Identifying Special Needs provides expert guidance to recognising and categorising the specific characteristics of a range of special needs. Drawing on her experience as an educational psychologist and special education teacher, Glynis Hannell provides easy-to-use checklists to help teachers quickly and accurately gather information to determine whether individual students need specialised attention and services, and guidelines on how to provide this help. This unique book offers diagnostic criteria and supporting notes for a wide range of special educational needs, including autism spectrum disorders, communication disorders, social and emotional issues, cognitive disabilities and specific learning disorders. Relevant to both primary and secondary school students, all checklists can be photocopied for ease of use and downloaded from the companion website. This fully revised third edition includes additional information on guiding conversations with parents, children and colleagues, as well as advice to parents on how to select outside professionals. The practical checklists and resources help teachers and educational professionals to: Identify and understand special needs screen any student for possible special needs; understand the causes and characteristics of various types of special needs; link classroom observations to diagnostic criteria used by specialists. Profile individual differences create accurate and comprehensive profiles for individual students, including positive characteristics; record each student’s unique pattern of development within a special needs ‘label’. Work together with colleagues and parents quickly record important information and avoid writing time-consuming reports; request and prepare for further assessment and intervention; coordinate information from several teachers or professionals; involve parents in observing and discussing their child’s pattern of strengths and challenges; plan effective, inclusive intervention in the classroom setting; follow up with recommended further reading, websites and professional references. Based on internationally accepted diagnostic criteria, and relevant for educational professionals worldwide, this is an essential book for teachers, psychologists and other specialists to ensure that the children and adolescents in their care receive the support they need to succeed.

Based on the lives of real children and typical situations in early years settings, early years practitioners will find this book invaluable in helping them care for and educate young children with additional learning difficulties.

Drawing from her experience as an educational psychologist, and special education teacher, Glynis Hannell offers guidelines to help teachers quickly recognize and categorize the specific characteristics of developmental disorders, autism spectrum disorders, emotional-behavioural disorders, specific learning disorders, sensory impairments and other forms of special need. The practical checklists and resources in this fully revised new edition help both classroom and specialist teachers to Screen any student for possible special needs Understand the causes and characteristics of various types of special needs Request and prepare for an intervention or IEP team meeting Link classroom observations to diagnostic criteria used by specialists Create accurate and comprehensive profiles for individual students Record each student’s unique pattern of development within a special needs ‘label’ Quickly record important information and avoid writing time-consuming reports Coordinate information from several teachers or professionals Monitor progress and track significant changes over time Involve parents in observing and discussing their child’s pattern of strengths and challenges Plan effective, inclusive intervention in the classroom setting Follow up with recommended further reading, websites and professional references Recognising special needs and identifying each student’s unique profile of positive attributes and difficulties enables teachers and other educational professionals to ensure that all their students receive the support they need to succeed.

Many students with mild to moderate learning disabilities remain unidentified and struggle through the educational system unaided. This guide has checklists and action plans to help teachers easily identify children with learning disabilities, to ensure that they receive the specialised attention they need.

Learning disabilities are among the most common disabilities experienced in childhood and adulthood. Although identifying learning disabilities in a school setting is a complex process, it is particularly challenging in low- and middle-income countries that lack the appropriate resources, tools, and supports. This guide provides an introduction to learning disabilities and describes the processes and practices that are necessary for the identification process. It also describes a phased approach that countries can use to assess their current screening and evaluation services, as well as determine the steps needed to develop, strengthen, and build systems that support students with learning disabilities. This guide also provides intervention recommendations that teachers and school administrators can implement at each phase of system development. Although this guide primarily addresses learning disabilities, the practices, processes, and systems described may be also used to improve the identification of other disabilities commonly encountered in schools.

