To expect an "easy life" as a professor of special education is to expect what never was nor never will be. But when the playing field is uneven for minorities, or even worse, when it is not even recognized that the playing field is uneven, there is cause for action. For example, Bonner (2004) stated that minority faculty face tremendous…

In this paper we argue that special educators have a critical role to play in supporting children from diverse communities at times of vulnerability, which are created by the distance between the demands of the school context and the child's cultural context, and that increase the likelihood for school failure and for referral for or placement in…

The purpose of this presentation is to identify the challenges faced by special educators throughout North America in meeting the needs of Mexican-American students. Recommendations will also be provided for collaborating with families from Mexico along the following dimensions: population and demographic factors, urbanization and the decline of…

"Response-to-Intervention" (RTI) refers to a framework for providing support to struggling learners in the general education setting. To date, RTI models have focused primarily on reading intervention and typically utilize a three-tier approach. RTI models are designed to provide high-quality instruction using evidence-based best…

The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) recognizes the impact that Response to Intervention (RTI) can have on the education of all children, roles of special educators, as well as on the special education system. Special educators play an integral role and have a strong and clear identity in the RTI process. As such, this brief presents CEC's…

School-level administrative support has been identified as an essential component of programs that promote research to practice. In this discussion, I address the critical role that school leaders play in supporting special educators and ensuring effective instruction for students with learning disabilities. Emphasis is placed on the need for…

Postmodernism, by whatever label, is intellectually bankrupt. It cannot be reconciled with a scientific view. If taken seriously, it leads to catastrophic consequences for any field of study, including special education. It also leads to malpractice in special education. Whole language instruction, radical multicultural education, and facilitated…

A "scientist-practitioner" approach to special education teacher training is described in which prospective teachers learn to be self-correcting and to become informed and critical consumers of research. (CL)

The article notes the tendency of both psychologists and educators to engage in "psychobabble," or jargon that hinders communication, and argues that professionals should seek a dialog using the language of the consumer, describing behavior rather than labeling, and using concise, clear language. (CL)

Describes symptoms, causes, prevention, and treatment of occupational stress. Specifically discusses burnout as it affects special educators. (SK)

The purpose of this paper is to provide a summary of research on states' structures and models for the licensure of traditionally prepared special education teachers and research on states' special education requirements for the licensure of general education teachers. This document is intended to assist future scholars interested in these topics…

Special education teachers working in intermediate grades and in middle school grades face many challenges as they teach both developmental reading skills and subject matter material. Not only must they deal with the increased vocabulary and domain demands of teaching informational text, they must also handle the needs of students who have not yet…

This article is based on the text of the Gulliford Lecture given by Professor Harry Daniels at the University of Birmingham in October 2005. Professor Daniels takes, as his starting point, Ron Gulliford's assertion that teachers need to learn from their experience of trying to teach children who are "hard to teach." He goes on to look at the…

Discusses four irrational beliefs that undergird the concept that a disability must handicap rather than serve as an impetus for growth and creativity. Cautions teachers not to assume that a disability translates into an inability or incapacity to learn and to separate performance from self-worth. (NEC)

John Hull lost his sight more than 20 years ago. He has written extensively about the nature of blindness. In the course of this, he has developed a philosophy of disability or impairment which emphasises the many different worlds of human experience. This leads him to the thought that the teacher of special children, many of whom will be living…