The Law and Special Education, 6th edition

Published by Pearson (August 24, 2025) © 2026
Mitchell L. Yell

Title overview

For special education law courses.

A practitioner-oriented exploration of laws and related services

Special education has become highly litigated, and it’s important that special education teachers, administrators and staff know the requirements of these laws. Straightforward and accessible, The Law and Special Education helps readers understand their legal obligations in providing a free, appropriate public education for disabled students. It walks through the history and current developments of special education law, along with the resources needed to develop legally sound and educationally appropriate special education programs.

The 6th Edition has been reorganized to structure the content based on the historic sequence in the passing of special education laws. Updated and revised content throughout includes new cases from the federal courts, summaries of special education rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court, new policy letters and much more.

Hallmark features of this title

  • Current legal coverage helps readers keep pace with developments in special education. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Section 50 of the Rehabilitation Act, The Elementary and Secondary Education Act, The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, and The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act are examined.
  • An accessible, practitioner-oriented writing style presents legal concepts in an interesting way that is easy for students to understand.
  • Lessons from Litigation and Legislation sections extrapolate important principles for administrators and educators from the law and litigation.
  • Decision-making flowcharts guide readers in developing legally sound and educationally appropriate special education programming.

New and updated features of this title

  • Content is reorganized and restructured based on the historic sequence in the passing of special education laws. The order of chapters has been changed for a more logical, seamless flow to promote understanding.
  • Several new cases from the federal courts are discussed throughout. Significantly important to special educators, these cases clarify how to ensure that legally correct programs for students with disabilities are developed.  
  • Several new policy letters from the Office for Civil Rights, the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, and the Office of Special Education Programs in the U.S. Department of Education are examined. These policy letters represent expert opinion of how the special education laws should be followed, and can be cited in due process hearings and court cases. 
  • Summaries of special education rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court (Chapter 1): Includes brief summaries of all Supreme Court cases that ruled on the IDEA. Coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2024 ruling in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo is also included in this chapter.
  • Discussion of English learners and students with disabilities (Chapter 13): School districts are required by law to take affirmative measures to ensure that students who are EL can meaningfully participate in the school district’s educational services and programs, which may include special education programs. 
  • Coverage of threat assessments and students with disabilities (Chapter 13): When threat assessments involve students with disabilities protected by the IDEA and Section 504, important issues are raised that must be addressed. 

Key features

Features of Pearson+ eTextbook for the 6th Edition

  • Video Examples in many chapters offer videos that share historic events related to, or discussions pertinent to, the execution and application of special education laws.
  • Interactive Glossary of Key Terms and Acronyms: All first-time uses of key terms and acronyms in the textbook are boldfaced and signify instant access to glossary terms and their definitions, or the acronyms of special education laws or terms essential for administrators and special educators.  
  • IRIS Center Modules: The IRIS Center provides interactive online learning modules that describe strategies shown to be effective with students with disabilities. Marginal notes in various chapters of this text link to several IRIS Center Modules to illustrate practical applications of special education law. 
  • LMS-Compatible Assessment Bank includes all assessment types (quizzes, application exercises, and chapter tests) for Blackboard, Canvas, D2L, and Moodle. These packaged files give instructors maximum flexibility in importing, assigning, and grading.
    • Chapter Review Quizzes are written by the author and aligned to Learning Objectives, with higher-order, multiple-choice questions. These measure students’ understanding, provide the correct answer and distractors, and explain why each response is correct or incorrect. 
    • Application Exercises provide links to actual cases that apply special education laws. A series of questions leads students to carefully examine the case and provide opportunities to apply what they have learned; a model response is provided. 
    • Chapter Tests: Suggested test items are provided for each chapter and include questions in multiple-choice and short-answer/essay formats. 

Table of contents

  • 1. Introduction to the American Legal System  
  • Addendum 1: Legal Research for the Educator 
  • Addendum 2: Conducting In-Depth Legal Research 
  • 2. The History of the Law and Children with Disabilities
  • 3. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 
  • 4. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act  
  • 5. Free Appropriate Public Education 
  • 6. Identification, Assessment, and Evaluation  
  • 7. The Individualized Education Program  
  • 8. Placing Students in the Least Restrictive Environment
  • 9. Procedural Safeguards 
  • 10. Disciplining Students with Disabilities 
  • 11. The Americans with Disabilities Act
  • 12. The Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 
  • 13. Additional Issues in the Law
  • Appendices:
  • A. Major Changes of IDEA 2004  
  • B. Relevant Sections of the U.S. Constitution

Glossary of Key Terms and Acronyms 

Case Index 

Author Index 

Subject Index 

Author bios

About our author

Mitchell Yell, Ph.D. is the Fred and Francis Palmetto Chair in Teacher Education and Professor in Special Education in the College of Education at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. For the past 30 years, Dr. Yell has conducted extensive research and presented numerous workshops on special education law, developing individualized education programs (IEPs), formulating legally correct special education policies, and adopting best practices in educating students with disabilities. His primary goal has been to extrapolate principles from legislation and litigation; communicate them to parents, teachers, and administrators in clear, “nonlegalese” language; and assist teachers and school districts in the use of legally sound research-based policies and practices. 

Prior to coming to the University of South Carolina, Dr. Yell was a special education teacher in Minnesota for 16 years. During this time, he taught in elementary, middle, and secondary school classrooms and in special schools for students with learning disabilities, emotional and behavioral disorders, and autism. 

He has published 144 articles and 40 book chapters, and has conducted numerous workshops on special education law and classroom management. He is the author of 3 textbooks published by Pearson: The Law and Special Education; Evidence-Based Practices for Educating Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders; and No Child Left Behind: A Guide for Professionals. 

Loading...Loading...Loading...