Special Education Webliography

Nicole Simpson

This webliography is a compilation of relevant exceptionalities that affect the lives of

children and need to be supported in educational systems. Items addressed are accompanied by a
brief overview of the exceptionality, three web-based resources, and an overview of each
resource describing its purpose and potential for support. This webliography can be used for both
personal and professional use as a training tool, a resource for information, or a simplified means
to educate others and provide deeper understanding.

Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities (IDD)

According to the AAIDD, intellectual disability is defined as a disability characterized by

significant limitations both in intellectual functioning and in adaptive behavior, which covers
many every day social and adaptive skills.This disability originates before the age of 18. These
limitations are conceptual, social, and practical in scope. Developmental disabilities, related to
intellectual disabilities, includes mental and physical limitations for which the child is likely to
need lifelong support from a variety of health, social, and educational agencies. Levels of
support and need vary with each individual. Intensity of supports range from intermittent, to
limited, to extensive, to pervasive.

MUMS: National Often, parents of a child with IDD feel alone, overwhelmed, and underserved.
Parent-to-Parents Additionally, mothers tend to be a focus of community work, leaving fathers out
of the picture. A popular program called MUMS: National Parent-to-Parent
Network Network matches a trained “veteran parent” (someone who has experience as a
www.netnet.net/mums
parent of a child with disabilities) and a “referred parent” (one who is dealing
with the issues for the first time).

The Arc of the US The Arc of the United States is a parent organization dedicated to providing
www.thearc.org information and resources on various disabilities to parents and families. Parents
of children with IDD may often feel alone and lacking knowledge, but
organizations and chapters such as the Arc are a valuable resource.

WebMATH Technology allows a child to avoid learned helplessness by accessing

http://www.webmath.com/ knowledge and complete required tasks. One example is WebMATH, a
math-help website that generates answers to specific math questions and
problems, as entered by a user, at any particular moment. The math answers are
generated and displayed real-time, at the moment a web user types in their math
problem and clicks "solve." In addition to the answers, Webmath also shows the
student how to arrive at the answer.

Learning Disabilities

Learning disabilities are seen in students who, in spite of average or above-average

intelligence, seem to be encountering substantial difficulties in school. Because of the vague
nature of this definition, where students experience any kind of unexplained
underachievement, this group is very diverse and includes those with assumed neurologically
based learning problems as well as students who are not performing well for other reasons
(such as poor motivation, problems at home, poverty, teacher-student personality conflicts,
etc)

International Dyslexia The International Dyslexia Association is a multi-faceted organization that

Association provides membership, conferences, workshops, handbooks, factsheets,
www.interdys.org classroom practices, and other resources for families and members of the
community.

National Research The National Research Center on Learning Disabilities gives evidence-based
Center on Learning strategies for working with students with learning disabilities. These universal
design strategies can be used to give students with learning disabilities access to
Disabilities
Common Core Standards. The goal is to minimize the impact of the disability
www.nrcld.org
while maximizing the student’s ability to be successful.

Technology and Media
Division of Council for
Exceptional Children
www.tamcec.org
Students with learning disabilities can benefit from a variety of assistive
technologies, minimizing the impact of the disability and fostering autonomy.
The Technology and Media Division of Council for Exceptional Children
provides access to many of these technologies, as well as research, best practice,
and new publications on similar topics.

Emotional or Behavioral Disorders

EBD refers to extreme intensity and duration of student behaviors, not necessarily the type. IDEA’s
federal definition of EBD expresses a child’s serious emotional disturbance results in an inability to
learn, an inability to build and maintain relationships, ​inappropriate types of behavior or feelings
under normal circumstances, a general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression, and a
tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems.
This definition is vague and subjective, resulting in constant disagreement among
professionals and a narrow interpretation, leading to fewer children being served.

PCI Education Catalog
www.pcicatalog.com
Technological aids can provide support for those working with children with
EBD. For example, using board games can enhance social skills development
with topics such as social greetings, handling anger at school and work,
appropriate and inappropriate touching, and good sportsmanship. This PCI
Catalog provides a comprehensive list of aids such as this.

Peer Assisted Strategies One of the instructional strategies used with students with EBD is peer tutoring.
www.peerassistedlearning One of the most active and well-researched programs is the peer-assisted
strategies.net learning strategies (PALS). PALs is used primarily in elementary schools and
consists of pairing students; a player (student with a disability) and a coach (a
student who has been prepared to help). This approach has shown growth in
reading that is sustainable over time for many, but not all, students. This website
provides information and training tools for implementing this peer tutoring.

