Author Description

"Today's teaching professionals are assuming considerably more responsibility for meeting the educational and behavioral needs of students from diverse backgrounds and with diverse learning needs. Teachers identify students with special needs as their greatest challenges and often their greatest rewards. Unfortunately, many general education teachers feel at a loss for finding strategies to use in educating their exceptional students. They are eager to provide appropriate instruction, yet often feel inadequately prepared to do so. Furthermore, teachers tell us that what they most want to learn are specific instructional practices that will make a difference for diverse learners, and that they want these practices to enhance the learning of all students in their classrooms. The central theme of this book is that general education teachers can make a difference in the lives of all students, particularly students with special needs, by using the tools and strategies described in this text. What we think is particularly exciting about the recommended practices is that they improve outcomes for all learners in the classroom- not just students with special needs. Our confidence in the effectiveness of these practices comes from two important sources: (a) research documenting their effectiveness with a range of learners, and (b) our ongoing work in classrooms where these practices are successfully implemented. Many teachers whose stories appear throughout this book implement and extend the recommended practices. Preservice teachers in our university classes, as well as practicing teachers, urged us to do more than describe curriculum adaptations; they encouraged us to provide the stepby- step procedures for how to implement curriculum adaptations in the classroom. After reading this book, prospective teachers will have more than increased knowledge about students with special needs-they will have the tools and confidence to adequately meet all of their students' academic a