Children with social skills deficits in verbal and nonverbal communication can face a variety of social challenges in many aspects of their lives. Given the increasing social needs of many students in today's classrooms, there is a need for increased social skills instruction and support in public schools. Inclusion opportunities in public schools…

Purpose: Following recent federal legislation and related policy changes, co-teaching evolved rapidly as a strategy to provide students with disabilities access to the same curriculum as students without disabilities while receiving instruction in the least restrictive environment. It is unclear if co-teaching is an effective instructional…

Evidence-based practices (EBPs) and instructional strategies are the methods through which content is delivered to students. Multiple internal and external factors influence the choice of instructional strategies and EBPs used by secondary special educators working with students with high-incidence disabilities (HID) in the self-contained setting.…

In the province of Manitoba, Canada, there is a gap between the rhetoric of inclusive education and its practical implementation. In the absence of inclusive educational policies and guidelines, deficit-based approaches such as categorical labels for students who are deemed to have a severe emotional and behavioural disorder, segregated…

Mandates such as No Child Left Behind (2001) and Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (2004) shifted the emphasis of instruction to include skills that access the general curriculum for students with moderate to severe intellectual disability. The purpose of this study was to describe changes in literacy instruction of teachers…

The purpose of this article is to provide information to general physical education teachers on how to conduct a self-contained adapted physical education (APE) class. The article begins with an example of a traditional model for a self-contained APE class, where all students work on the same goals using basically the same equipment and…

Educators today are challenged with the task of designing curricula and standards for students of varying abilities. While technology and innovation steadily improve classroom learning, teachers and administrators continue to struggle in developing the best methodologies and practices for students with disabilities. "Models for Effective…

There are two parts to socialization, informal and formal. In the United States, informal lessons of socialization come from a child's primary caretaker(s). Imagine a child growing up in this informal setting only to see the world from one perspective through that unique experience. Later the child goes into a formal school setting, to realize…

Preparing teachers to meet the needs of children with disabilities remains a complex challenge. General education teachers feel unprepared, and attrition and teacher shortages in special education remain high. Despite a trend toward inclusive education, many children continue to be educated in segregated settings. This study explores the potential…

Our nation's K-12 schools are faced with numerous critical challenges that affect student achievement and consequently impact society. Key challenges, such as elevating academic achievement, meeting state and No Child Left Behind (NCLB) standards, high dropout rates, at-risk students, parental involvement, and the recruitment and retention of…

Described in this article are outcomes, procedures, and suggestions for incorporating a dog into a classroom for students with emotional or behavioral disorders. First, the outcomes for the inclusion of a dog are presented and are reported from an empirical study conducted by the author. Next, details are provided on how teachers would initially…

Universal design for transition (UDT) refers to an approach to instructional planning, delivery, and assessment that bridges the gap between teaching academic and functional/transition goals. It builds upon the principals of universal design for learning (UDL) assuring that instructional practices are designed to meet the needs of diverse learners…

Meeting the needs of every student so that they can be successful in the real world and life is one of the primary goals of education. In this era of high stakes standardized testing and No Child Left Behind, it is expected that all students should achieve at the same academic levels. Yet, no two students are identical so it makes logical sense…

The scope of this article is to discuss the impact of underrepresentation of girls in separate, self-contained special education classes for preschool children in a large school district in the southeastern United States. On a regular basis, preschool girls identified with special needs are being placed in self-contained classes where there they…

What's the best way to find out what really works--and doesn't work--in education for students with disabilities? Listen to the experts: the students themselves. In this one-of-a-kind book, students with a wide range of disabilities give readers a rare inside look at their past and present school experiences, both in self-contained classrooms and…