (e.g., Learning Disabilities, Mental Retardation, and Autistic Spectrum Disorders). Each categorical area chapter will include an examination of: changing definitions, early pioneers in the field, major contributors and their theoretical ideas, changing educational and treatment practices, working with families, the use of technology, assessment practices and legislative acts specific to that categorical area. The volume will also include chapters on the changing philosophy related to educating students with exceptionalities as well as a detailed history of legal and legislation content concerned with special education. The volume will provide readers with a unique perspective on why special education is what it is today.

The goal of this second edition is to provide a comprehensive overview of the philosophical, ethical, methodological, and analytical fundamentals of social science and educational research, as well as specify aspects of special education research that distinguish it from scientific inquiry in other fields of education and human services. Foremost among these distinctions are the research beneficiaries: children with disabilities, their parents, and special educators; the availability of federal funds for research and demonstration projects that seek to improve educational outcomes for children with disabilities; and the historical, philosophical, and legislative bases for the profession of special education. This new edition represents a revision of over 40 percent of the text, with all chapters thoroughly updated with new developments in research topics, designs, and methods that have emerged over the past decade in the field of special education. Also presented is considerable text related to evidence-based practice and quality indicators for special education research in a design-specific context. In offering a broad-based examination of the role of scientific inquiry in contemporary special education, this new edition serves as a text and resource guide for graduate-level students, practitioners, and teachers in the fields of special education, disability studies, early intervention, school psychology, and child and family services. Further, the book aims to not only orient the student or practitioner to the fundamentals of research design, but also introduce him or her to the professional literature in this dynamic field.

In today's schools the number of students who receive additional resources to access the curriculum is growing rapidly, and the ongoing expansion of special education is among the most significant worldwide educational developments of the past century. Yet even among developed democracies the range of access varies hugely, from one student in twenty to one student in three. In contemporary conflicts about educational standards and accountability, special education plays a key role as it draws the boundaries between exclusion and inclusion.Comparing Special Education unites in-depth comparative and historical studies with analyses of global trends, with a particular focus on special and inclusive education in the United States, England, France, and Germany. The authors examine the causes and consequences of various institutional and organizational developments, illustrate differences in forms of educational governance and social policy priorities, and highlight the evolution of social logics from segregation of students with special educational needs to their inclusion in local schools.

Reform in education has focused mainly on development of new programs and procedures to increase the achievement of the student in the classroom. Teacher evaluations are now based on how students perform in their classrooms on yearly standardized tests. The advent of integrating students with special needs into the regular classroom has brought both benefits and concerns for average and above average students. Special education in the United States has evolved from institutional and segregated environments to inclusion in the regular education classrooms. We examine how the practice has affected all students and question whether this change has created equal opportunity for those students without special education needs. This book researches and reports on issues of current practice: e.g., teacher preparation, placement of students with special needs, implications for the average and above in the classroom and the financial costs driving placement decisions in the education system. We examine the lowering of standards so all can pass tests, report on loss of engagement of students by middle school, and mourn the squandering of creativity to appease a mandate. Sir Ken Robinson relates that, "Education is meant to take us into a future we cannot even grasp." Yet we continue on a road that lowers our educational ranking internationally. We recommend to provide services for all students, and take the system from its current state to one that provides a "Free and appropriate education for all "