About our authors
Deborah Deutsch Smith has been the lead author on introduction to special education textbooks through eight editions of the first hardback iterations and continuing through three editions of the Web-based interactive version, New Horizons. She is a graduate of Pitzer College, University of Missouri, and the University of Washington; she received her credential preparation for general education at California State University, Northridge. She has been Professor of Special Education at the University of New Mexico, Vanderbilt University, and Claremont Graduate University. She has authored 20 textbooks and over 40 chapters and journal articles. She has directed many externally funded projects, including the Alliance Project, the Supply and Demand of Special Education Needs Assessment, and the IRIS Center, totaling over $40 million. She has won numerous awards and has made many international presentations.
Kimberly Garner Skow currently serves as the Deputy Director of the IRIS Center, funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs and housed at Vanderbilt University. In addition to coordinating and overseeing the production of IRIS Center resources and online tools about evidence-based instructional and behavioral practices, for over 20 years, Kim has served as one of IRIS’s lead instructional designers and resource developers, working with top researchers in the field to translate their content into practical information that educators can put to work in their own classrooms.
Naomi Chowdhuri Tyler is an Associate Professor of the Practice of Special Education and Director of the IRIS Center, housed at Peabody College of Education and Human Development at Vanderbilt University. Much of her work on this text is based on her 15-year history as an instructor for the Introduction to Exceptionality course, teaching both undergraduate and master’s students. Prior to working in higher education, Naomi spent 10 years as a special education teacher working with students from diverse racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds in both rural and urban schools in New Mexico and Hawaii. Her professional work focuses on improving the knowledge and skills of educators by closing the research-to-practice gap and preparing them to work effectively with all students, particularly struggling learners and students with disabilities.
