Click here to view Special Education in Contemporary Society, Third Edition in a whole new way- with a SAGE e-walkthrough. "The real strength of Richard Gargiulo's text is that it does not overwhelm the readers. Learning the vast- and often complex- field of special education is no easy task. Yet, the text meets this challenge head-on." -- Bruce A. Shields, Ph.D., Daemen College "Given the myriad of introductory textbooks on the market, I have continued using Gargiulo's text as it offers a clear, understandable overview of exceptionality and a wealth of resources that compliment my instruction." -- Emiliano C. Ayala, Ph.D., Sonoma State University "The 'First Person' features are very well done and the students love them!" -- Michelle LaRocque, Ph.D., Florida Atlantic University Special Education in Contemporary Society, Third Edition provides a highly readable and research-based introduction to special education. Richard Gargiulo believes teachers need more than just academic knowledge about exceptionality they need an awareness and understanding of the human side of exceptional students and their families. Special Education in Contemporary Society, Third Edition is a comprehensive text with a "people first" approach that gives pre-service teachers a first-hand look into the lives of exceptional children, their families, and their mentors. Key Features & Benefits: Accompanied by High-Quality Ancillaries for Instructors and Students! Intended Audience : Special Education in Contemporary Society, Third Edition is an introductory text for the Introduction to Special Education and Introduction to Exceptionality courses.
*dabs* I cant believe I actually read this textbook all the way through
this textbook but also this class (Special Education) was a JOY. I ADORED taking this this semester and it's definitely been one of my favorite classes I've taken. Highly recommend taking an intro to special ed if you can cause it's a joy!
This is a textbook, so naturally the writing can seem dry. I enjoyed this book, however, and found it highly informative and incredibly useful. I feel it was most applicable for elementary education, and while it touched on higher grades and adult life, the focus remained on elementary education.
The book calls itself "An Introduction to Exceptionality" and does indeed provide a solid introduction. It looks at people and their abilities, disabilities, strengths, and needs. It talks about students in the greater context of school, society, and families. It looks at programs, practices, laws, history, and educational considerations. Individual chapters focus on specific needs such as learning disabilities, emotional and behavioral disorders, ADHD, visual and hearing impairments, speech and language impairments, and physical disabilities, to name a few. The last chapter also focuses on another population with unique needs: gifted and talented students.
All in all, this is a very quality textbook and it is written at a level that is both well-informed and informative.
I read this textbook for my FIRST class about special education in college (yay!). This textbook reminded me of a high school textbook. The content was very self-explanatory and sometimes worded poorly. Overall, I didn't hate having to read this over the course of the semester as the material was incredibly easy, however, I also can't say that I learned much from this textbook either.
Pretty good as far as textbooks are concerned. The first section is very dry, but the chapters on the actual categories of disabilities are interesting and useful.
While this was a very thorough book, the lack of focus on secondary education was disappointing. I felt an elementary teacher can garner more from this book than a secondary teacher.