This report discusses the results of a study of 21 special education teachers from urban, mid-sized, and rural school districts that investigated whether teacher cognition would differ according to the characteristics of students in a classroom and the social environment in which teaching takes place. In the study, a stimulated recall procedure was used in which teachers viewed videotapes of their instruction to stimulate thoughts and decisions that were occurring during the instructional episode. Using this procedure, the study examined the reflections of identified "expert" special educators. Results indicate that many of the teachers made frequent use of "instructional diagnosis," in which the teachers used extensive content knowledge and their particular knowledge of the student to arrive at a diagnosis. Immediately following their diagnosis, they applied a modification to remedy the learning difficulty that the student was encountering. The instructional diagnosis did not seem to rely on the category assigned to a student. Teachers were also observed engaging in frequent consultations with regular education teachers. The consultations were brief and spontaneous, and required the special education teacher to manage the consultation along with her instruction in the classroom. Implications of the findings are discussed. Appended are the teacher interview questions and three tables presenting the data. (Contains 36 references.) (CR)