Methods and Strategies for Teaching Students with Mild Disabilities: A Case-Based Approach

Summary: David Scanlon is a former high school and community college special education teacher. In his high school resource room he taught students with a variety of disabilities, some were mainstreamed and others took most or all of their academic courses with him. In the community college he taught basic literacy courses and assisted with advising for students with disabilities. He received his Ph.D. in Special Education an...d Rehabilitation from the University of Arizona. Following his graduation he worked as an assistant research scientist at the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning. There, he and his colleagues developed strategic interventions appropriate to the inclusive content-area classroom context. While at the CRL, David served as director of intervention research for the National Adult Literacy and Learning Disabilities Center. The Center was funded to identify best curricular practices in adult basic education. David Scanlon is currently an associate professor of special education in the Lynch School of Education at Boston College. He teaches courses for students ranging from undergraduate to doctoral students. Among the courses he teaches are an introductory special education class, special education methods for regular education teachers, methods for special education teachers of students with mild disabilities, and investigations into scientific and social theories on the nature of learning disabilities and special education practice. He continues to research effective interventions for children and adolescents with mild disabilities, including focuses on content-area literacy and transition. He has co-authored several learning strategies, in addition to curricular materials and nearly fifty research publications and book chapters. [read more]