Special Education

Daugherty has written an introductory text on special education and related law, specifically for educators, advocates, and attorneys. Each area of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is presented simply and clearly with adequate examples and case studies. Also addressed are the frequently asked questions regarding student records, hearing preparation and procedures, attorney fees, and liability.

Special educators are facing new challenges at the beginning of the 21st century as public education is being reformed by a vision focusing on measurable student outcomes. The future course of the field will be shaped by the policy and programmatic responses to several issues, including demographic changes in student populations, a lack of certified special education teachers, criticism in the public media for the rising costs of services, and debates about the preferred philosophy of service delivery for students with disabilities. Additional chapters discuss university-school collaboration, charter schools, disability studies, school violence, disproportionality in placement, male African-American teachers, and ethics.

Macht proposes a model for determining which students are eligible for supportive classroom services. His model resolves all eligibility issues by advocating direct assessment of all students' entering skills, rather than assessing intellectual potential as a means for determining a student's capabilities. It demands that general education assume responsibility for its diverse children; admonishes general education that it can no longer rely on special education to provide an available safety net.

A practical guide to identifying and working with young children with special needs in child care settings.

This book is written to help parents of special needs children understand and navigate the educational system. The book describes the various ways parents can be involved in planning and delivering a special education program for their child. Communication between school, medical practitioner, and parents is the key ingredient to success in these endeavors. This is the central theme of the book. Topics covered include: proper diagnosis of the disability; confirmation of perceived problems; parental coping strategies; assessment; educational program identification; IEP program planning processes; interfacing with school system organizations; finding support groups and information; and due process.

Although the term learning disabled (LD) is widely used, few agree on its definition or origins. This edited volume attempts to bridge that knowledge gap by bringing together experts from a variety of perspectives-biological, cognitive, educational, sociological, & interactive-to discuss the nature of LD, its origins, its diagnosis, & effective remediation. Framing the discussion are introductory & concluding chapters written by the editors.

Considerable research in the past 30 years has accumulated regarding the academic and social functioning of youngsters with disabilities. Only in the past decade has there been sufficient special education research published from which meta-analyses and syntheses can be conducted. In this volume, seven sets of authors grapple with synthesizing the knowledge base on an array of critical topics in the field of special education. Among others, specific chapters include: * a synthesis of what is known about effective instructional grouping practices for reading. * an examination of the differences between students classified as learning disabled and other low-achieving students on a range of academic performance measures. * a review of effective instruction for English-language learners. * an examination of the research on behavioral supports for low-incidence special education populations. * a synthesis on how technology supports literary development, across the full spectrum of disabilities categories. These papers provide up-to-date, informative summaries of current knowledge and a base from which further venture into the critical area of instructional intervention in special education can occur.

Comparative special education is a topic rarely covered in research. This is a ground-breaking assessment of special education services for students with mild disabilities in eight Latin American countries (Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, and Uruguay). Considering that people with mild disabilities comprise more than two-thirds of the disabled population in the world, this is an important area of study. The editors have identified two broad areas in which experiences could be recounted: the provision of services and the preparation of personnel. The focus is on the elementary education level, although early intervention and secondary education are also discussed.

Discussion about educational provision for children with learning difficulties has largely ignored the voices of those for whom that provision is intended. Experiences of Special Education argues that these 'insider perspectives' are of central importance for a fuller understanding of special educational needs policy. Bringing a unique focus to the subject of special needs education, Derrick Armstrong reassesses the history of special educational policy through the life-stories of those who have first-hand experience. These stories contest official policy discourses and inform an understanding of the competing political and professional debates in this area, allowing the reader to: * Investigate the social and historical contexts of special educational needs policy * Challenge traditional notions of policy research * Explore alternative policy discourses informed by the voices of the excluded. This thought-provoking book is based on detailed case-study analysis of the experiences of over thirty adults who attended special institutions/schools between 1994 and the present. It provides a fresh perspective on current discussions of special educational provisions for teachers, student teachers, policy makers and academics, involved in special education.