The fourth edition of "A Principal's Guide to Special Education," is an indispensable resource for educators navigating the complexities of special education in the 21st century, it is crucial to continue evolving the guide to address the ever-changing landscape of educational needs, legal requirements, and best practices. This new…

Journalists have reported large-scale lead poisoning affecting children in cities such as Flint, Michigan. Unfortunately, children's exposure to lead is not isolated and occurs throughout the country in both urban and rural settings. The effects of lead exposure can cause children to develop disabilities, potentially requiring special education…

This article illustrates how two teachers, a general educator and a special educator, used an interactive process in planning an interdisciplinary science unit for an inclusive Kindergarten classroom and how they addressed Universal Design for Learning (UDL) components. This planning process included capitalizing on each teacher's knowledge and…

U.S. national data indicate that approximately 90% of rural students with a reading disability read at or below basic levels of reading proficiency. A growing body of research demonstrates that the ability to make inferences is essential for reading comprehension but particularly difficult for students with reading disabilities. Compounding…

Designing professional learning that meets the diverse needs of special education professionals is exciting, challenging, and critically important. The staff at the Children's Center for Communication/Beverly School for the Deaf in Massachusetts support deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing children from ages 3 to 22 with a range of communication and…

Even though paid advocates exist in the field of special education, teacher advocates are important because their work is based on passion and a belief that change is warranted due to their own needs and experiences with students, not merely on the basis that they are being paid to advocate. Education policy in recent years has become more…

Researchers in special education have been developing a knowledge base of evidence-based practices that improve the outcomes of students with disabilities. Unfortunately, filtering that knowledge into classrooms implemented by special education teachers has been a challenge. In "The Essentials of Special Education Research," Andrew M.…

Written expression is an area of the curriculum with which many students with disabilities (SWDs) struggle. One solution to mitigate the barriers associated with this topic is to use educational technology supports such as speech-to-text, text-to-speech, and predictive text. Even though there has been an increase in technology access in the…

This study addresses the problem surrounding low educator self-efficacy for data collection and behavior reduction strategies among elementary special educators. Educators working with students who present behavior challenges do not feel a strong sense of self-efficacy when it comes to data collection and behavior management. Due to this,…

Given the writing struggles of students with and at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) served in general and special education classrooms, it is imperative that teachers provide effective writing instruction. One way to learn effective writing skills is through writing instruction through practice-based professional development that…

Instagram is a free, online social media application that facilitates social networking. Since Instagram is image dependent, educators create visuals accompanied by captions of up to 2,200 characters. By adding specific hashtags to captions, educator posts are curated by the algorithm into a broad community of practice, colloquially known as…

In a recent study, Bettini, Gilmour, et al. (2020) used the theory of conservation of resources to explain how educators balance access to resources and the demands of their job. In teaching, these resources manifest in the form of administrative support; colleague support; access to materials, such as curricular resources; and increased teaching…

As more schools move to adopt inclusive practices, special educators are expected to provide services to students in new settings, collaborate with their general education colleagues, and navigate various difficult situations. These new settings, models, and collaborative efforts can be stressful for the special educator because of the conflicts…

All students deserve access to a rich and meaningful math curriculum. This book guides middle and high school teachers toward providing all learners -- including neurodiverse students -- with the support necessary to engage in rewarding math content. Students who receive special education services often experience a limited curriculum through…

The concrete-representational-abstract (CRA) sequence of instruction is an explicit methodology for teaching mathematics using multiple representations of concepts. Learning concepts through multiple representations fosters conceptual understanding and mathematical thinking. This article describes how a special education teacher used explicit CRA…