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Special Education: Contemporary Perspectives for School Professionals, 5th edition

Published by Pearson (July 24, 2018) © 2018

  • Marilyn Friend The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Professor Emerita

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 Text features help readers:
  • Learn about the full spectrum of special education—from the history of the field, to what types of students they’ll teach, to collaborating, assessing, and instructing—with the most current, first-rate information available.

    • All chapters include a brief snippet of history, key characteristics of the students and prevalence data, an outline of the assessment process, service delivery options and research-based instructional practices, parent perspectives, and issues related to the disability area.  

  • Gain perspective from reading about the real children, real families, and real professionals living special education. To put a “face” on the field, each chapter includes authentic stories from children with disabilities, individuals who have disabilities, and from professionals who work in the field.

    • UPDATED: Each chapter begins with vignettes of  students with disabilities or gifts/talents at the elementary, middle school, and high school levels. Fourteen vignettes are updated to introduce new students, new dimensions of student characteristics, or changes in recommended practices. The students are referenced within the chapters, and readers complete end-of-chapter activities to apply what they have learned to each student’s case.

  • Benefit from a “just-right” blend of accurate, up-to-date, research-based information presented in a reader-friendly manner. While the textbook has a strong evidence base, material is presented in a way that is neither too simple, nor too complex, and is easily understood by teacher candidates. The language used and the chapter pattern facilitates quick understanding.

    • UPDATED: Streamline their studies. Based on user feedback, coverage in chapters for low incidence disabilities has been streamlined to increase the likelihood readers will complete the chapters and clarify what is critical to know at an introductory level. (See Chapters 11, 12, 13, and 14.)

  • Prepare for their evolving roles in education and the well being of students with disabilities through an emphasis on contemporary concepts and evidence-based practices.

    • Explore the essential topics of collaboration, diversity, and cultural competence in detail. Chapter 3 is dedicated to exploring diversity in special education, offering concrete approaches for reaching diverse students. Chapter 4 is dedicated entirely to exploring modern collaborative practices in schools (co-teaching, teaming, consultation). Collaboration concepts and diversity topics are then integrated throughout the book as parts of discussions about students’ educational needs and options.

    • Learn about technology and its use with students with disabilities and gifts/talents. Information about valuable websites and technology applications help readers extend their knowledge and learn about the types of technologies available that are critical to student learning.

    • UPDATED: Stay up-to-date with changes that significantly affect the field. To keep instructors and readers up-to-date on the latest topics and trends in special education, this edition includes:

      • Updated information related to the Fifth Edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the APA. (Updates have been made to every chapter referencing disabilities heavily influenced by the DSM-V, especially Chapters 6 and 7.)

      • Reflection of the shift in emphasis with the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) from response to intervention (RTI) to multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS). The former has not been eliminated as it still is policy in some states, but the latter has been added. (Changes have been made to all related mentions of education legislation throughout the book, but especially in Chapter 2.)

      • Expanded coverage of autism to meet the high level of interest in this topic. (See Chapter 10.)

Also available with MyLab Education

MyLab™ Education is an online homework, tutorial, and assessment program designed to work with the text to engage students and improve results. Within its structured environment, students see key concepts demonstrated through video clips, practice what they learn, test their understanding, and receive feedback to guide their learning and ensure they master key learning outcomes. The online resources in this MyLab include:

  • Video Examples. Throughout the eText, embedded videos provide illustrations of special education in action.  
  • Self-Check Assessments. Throughout the chapters, students will find self-check quizzes that help assess how well students have mastered chapter learning outcomes. The quizzes consist of self-grading multiple choice items that provide rationales, both for questions answered correctly and for questions answered incorrectly. 
  • Application Exercises. These scaffolded exercises, tied to learning outcomes, challenge learners to reflect on and to apply what they have learned in the text about working with students with disabilities as an educator.  
  • MyLab Education includes the Pearson eText version of the book. 
Key content changes help readers:

  • Better understand the introduction to this exceptionally complex field by learning from real students in real classrooms. Each chapter begins with vignettes of  students with disabilities or gifts/talents at the elementary, middle school, and high school levels. Fourteen vignettes are updated to introduce new students, new dimensions of student characteristics, or changes in recommended practices. The students are referenced within the chapters, and readers complete end-of-chapter activities to apply what they have learned to each student’s case.

