Author: Frances Wardle, PhD

Educating Children with Exceptionalities has been specifically developed for early childhood education programs, providing a balanced focus on children with disabilities or developmental delays; children who are gifted and talented; and twice-exceptional children—those who are gifted and talented and have one or more disabilities. The text starts from the beginning, diving deep into the history of education in the United States and the laws—both past and present—that shape how teachers support and work with exceptional children. It also examines the wide range of factors that can contribute to exceptionalities, beginning with pregnancy and continuing through a child’s development. The text is laden with the theory, history, and application necessary for students to grasp this multi-faceted topic and provides authentic, from-the-field experiences of practitioners, parents, and community members whose lives are intertwined with exceptional young children. The author believes that for future educators to be effective and successful, they must understand all of the medical, legal, societal, historical, cultural, political, familial, and media-related factors that influence the lives of children with exceptionalities, and presents the topics so that educators will be better equipped to work with exceptional children and their families.

This EARLY RELEASE Online Textbook will be replaced with the Reflowable Online Textbook, coming soon!

Table of Contents

Abbreviated Contents

Educating Children with Exceptionalities, Online Textbook

• Front Matter
• Unit 1 Working with Young Children with Exceptionalities: An Introduction and Causes
• • 1 Introduction: Young Children with Exceptionalities
  • 2 Causes of Exceptionalities
• Unit 2 Young Children with Exceptionalities in the United States: History, Laws, and Classification
• • 3 U.S. History and Laws Affecting Young Children with Exceptionalities
  • 4 Classification of Young Children with Exceptionalities
• Unit 3 Knowledge and Approaches to Working with Young Children with Exceptionalities and their Families
• • 5 Early Childhood Body of Knowledge
  • 6 General Approaches to Working with Young Children with Exceptionalities
  • 7 Working with Families of Young Children with Exceptionalities
• Unit 4 How to Best Serve Young Children with Exceptionalities: Least Restrictive Environment, Inclusion, and Programs
• • 8 Least Restrictive Environment, Inclusion, and How Best to Serve Young Children with Exceptionalities
  • 9 Programs for Young Children with Exceptionalities
• Unit 5 Approaches to Working with Young Children with a Variety of Exceptionalities
• • 10 Approaches to Working with Young Children with Specific Learning Disabilities
  • 11 Approaches to Working with Young Children Who Have Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder
  • 12 Approaches to Working with Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
  • 13 Approaches to Working with Young Children with Hearing and Vision Loss, and with Communication Disorders
  • 14 Approaches to Working with Young Children with Emotional and/or Behavioral Disorders
  • 15 Approaches to Working with Young Children with Intellectual Disabilities and Sensory Processing Disorders
• Glossary
• References
• Index