Young Children with Disabilities in Natural Environments: Methods and Procedures

With its comprehensive coverage of instruction and intervention practices in natural environments, this is the essential methods textbook for preservice educators and therapists preparing to work with young children who have disabilities. Focusing on children from birth to age 5, this text gives future professionals a wealth of specific, practical knowledge on a range of critical procedures for working with children effectively. Preservice practitioners will benefit from the features that set this book apart from other early intervention texts, including

• in-depth, practical information on assessing and intervening with children who have severe disabilities and autism
• clear, explicit guidance on the actual methods professionals should use when working with children
• an integrated, non-categorical approach that weaves together information across disabilities, developmental domains, and ages
• guidelines on how to use naturalistic and systematic instruction together
• a strong focus throughout the book on cultural competence

Students will find this text accessible and easy to use: each chapter starts with a bulleted list of focus points; ends with a concise, helpful summary and challenging study questions; and includes realistic examples that illustrate the suggested techniques and strategies. These reader-friendly features also make this book a useful resource for professional development with in-service interventionists and educators, who can use the practical information and ideas to inform their work with young children.

Growing from the authors’ original work in the successful Early Intervention in Natural Environments: Methods and Procedures, this book will prepare future educators and therapists to work successfully with young children who have disabilities.

Dr. Noonan coordinates the Graduate Teacher Preparation Program for Students with Severe Disabilities and the Ph.D. in Education Program, Exceptionalities Specialization, at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She has been the director of several early childhood special education grants as well as teacher education and leadership training grants. She has worked extensively as a consultant throughout the Pacific Basin region and is the author of many articles and chapters concerning early childhood special education and teaching students who have severe disabilities.

Dr. McCormick coordinates the Early Childhood Special Education Teacher Training Program at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Prior to 1979, when she joined that faculty, she had had experience as a teacher-counselor working with children with behavior disorders, as state coodinator of infant and preschool services, as director of outpatient programs for children under the Tenessee Department of Mental Health, and as a member of the faculties of Peabody College (Vanderbilt University) and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Her areas of research and expertise include early intervention and early childhood special education, language intervention, inclusion/co-teaching, and severe disabilities. She has conducted workshops in the Pacific Basin and Taiwan and has served as principal investigator for numerous research and personnel preparation grants with an emphasis on early intervention.