Building Blocks for Teaching Preschoolers with Special Needs

by Susan R. Sandall, Ilene S. Schwartz, Gail E. Joseph

Endorsed by DEC as supporting Recommended Practices! Expanded with timely new content and consistent with DEC Recommended Practices, the third edition of this bestselling book will fully prepare a new generation of early childhood educators to teach and include every child. Like the groundbreaking previous editions, this updated Building Blocks guide gives pre‐ and inservice teachers three types of practical, evidence‐based inclusion curriculum modifications, embedded learning opportunities, and child‐focused instructional strategies. Educators will learn how to apply these three strategies for the benefit of all children; review the latest research that supports the Building Blocks model; and find ready‐to‐use tips and guidance on key topics, such as fostering friendships, encouraging independence, and promoting positive behavior. Reproducible forms help with planning and assessment, and seven comprehensive new training modules make it easy to teach the Building Blocks framework in college courses and professional development sessions.
Equally useful as a student‐friendly textbook and a go‐to inclusion guide for practicing educators, this is a resource teachers will return to again and again for proven, easy‐to‐use strategies that support the success of every young learner.
NEW GUIDANCE AND TIPS
Includes 7 training modules! Each module includes a slide deck, presentation notes, learning activities, and a list of other resources and references.

View our recorded presented by Susan Sandall, Ph.D.

Genres: Read For School, Nonfiction, Education

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing resource for gen. ed teachers with students with special needs, or sped teachers alike. It has a ton of fantastic forms, strategies and information to use directly in the classroom. This isn't a particularly well covered topic for most books about children with special needs so it was definitely refreshing to have something that was entirely relevant and useable for my classroom.

[Kaia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Includes practical examples and specific methods for designing instruction and solving problems, as well as many forms that teachers can use. A great resource for teachers who work in early childhood.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first time I read this book was during my undergrad work when I was getting a pseudo double major in regular and special education for early childhood. When my local CESA (who graciously purchased this book for me) said this book was going to be the focus of the next book study I honestly did not remember reading this book until I cracked it open.

The interesting bit with this book is that there is so much valuable stuff in here for new teachers, yet you don’t fully appreciate it until you go out into the field, have your fair share of hard knocks lessons and come back to this book. Reading this book a second time I found myself nodding along and agreeing with it more than I did in college but back then I had little first hand experience with teaching and all the back end policies that go with it.

The organization of the first section is nice and the only thing that truly dings this book in terms of functionality is that you have to make your own digital copies of the forms so you can use them in your classroom over and over again (a process my book study group undertook so yay! I have digital copies of the forms I can’t lose now). The suggested modifications aren’t super in depth but they are practical. However, if you’re looking for something you haven’t tried yet there’s a 50/50 chance the book isn’t going to list off something you or a colleague haven’t thought of yet. Overall it’s a good reference/refresher book. At the very least you need access to the forms and the modification tables available to you if you are a teacher.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Building Blocks for Teaching Preschoolers with Special Needs is an excellent resource book for all preschool classroom educators. Inclusion is now the most common way that we place children with special needs so the classroom teacher, despite experience needs to be supported and find resources to give them information on various disabilities in young children and how to help these children to part of the classroom. At the same time they need to help the rest of the class include children that are different and accept and help them make all children a part of the classroom and individualize instruction to meet the needs of all the children in the classroom. I have found Building Blocks for Teaching Preschoolers with Special Needs to be a great source for idea and information to improve my teaching of all children in my classroom over the years.

[Amber]

1 Copy available