The purpose of the Handbook of Special Education is to help profile and bring greater clarity to the already sprawling and continuously expanding field of special education. To ensure consistency across the volume, chapter authors review and integrate existing research, identify strengths and weaknesses, note gaps in the literature, and discuss implications for practice and future research. The second edition has been fully updated throughout to take into account recent changes to federal laws as well as the most current academic research, and an entirely new section has been added on research methods in special education.

James M. Kauffman (Ed.D., University of Kansas) is Professor Emeritus of Education at the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia, where he had been a faculty member of the Curry School of Education since 1970. He received the Research Award from the Council for Exceptional Children in 1994 and the Outstanding Leadership Award from the Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders (of which he is a past president) in 2002. He has served as editor of several journals in special education and been a member of several editorial boards. He is the author or co-author of many books, chapters, and articles in special education.

Daniel P. Hallahan (Ph.D., University of Michigan) is Professor Emeritus of Education at the University of Virginia, where he had been a faculty member in the Curry School of Education since 1971. He was the inaugural editor of Exceptionality and has served on numerous editorial boards, including Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, Learning Disability Quarterly, The Journal of Special Education, and Exceptionality. He is a past president of the Division for Learning Disabilities of CEC and in 2000 received the CEC Career Research Award. He is the author or co-author of many books, chapters, and articles in special education.

Paige Cullen Pullen (Ph.D., University of Florida) is Research Professor in the College of Education and Director of Research and Program Development--Early Childhood, Learning Disabilities, and Reading in the Lastinger Center at the University of Florida. She has been principal investigator on federally funded projects and has co-authored books, book chapters, and articles on evidence-based reading instruction. She is a frequent conference presenter, a fellow of the International Academy for Research on Learning Disabilities, and has received multiple teaching and mentoring awards. Her work has been not only with in-service teachers and pediatric residents in the US, but also in Zambia and Botswana. She is also the editor of Exceptionality and serves on the editorial board of other journals.