Exceptional Children: An Introduction to Special Education

William Lee Heward is Emeritus Professor of Education at The Ohio State University. He majored in psychology and sociology as an undergraduate at Western Michigan University, earned his doctorate in special education at the University of Massachusetts, and joined the special education faculty at Ohio State in 1975. Bill has served as a Senior Fulbright Lecturer in Special Education in Portugal and Visiting Professor of Psychology at Keio University in Tokyo. Among the many honors he has received are Ohio State University’s highest recognition of teaching excellence, the Alumni Association’s Distinguished Teaching Award, and the American Psychological Association’s Division 25 Fred S. Keller Behavioral Education Award for lifetime achievements in education.Dr. Heward’s current research interests include “low-tech” methods for increasing the effectiveness of group instruction and adaptations of curriculum and instruction that promote the generalization and maintenance of newly learned knowledge and skills. Bill’s publications include seven other textbooks and more than 100 journal articles and book chapters. His research has appeared in the field’s leading peer-reviewed journals, including Behavioral Disorders, Education and Training in Developmental Disabilities, Exceptional Children, Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, Research in Developmental Disabilities, Teacher Education and Special Education, Teaching Exceptional Children, and The Journal of Special Education.Bill has also written for the popular market. His book Some Are Called Clowns (Crowell, 1974) chronicled his five summers as a pitcher for the Indianapolis Clowns, the last of the barnstorming baseball teams.

• Chapter 1:   The Purpose and Promise of Special Education  Chapter 2:   Planning and Providing Special Education Services  Chapter 3:   Collaborating with Parents and Families in a Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Society  Chapter 4:   Intellectual Disabilities  Chapter 5:   Learning Disabilities  Chapter 6:   Emotional or Behavioral Disorders  Chapter 7:   Autism Spectrum Disorders  Chapter 8:   Communication Disorders  Chapter 9:    Blindness and Low Vision  Chapter 10:   Deafness and Hearing Loss  Chapter 11:    Physical Disabilties, Health Impairments, and ADHD  Chapter 12:   Low-Incidence Disabilities:  Severe/Multiple Disabilities, Deaf-Blindness, and Traumatic Brain Injury  Chapter 13:   Giftedness and Talent  Chapter 14:    Early Childhood Special Education  Chapter 15:   Transitioning to Adulthood  ·   Categorical chapters 4-13 roughly follow the same general format:·   Definition (and Classification)·   Identification and Assessment·   Characteristics·   Prevalence·   Causes·   Educational Approaches·   Educational Placement

Strengths in all chapters include the focus questions, content, teaching and learning sections, and summary at the end of each chapter. The pre-service teachers in my class love the tips for beginning teachers. Melissa McDonnell, University of Idaho  In an introductory text, it is difficult to include too many instructional strategies, but Heward has chosen some of the best and energizing strategies to stir the interest of novice special educators. Lee Sherry, University of North Carolina, Charlotte  Heward does an excellent job of explaining and walking the reader through the processes needed to provide services to a student with a disability.  Terri Collins, Clemson University