The Classroom Teacher’s Guide to Special Education: Essential Knowledge, Skills, and Dispositions

The Classroom Teacher’s Guide to Special Education explores the transformative role the classroom teacher plays in the lives of their students, including the lives of students with disabilities. This book leads pre-service and in-service teachers on a journey of discovery, introducing foundational practices that are not just beneficial but essential for every student. This book serves as a core resource for learning about and understanding key components of special education from the classroom teachers’ role and perspective. More than a guide to special education in the general education setting, this book empowers teachers to embrace inclusive perspectives by building the knowledge, skills, and confidence to meet the diverse learning needs of all the students.

Dena Slanda, PhD, is a research associate in Exceptional Student Education at the School of Teacher Education at the College of Community Innovation and Education at the University of Central Florida. Dr. Slanda is currently the president elect of the Florida Council of Exceptional Children, immediate past president of the Florida Association of Teacher Educators, and convener of the Supporting High-Needs Population/Urban Education Special Interest Group. She also serves as the Program Coordinator of the special education track within the Curriculum and Instruction Ed.D. program. Her professional interests include culturally proactive pedagogy and practices, equitable educational opportunities, inclusive practices, interdisciplinary collaboration, teacher and administrator/leadership preparation, intensive interventions, and multi-tiered systems of support. Additionally, her research is focused on the intersection of race and disability with particular attention to disproportionality of culturally and linguistically diverse students in special education. She is currently co-principal investigator of Project SPEECH, a ＄1.25 million grant from the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in the U.S. Department of Education, focused on the collaborative preparation of special education teachers and speech-language pathologists. In addition, she serves as the Program Coordinator for an OSEP funded personnel preparation grant focused on the collaborative preparation of school psychologists and special educators and is a professor in residence for a Teacher Quality Partnership grant entitled, Enhancing Quality in Teacher Preparation in Mathematics within Urban Partnerships. Dr. Slanda has conducted numerous national and state presentations focused on collaborative preparation, supporting special and general educators, multi-tiered systems of support, and equitable practices. Most recently, she co-authored the following book chapters: Dismantling Disproportionality in Special Education Through Anti-Racist Practices; Transcending culturally responsive practices: Becoming antiracist and trauma-informed; Developing special educators to work within tiered frameworks; Digital sponsorship of pre-service teacher interns during COVID-19; Reading in early childhood; Writing in early childhood; Exceptional education is special; and Merging disparate paradigms: How do evidence-based practices fit with what we know about how students learn best?

Lindsey Pike, MSW, (she/her) is a doctoral candidate in the Exceptional Student Education program at the University of Central Florida. She has over seven years of experience working with students with disabilities in public schools. Ms. Pike is a graduate research associate on a multi-million dollar federally-funded Teacher Quality Partnership grant to enhance the preparation of pre-service teachers to work in urban, high-need settings. Her research and professional interests focus on special education, teacher preparation, inclusive and equitable practices, and intersectionality in education, and she has presented at multiple regional, national, and international conferences on these topics. Ms. Pike’s most recent publications include the co-authored chapters ＂Dismantling Disproportionality in Special Education Through Anti-Racist Practices＂ in Equity in the Classroom: Essays on Curricular and Pedagogical Approaches to Empowering All Students from McFarland & Company, and ＂Defying Deficit Thinking: Clearing the Path to Inclusion for Students of All Abilities＂ in Handbook of Research on Challenging Deficit Thinking for Exceptional Education Improvement from IGI Global. She is an engaged member of the Council for Exceptional Children, serving on the Florida Chapter board and actively involved within the Teacher Education Division, the Division for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Exceptional Learners, Division for Learning Disabilities, and Division of International Special Education and Services.

Mary E. Little, PhD, is a professor and program coordinator in exceptional student education at the University of Central Florida. Dr. Little has received in excess of ＄19 million in external funding for research and development from federal, state, and foundation funding agencies including the Institute for Educational Sciences (IES) and the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP). Currently, she serves as the Principal Investigator for Intensive Interventions, a federally-funded research and development project through OSEP. The purpose of this project is to research, develop, and prepare educators to implement interventions in reading and mathematics to improve K-12 student learning especially within diverse, urban schools. Among her numerous articles, chapters, and books, two recent publications are entitled, Response to Intervention for Teachers: Classroom Instructional Problem Solving and RTI and Mathematics: Practical Tools for Teachers in K-8 Classrooms. Her professional experiences in the K-12 schools include roles as a secondary teacher, co-teacher, program coordinator and principal. Her research interests include evidence-based instructional practices, interventions, teacher efficacy, and student learning related to teacher learning. She teaches courses at the graduate and undergraduate levels using traditional and on-line formats, specifically in mathematics, assessment, instruction, action research, and program evaluation.