A Case Study in This documentary, created by Emily Kolvitz and Samantha Stephens, describes
Oppositional Defiant and demonstrates how Stewie Griffin from "Family Guy" displays symptoms of
Disorder oppositional defiant disorder. This was created for Dr. Caleb Lack's "Abnormal
https://www.youtube.com/wat Psychology" course at the University of Central Oklahoma.
ch?v=rdG_1_Pic8Y
 Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Major symptoms of ADHD include inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity, and can lead to
behavioral manifestations of fidgeting, loud volumes, disorganization, disruption, off-task or
daydreaming, and missing or incomplete work. Children with ADHD form one of the largest
groups of exceptional learners. ADHD presents in a variety of ways depending on the specific
combinations of challenges and strengths for each child.

Children and Adults
with Attention-Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder
http://www.chadd.org
CHADD is a national resource for individuals with ADHD. This organization
provides membership and resources for parents and caregivers, adults, and
paraprofessionals, as well as training opportunities and education/employment
information.

The Incredible Years The Incredible Years is a training series for parents, teachers, and children. This
www.incredibleyears.com evidence-based program addresses early intervention and aims to ​reduce
challenging behaviors in children with ADHD and increase their social
emotional learning and self-control skills.

Ted Talk: Changing
Education Paradigms
https://www.ted.com/talks/ken
_robinson_changing_educatio
n_paradigms
In his Ted Talk, ​Ken Robinson lays out the link between 3 trends: rising
drop-out rates, schools' dwindling stake in the arts, and ADHD. His perspective
challenges the way we're educating our children, calling for a radical rethink of
our school systems to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of
intelligence.

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism spectrum disorders are a variety of related disorders that affect a child’s social
development and ability to communicate. These treatable (not curable) social and
communicative limitations include unusual behavioral manifestations such as repetitive motor
movements. The past few decades have brought major controversies about the causes of
autism, major changes in legislation, and active advocacy groups.

Autism Society of The Autism Society of America is a strong advocacy group of parents and
America professionals who have been calling attention to children with ASD and their
www.autism-society.org educational and health needs. This organization is a great resource for the public
to get connected to information and supports for ASD.

Picture Exchange PECS is a unique alternative/augmentative communication system first

Communication System
(PECS)
https://pecsusa.com/pecs/
implemented with preschool students diagnosed with autism at the Delaware
Autism Program. Since then, PECS has successfully been implemented
worldwide with thousands of learners of all ages who have various cognitive,
physical and communication challenges.The primary goal of PECS is to teach
functional communication, and is often seen being used in classrooms.

TEACCH University of
NC at Chapel Hill
www.teacch.com
TEACCH is a statewide program in North Carolina, partnering with parents to
help them become teachers of their own child with autism. TEACCH uses
pictures and other visual symbols to help communicate with the child, and has
developed an extensive curriculum that includes domestic and independent
living skills.
 Communication, Language, and Speech Disorders

These disorders encompass an individual’s difficulties with communication, language, and

speech, where there are many different causes and patterns of impact for challenges with each.
Communication is the exchange of thoughts, information, feelings, and ideas, and it requires
three things: a sender, a message, and a receiver. Any of these could be a potential source of
limitation. Language is a code whereby ideas about the world are represented through a
conventional system of signals, and language can be either receptive or expressive. Speech is
the systematic oral production of the words of a given language, having meaning and structure.

American Speech and The formation of the American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA) in
Hearing Association 1925 marked a significant point in the emerging field of speech-​language
www.asha.org pathology. Today, ASHA is a source of current research, current events, and
connections to resources including audiologists and pathologists.

Smile Train Cleft palates, congenital abnormalities that occur when the roof of the mouth
www.smiletrain.org has not joined completely during prenatal development, are one cause of speech
disorders. Smile Town is an organization that trains ​local doctors to perform
cleft repairs in their communities. Those doctors then go on to train other
doctors creating a long-term, sustainable system.

Blissymbolics Assistive technology supports the learning and development of students with
www.blissymbolics.org communication, language, or speech disorders. Blissymbolics is a computerized
communication system that uses graphic symbols or “blisswords” to help the
child communicate. Using Blissymbolics, children point to or touch the words
they want and form sentences to express thoughts. This allows a child with
severely limited speech to “talk.”

Visual Impairments

Many individuals have visual problems that are correctable, but for some their visual
impairments are so severe that they cannot be remedied with glasses or contact lenses; these
individuals have low vision or blindness. The legal definition of blindness sets a physical
standard of sight at less than 20/200, and a person with low vision would have, after
correction, 20/70 to 20/200 vision. However, when considering educational planning we have
to think of how a child uses sight for learning.

Association for The Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually
Education and Impaired (AER) is a not-for-profit membership organization dedicated
exclusively to professionals who provide services to persons with vision loss.
Rehabilitation of the AER provides professional development via face-to-face conferences, virtual
Blind and Visually offerings and publications to strengthen the knowledge, skills and abilities of
Impaired professionals within the field. AER also provides networking, mentoring,
www.aerbvi.org connectivity, awards and scholarships for professionals to advance excellence
within the field.