  • Streamline their studies. Based on user feedback, coverage in chapters for low incidence disabilities has been streamlined to increase the likelihood readers will complete the chapters and to clarify what is critical to know at an introductory level. (See Chapters 11, 12, 13, and 14.)

  • Prepare for their evolving roles in education and the well being of students with disabilities through an emphasis on contemporary concepts and evidence-based practices.

    • Stay up-to-date with changes that significantly affect the field. To keep instructors and readers up-to-date on the latest topics and trends in special education, this edition includes:

      • Updated information related to the Fifth Edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the APA. (Updates have been made to every chapter referencing disabilities heavily influenced by the DSM-V, especially Chapters 6 and 7.)

      • Reflection of the shift in emphasis with the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) from response to intervention (RTI) to multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS). The former has not been eliminated as it still is policy in some states, but the latter has been added. (Changes have been made to all related mentions of education legislation throughout the book, but especially in Chapter 2.)

    • Expanded coverage of autism to meet the high level of interest in this topic. (See Chapter 10.)
Also available with MyLab Education

MyLab™ Education is an online homework, tutorial, and assessment program designed to work with the text to engage students and improve results. Within its structured environment, students see key concepts demonstrated through video clips, practice what they learn, test their understanding, and receive feedback to guide their learning and ensure they master key learning outcomes. The online resources in this MyLab include:

  • Video Examples. Throughout the eText, embedded videos provide illustrations of special education in action.  
  • Self-Check Assessments. Throughout the chapters, students will find self-check quizzes that help assess how well students have mastered chapter learning outcomes. The quizzes consist of self-grading multiple choice items that provide rationales, both for questions answered correctly and for questions answered incorrectly. 
  • Application Exercises. These scaffolded exercises, tied to learning outcomes, challenge learners to reflect on and to apply what they have learned in the text about working with students with disabilities as an educator.  
  • MyLab Education includes the Pearson eText version of the book. 

Brief TABLE OF CONTENTS

  1. Understanding Special Education
  2. The Personnel and Procedures of Special Education
  3. Multicultural Perspectives
  4. Collaboration in Special Education
  5. Students with Specific Learning Disabilities
  6. Students with Attention Deficit–Hyperactivity Disorder
  7. Students with Emotional and Behavior Disorders
  8. Students with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
  9. Students with Speech and Language Disorders
  10. Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder
  11. Students with Deafness and Hearing Loss
  12. Students with Visual Impairments
  13. Students with Orthopedic Impairments, Traumatic Brain Injury, and Other Health Impairments
  14. Students with Severe and Multiple Disabilities
  15. Students Who Are Gifted and Talented

Marilyn Friend, Ph.D., has spent her career as a general education teacher, special education teacher, researcher, professor, administrator, teacher educator, and staff developer. She is Professor Emerita of Education in the Department of Specialized Education Services at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and she is Past President of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), the largest international professional organization dedicated to improving the educational success of children and youth with disabilities and/or gifts and talents.

Dr. Friend has consulted with school professionals nationally and internationally (more than 3000 presentations and projects in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia) as they collaborate to educate their students, assisting them to create classroom partnerships through co-teaching, to form productive and efficient work teams, and to foster inclusive practices. She is the author or co-author of three widely used college textbooks on special education; a variety of co-teaching materials for teachers and administrators; more than 50 articles about collaboration, inclusive practices, and co-teaching; and a highly popular video series on co-teaching and other inclusive practices. Most recently, her work was recognized when she was named the 2016 recipient of the Teacher Education Division/Pearson Excellence in Special Education Teacher Education Award.

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