Young Children With Special Needs

It has been approximately 25 years since the first edition ofYoung Children with Special Needswas published, and there was little history to present about the field at that time. We remarked about that in the preface of the third edition, and now comment on it again in the fourth edition. This remains an important point in that the growth in the field of early childhood special education has been extraordinary. From the first few experimental personnel preparation programs, there have grown dozens--with more contemporary programs evolving at a rapid rate even since the last edition in 1998. From a few demonstration early intervention programs for preschoolers in each state, there have grown thousands of programs, and early intervention is mandatory in every state for eligible children beginning at birth. From a few experimental curricula and homemade materials, there has grown an industry geared to serving the needs of young children with disabilities and their families. This growth has been unprecedented, and it is likely to continue--even in the face of difficult financial times. There has been a true commitment to early childhood special education on the part of state and federal governments, university training programs, and local communities, and this commitment likely will be rewarded with better services and evidence-based interventions for young children with special needs, better trained personnel, more informed and more involved families and communities, and increasingly more child-friendly public policies. In turn, we should gain increased respect for young children with special needs and their families and, ultimately, there should be valuable contributions to our society as a whole from this population. The fourth edition ofYoung Children with Special Needsmaintains a number of similarities with the third edition. This edition continues to be driven by a developmental theoretical perspective. We have built that perspective into most of the chapters in the latter half of the text, and all of the contributors have done an exceptional job in perpetuating this developmental perspective. We also have continued to put emphasis on some key content areas in early childhood special education such as historical foundations, basic growth and development, families, assessment and intervention, and technology. At the center of successful early intervention are competent professionals who are knowledgeable about children, families, and the tools of assessment and intervention, and who apply that knowledge in a sensitive and skillful way. Many of the chapters in this text provide the reader with an introductory knowledge base about the field and about factors that influence development, and we have made a great effort to present the very latest information and to challenge the reader to think beyond the facts. In this revision, we also continue to emphasize the importance of gaining a broad, yet deep perspective of how children develop as they do and what can go wrong. We have remained consistent in our use of terminology (e.g., we use the termearly interventionistto refer to the many different professionals, including and most specifically the early childhood special educator, who provide early intervention services), and we have given the instructor in early childhood or special education a clear approach from which to work; that is, a knowledge-content-application approach. We believe this approach is more logical and more conducive to incremental learning by the student. The fourth edition ofYoung Children with Special Needsalso maintains a number of differences when compared to the third edition. The text has a more user-friendly appearance, with a number of instructional aids being added. Specifically, each chapter begins with an outline of the chapter-specific topics, and ends with questions and discussion points. In addition, each chapter provides a numberHooper, Stephen R. is the author of 'Young Children With Special Needs', published 2003 under ISBN 9780131113404 and ISBN 0131113402.