Touch Graphics Touch Graphics creates products and exhibits that rely on multi-sensory display
http://www.touchgraphics techniques and audio-haptic interactivity. They present spatial concepts and
.com/ figures through non-visual or extra-visual means. Materials produced are used
in schools, libraries, museums and other exhibit spaces and transit terminals,
 allowing individuals with visual impairments to still interact with and learn
from the world around them.

Cool Blind Tech
https://coolblindtech.com/univ
ersity-project-helping-blind-an
d-visually-impaired-children-t
o-feel-the-universe/
Cool Blind Tech produces universal design products, environments,
programmes and services to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent
possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design, not excluding
assistive devices for particular groups of individuals with disabilities where this
is needed. Cool Blind Tech maximizes the independence, productivity and
participation of the blind and low vision community, to empower the blindness
community through the acquisition and enhancement of skills in using adaptive
technologies.

Deafness/Hearing Loss

Recently, there has been a growing acceptance within the hearing society of individuals who
are deaf or hard of hearing, partly because several athletes, celebrities, and prominent
individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing have become well-known. This growing
acceptance has also been assisted by government mandates, regulations, and continued
advocacy for the rights of all people.

National Deaf The National Deaf Education Center provides resources and information to
Education Center parents and the public on individuals with deafness or hearing loss. These
http://clerccenter resources include magazines, ASL resources, assistive technologies, cultural
.gallaudet.edu information, hearing aid and cochlear implant information, and more.

National Center for
Hearing Assessment
and Management
www.infanthearing.org
The National Center for Hearing Assessment and Management is an
organization that is the National Technical Resource for the implementation and
improvement of comprehensive and effective ​Early Hearing Detection and
Intervention (EHDI) systems. They focus on early interventions to ensure that
all infants and toddlers with hearing loss are identified as early as possible and
provided with timely and appropriate audiological, educational, and medical
intervention.

American Sign American Sign Language (ASL) is an alternative communication system of

Language
https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/hea
lth/american-sign-language
gestures that contain meaning, resembles spoken English, and is an example of
a nonspeech communication system used widely among the deaf and hearing
loss communities. Although many people with hearing impairments use ASL,
our speech-language–oriented society has not yet accepted ASL as a legitimate
language. ASL is an important tool and language to implement in schools.

Physical and Health Impairments

Recently, there have been advances in the advocacy of individuals with physical and health
impairments through universal access, medical interventions, and technology. Physical and
health impairments include orthopedic impairments, traumatic brain injury, deafblindness,
multiple disabilities, and other health impairments.

United Cerebral Palsy The United Cerebral Palsy Association (UCP) is an organization that educates,
Association advocates, and ​provides support services to ensure a life without limits for
www.ucp.org people with a spectrum of disabilities. Resources include assistive technologies,
employment opportunities, wellness, healthcare information, housing, travel and
 transportation, and more.

Epilepsy Foundation of The Epilepsy Foundation of America provides ​community services, public
America education, access to care campaign, research initiatives, and new therapies
www.epilepsyfoundation.org funding for families and individuals living with epilepsy.

American Physical The American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) ​is a professional
Therapy Association organization representing more than 100,000 physical therapists, physical
www.apta.org therapist assistants, and students. APTA works to advance physical therapist
practice, education, and research, as well as increase the awareness and
understanding of physical therapy's role in the nation's health care system.

Academically Gifted and Talented

Children and youth considered academically gifted and talented perform, or show the potential
for performing, at remarkably high levels of accomplishment when compared with others of
their age, experience, or environment. These children and youth exhibit high-performance
capability in intellectual, creative, and/or artistic areas, possess an unusual leadership capacity,
or excel in specific academic fields.They require services or activities not ordinarily provided
by the schools.

National Association for The National Association for Gifted Children is an organization that supports
Gifted Children educators and professionals in enhancing the growth and development of gifted
www.nagc.org and talented children through education, advocacy, community building, and
research. They provide resources, information, and opportunities to parents and
families, K-12 education professionals including support service personnel, and
members of the research and higher education community.

Parenting for High PHP is a publication for parents who are members of the National Association
Potential for Gifted Children. The publication provides up-to-date resources and tools for
https://www.nagc.org/parentin developing a child’s gifts and talents and helping them reach their full potential.
g-high-potential

The Association for the The Association for the Gifted is an organization that advocates for the
Gifted (TAG) education of students with gifts and talents through professional learning and
http://www.cectag.org/ resources. TAG plays an important role in helping professionals and parents
work more effectively with children with gifts and talents.