This study compared the instructional decision-making of expert and novice special educators in familiar instructional settings, investigating whether they differed in how they allocated attention to different instructional themes in the classroom. Participants were 38 expert special educators and special education student teachers. Student teachers completed an initial survey about their teaching experiences and knowledge of their assigned student teaching classroom. Expert teachers completed interviews about classroom experiences and teaching philosophy. Videotapes and observations were made of teachers instructing their students within the classroom. A stimulated recall procedure obtained teachers' reflections about the videotaped instructional sequence. A second interview was conducted at the end of the stimulated recall sessions and after preliminary coding. Results indicated that reflections among both groups included references to students' prior knowledge, preferences, behavioral patterns, learning ability, emotionality, and diagnostic categories. Experts reflected significantly more often than novices in several categories, focusing significantly more often on students' prior knowledge and typical behavior. Teachers strategically and reflectively applied various instructional interventions based on teacher background knowledge and information they gathered during instruction. Experts displayed significantly more comments about instructional strategies and collaboration/consultation than did novices. (Contains 30 references.) (SM)