Nearly 31% of U.S. school-age students labeled emotional disturbance spend most of their school day in self-contained classrooms. Thus, it is critical for district leaders to understand how to support educators' capacity to provide effective services for students with significant behavior-support needs. We overview how district leaders can…

Special educators working in self-contained settings for students with extensive behavioral needs face high rates of teacher burnout and attrition. Research also indicates that these professionals face notable environmental stressors and poor working conditions, even when compared to special educators in other settings. To address teacher burnout…

The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) is committed to the cognitive, linguistic, and socio-emotional development of all children in Illinois. ISBE's Multilingual Department is focused on ensuring that students with diverse linguistic repertoires and those who may benefit from additional support have equitable access to academic instruction…

The purpose of this article is to provide information to general physical education teachers on how to conduct a self-contained adapted physical education (APE) class. The article begins with an example of a traditional model for a self-contained APE class, where all students work on the same goals using basically the same equipment and…

Marnie is a resident of an unnamed School District ("the District"). In January 2000 at the age of 13, Marnie was involved in a bicycle accident that severely damaged her central nervous system, leaving her without use of her legs or left hand and cognitively impaired. She had not received special education previously. By September 2001,…

The social and academic benefits of inclusion for students with disabilities have been well researched and well documented. Unfortunately, inclusion opportunities are limited by lack of qualified staff, logistics, scheduling and other difficulties encountered when attempting to meet students' unique needs in the general education setting. As a…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 2004 has placed a renewed emphasis on the importance of the regular classroom, the regular classroom teacher and the general curriculum as the primary focus of special education. This book contains over 100 topics that deal with real issues and concerns regarding the regular classroom and…