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.

Shop for university

Log into digital learning platforms

Subject catalogue

Get support

Support

Digital learning platforms

Resources by discipline

Get support

Support

Get inspired

Key series

Shop by category

Support

Support

Support

Subject catalogue

Shop for university

Log into digital learning platforms

Get support

Resources by discipline

Digital learning platforms

Get support

Shop by category

Get inspired

Key series

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

Shopping

Explore

Help & support

Pearson