Teaching Children and Adolescents With Special Needs - Softcover

This fourth edition is based on a personal philosophy that has evolved from the literature in special and general education and from our professional experiences. Research on teacher effectiveness in both special and general education provides many exemplary teaching practices that we include in this text. Our professional experiences include teaching both elementary and secondary students in general and special education settings, supervising interns, teaching and mentoring pre-service and in-service teachers, and participating as learners in our own professional development activities involving effective teaching practices.

The basic philosophy that keeps us actively involved in the profession after more than 30 years is that, as teachers, we can "make a difference" in the lives of our students. When the pre-service and in-service teachers we work with express concern about not affecting the lives of each of their students to the degree they wish, we remind them of the following story of a young boy walking along the beach. To paraphrase:

That morning the tide had brought in thousands of starfish and scattered them on the hot, dry, sandy beach. A young boy was walking along the beach, tossing starfish back into the cool, blue water. As he was doing this, a man approached him. The man looked at what the young boy was doing and said, "Why are you doing that? Don't you see it's impossible? Look at the thousands of starfish. You can't possibly make a difference." The young boy slowly looked up at the man, picked up another starfish, and threw it back into the water, saying, "It makes a difference to this one."

We hope you continue to find ideas and suggestions in this fourth edition to make a difference in your students' lives. You have the power to make a difference, for you have chosen to teach.

FEATURES OF THE TEXT

We continue to use an informal, personal tone of writing. Additionally, we structure and organize the text to include recommendations of teacher effectiveness research, including the following effective teaching practices:

• Advance Organizers and Post Organizers. We begin each chapter with an advance organizer by providing an outline that highlights the key topics within the chapter. We close each chapter with discussion questions that challenge you to reflect on your professional practice and to think critically about the chapter content.
• Reviewing/Checking for Understanding/ Monitoring Progress. Throughout the chapters, we include several checkpoints so that you can monitor your progress as you read. These checkpoints take the form of "Important Points" sections found in the text of each chapter.
• Active Involvement. We provide opportunities for you to become actively involved by placing activities in each of the chapters. They are interspersed throughout each chapter to give you ample practice. Remember the Chinese proverb: "I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand."
• Visual Aids. We include tables, figures, diagrams, photographs, and illustrations throughout the text. We hope you use them to clarify concepts and to increase your interest.

NOTEWORTHY CHANGES

As a result of feedback from reviewers, colleagues, and our students, along with input from users of the third edition, we have made important changes in this edition. As our field is constantly evolving, we have updated information in all of the chapters, described new legislation and national education policies, and reorganized the chapters in the text to provide additional clarity We have included much new information such as Internet addresses; ample examples that apply to inclusive settings; new ideas for communication and collaboration among general and special education professionals, paraprofessionals, and families; ways to actively involve and include students; more examples of how students construct their own knowledge by interacting with others; and additional suggestions for movement and transition from teacher-directed to student-directed classroom activities.

Based on our philosophy that special educators must become more adept at modifying materials, adapting instruction, and communicating with general educators as our students move into inclusive classes, we have expanded the information in Chapter 5, "Instructional Materials," and Chapter 10, "Communication and Collaborative Consultation."

Based on a literature review of effective practices for teaching students with mild disabilities, we have included information on functional behavior assessment, scaffolding instruction, adapting lesson plans, and unit planning. We have also included new research on curriculum-based measurement. We believe that the fourth edition is a text that contains practical, research-based teaching strategies; relates to everyday occurrences in the schools; and describes motivating, experience-based activities. We hope that, like the boy and the starfish, our ideas and suggestions make a difference to you and your students.