Introduction to Special Education: Making a Difference

by Deborah Deutsch Smith

With Making a Difference as its central theme, the Sixth Edition of this best selling text recognizes that students are expected to demonstrate social responsibility, and that the actions and attitudes of individuals do matter.    Students and teachers have long relied on this comprehensive overview of the field of special education and the ways in which all teachers can help students with special needs to succeed in school and reach their full potential.  The text is brimming with evidence-based practices, ready-to-use teaching tips, and up-to-the minute information about technology applications and contemporary inclusive practices … all tools that teachers can use with students of all abilities, from those who struggle to the most gifted.    The text uses authentic stories from real people, current news events, and examples from contemporary popular culture to examine the positive effects of 30 years of IDEA, 15 years of ADA, and many years of social activism on the lives of individuals with disabilities, their families, and the educators and professionals who work with them.  The Sixth Edition a new chapter (6) on ADHD; “Making a Difference” sections that open every chapter with examples of social responsibility, philanthropy, advocacy and volunteerism; "What IDEA 2004/No Child Left Behind Says About ..." boxes in every chapter clarify, in a convenient bullet-list format, the practical meaning for teachers of these two federal initiatives;  “Professional Standards and Licensure Tests” tables at the end of each chapter that correlate major sections with CEC, INTASC and Praxis II exam; and “Tips for Classroom Management” and “Tips for Effective Teachers” boxes in all chapters provide bulleted lists of practical ideas and suggestions.   In addition to being the author of Introduction to Special Education , 6e, and other major textbooks and articles, Deborah Deutsch Smith is a Research Professor of Special Education and Director of the IRIS Center for Faculty Enhancement at Vanderbilt University, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs.  She has served on numerous editorial boards, and was recently appointed Associate Editor of TESE and has assumed the responsibility for an annual special feature translating research to practice. She is a past president of the Higher Education Consortium for Special Education (HECSE). She recently completed a term as a member of the Diversity Advisory Task Force of the federal National Council on Disability (NCD). Since 1984, Deb has served on the Board of Trustees for Pitzer College, Claremont Colleges, and was recognized in 2003 as a Life Trustee.

Genres: Education

624 pages, Hardcover

First published July 28, 2006

Reviews

[Jimyanni · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is reasonably informative about the subject matter, and if the subject is one that is not incredibly interesting but is instead mostly a repetitive restatement of the obvious, (children with various disabilities are still entitled to a Free And Public Education in the Least Restrictive Environment Possible)that isn't entirely the fault of the book. The book does give a reasonably good, detailed look at many different types of disabilities, the issues related to each, and some tips on what sort of adjustments teachers of students with those disabilities might have to make.

The problem is, the book is atrociously copyedited and proofread; one would think that a book that costs what a college textbook costs could have been afforded a proofreader. One would also think that by the seventh edition, most of these errors would have been caught and corrected. But, apparently, one would be wrong, so we get such errors as "Social justice is an illusive concept..." (rather than "elusive"), and "One judge of every society is how it treats its citizens, all of them, despite being viewed as different on some perceived dimension." (As it's written, "despite being viewed as different" is modifying "one judge", rather than "its citizens", and "on some perceived dimension" should probably read "in some perceived dimension" or "on some perceived continuum." In any case, the sentence is a syntactical mess.) Both of these errors appeared on the first full page of the book, page 4, and page five had "However, perspectives or orientations about individuals also guide people's thinking." ("Perspectives about individuals" might, by some stretch, be a coherent thought; "orientations about individuals" makes no sense whatsoever.) Page seven has one sentence with two egregious errors, a double negative AND a missing word: "So, if supporting services were available to help every individual when problems occur, then no individual would not be negatively treated and would be viewed successful." ("...no individual would be negatively treated and would be viewed AS successful.") Page 16 has the word "not" when, as far as I can tell, the intended word was "to": "The impact of ADA has been great, with accomodations and greater access not part of American life." Page 18 has a relatively minor quibble; in the inset caption to the picture, it says "The benefits are many when everyone can clearly hear the teacher's instructions, can focus better on learning, and doesn't have to strain to hear..." If we break those clauses down, we are left with "...when everyone doesn't have to strain to hear...". It seems to me that it would be better to separate that clause out from the others, and instead of stretching parallel construction, to have said, "and no one has to strain...". After all, it is generally true that not EVERYONE has to strain to hear, but it's still a problem if ANYONE has to strain. Page 23 has a use of the word "surmount" when "mount" was intended, ("...educational opportunites are missed and feelings of exclusion surmount") as well as "in-creased" when "increased" was intended, and "being accessible" when "accessibility" was intended ("So being accessible to an appropriate education ...is important.")

The entire first chapter is like this; after that, the book settles down a bit and generally only has one or two errors of this sort per chapter, which is still FAR too frequent for a scholarly textbook, and wouldn't even be acceptable in a mass-market paperback, but is, at least, an improvement. All in all, though, the sloppiness is such that I can't possibly rate this book higher than two stars, and in fact it's far closer to a one-star review than it is to a three-star, in spite of containing a fair amount of potentially useful information.

[aubrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Is it wrong to put your textbooks on this site? Geeky, I'm sure, but hey, it helps me keep up with it all! :)

This book is an awesome resource for learning a little bit about a wide range of disabilities. It's really one of the more interesting text books I've read.

[Marcy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved reading this book. She provided some "real meat" to this textbook.
I found it was not all fluff. I would recommend it.

[Debbie Hull · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read (rather listened to the audio) this book to prepare for my national boards test. It is a great overview of all things related to Special Education and serving that population.