This user-friendly book presents research-based best practices for serving families of children with special needs from birth to age 6. Expert contributors demonstrate how early intervention and early childhood special education can effectively address a wide range of family concerns, which in turn optimizes children's development and learning. Tightly edited, the volume offers indispensable tools for assessing families; identifying and capitalizing on their strengths; providing information, support, and coaching; collaborating with parents and teachers to address children's functional needs in the context of everyday routines; and coordinating care. Over a dozen reproducible checklists and forms help professionals immediately implement the techniques and strategies described.

As a must-have reference for busy teachers with little special education training, this book supplies classroom-tested instructional strategies that address the characteristics of and challenges faced by students with special needs. Dozens of differentiated strategies target teachers’ anxieties and provide responsive interventions that can be used to address specifics of IEPs and learning plans. With Building on the Strengths of Students with Special Needs, special education expert Toby Karten focuses on specific disabilities and inclusive curriculum scenarios for learners in K–12 environments. She offers valuable advice on how to prevent labels from capping student potential and encouragement to help teachers continually improve learner outcomes. By highlighting more than a dozen disability labels, this resource walks teachers through the process of reinforcing, motivating, scaffolding, and planning for instruction that targets learners of all ability levels. Included are details relevant to each disability: * Possible Causes * Characteristics and Strengths * Classroom Implications * Inclusion Strategies Typical instruction needs to match the diversity of atypical learners without viewing any disability as a barrier that impedes student achievement. Teachers must not only learn how to differentiate their approach and target specific student strengths but also maintain a positive attitude and belief that all students are capable of achieving self-efficacy.

An essential handbook for educating students in the 21st century, since its initial publication A Principal's Guide to Special Education has provided guidance to school administrators seeking to meet the needs of students with disabilities. The third edition of this invaluable reference, updated in collaboration with and endorsed by the National Association of Elementary School Principals and the National Association of Secondary School Principals and incorporating the perspectives of both teachers and principals, addresses such current issues as teacher accountability and evaluation, instructional leadership, collaborative teaching and learning communities, discipline procedures for students with disabilities, and responding to students' special education needs within a standards-based environment.

Handbook of Educational Psychology and Students with Special Needs provides educational and psychological researchers, practitioners, policy-makers, and graduate students with critical expertise on the factors and processes relevant to learning for students with special needs. This includes students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, other executive function difficulties, behavior and emotional disorders, autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disabilities, learning disabilities, dyslexia, language and communication difficulties, physical and sensory disabilities, and more. With the bulk of educational psychology focused on "mainstream" or "typically developing" learners, relatively little educational psychology theory, research, measurement, or practice has attended to students with "special needs." As clearly demonstrated in this book, the factors and processes studied within educational psychology—motivation and engagement, cognition and neuroscience, social-emotional development, instruction, home and school environments, and more—are vital to all learners, especially those at risk or disabled. Integrating guidance from the DSM-5 by the American Psychiatric Association and the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) by the World Health Organization, this book synthesizes and builds on existing interdisciplinary research to establish a comprehensive case for effective psycho-educational theory, research, and practice that address learners with special needs. Twenty-seven chapters by experts in the field are structured into three parts on diverse special needs categories, perspectives from major educational psychology theories, and constructs relevant to special needs learning, development, and knowledge building.

In the movement toward standards-based education, an important question stands out: How will this reform affect the 10% of school-aged children who have disabilities and thus qualify for special education? In Educating One and All, an expert committee addresses how to reconcile common learning for all students with individualized education for "one"â€"the unique student. The book makes recommendations to states and communities that have adopted standards-based reform and that seek policies and practices to make reform consistent with the requirements of special education. The committee explores the ideas, implementation issues, and legislative initiatives behind the tradition of special education for people with disabilities. It investigates the policy and practice implications of the current reform movement toward high educational standards for all students. Educating One and All examines the curricula and expected outcomes of standards-based education and the educational experience of students with disabilitiesâ€"and identifies points of alignment between the two areas. The volume documents the diverse population of students with disabilities and their school experiences. Because approaches to assessment and accountability are key to standards-based reforms, the committee analyzes how assessment systems currently address students with disabilities, including testing accommodations. The book addresses legal and resource implications, as well as parental participation in children's education.