Including Adolescents with Disabilities in General Education Classrooms

About Barbara GartinNikki MurdickTom Smith

Dr. Tom Smith is currently Dean of the College of Education and Health Professions University of Arkansas and University Professor of Special Education.  Additionally he has served as Executive Director of the Division on Autism and Developmental Disabilities of the Council for Exceptional Children for 20 years.  Dr. Smith has authored and co-authored 27 textbooks including a recently published sixth edition of Teaching Students with Special Needs in Inclusive Settings co-authored with Ed Polloway Jim Patton and Carol Dowdy and published by Pearson.   He has also published more than 40 articles in referenced journals primarily focusing on students with mild disabilities and legal issues related to special education.    Dr. Barbara C. Gartin is 1982 graduate of the University of Georgia program in the Education of Exceptional Children and a University Professor of Special Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Arkansas.  She has worked as a high school special education teacher in Georgia before joining the University of Arkansas faculty.  Dr. Barbara Gartin has published numerous articles on issues related to behavior management inclusion and special education law.  In 2002 she co-authored How to use differentiated instruction with students with developmental disabilities in the general education classroom for the Division on Developmental Disabilities (Council for Exceptional Children) with Nikki Murdick Marcia Imbeau and Darlene Perner.  With Nikki Murdick and Terry Crabtree she co-authored the first edition of Special Education Law in 2002 and the second edition in 2007 both published by Pearson Education.  In 2006 she co-authored Families and Children with Special Needs: Parent and Professional Partnerships with Tom Smith Nikki Murdick and Alan Hilton which was also published by Pearson Education.  Her research interests include legal issues in the provision of appropriate services for students with special needs the educational implications of disability especially rare syndromes and issues of parent advocacy.  She has served as the President of the Educational Division of AAIDD and as the President of the Division of Autism and Developmental Disabilities.   Dr. Nikki Murdick is a professor of Special Education in the Department of Educational Studies in the College of Public Services at Saint Louis University St. Louis MO. Throughout her career she has worked as a classroom teacher clinical behavior specialist curriculum developer parent advocate and University professor. Dr. Murdick has published numerous articles on issues related to behavior management inclusion and special education legal concerns of students with cognitive and behavioral disabilities. She has co-authored a monograph on differentiated instruction a text on Special Education Law and a text on Families and Children with Special Needs: Parent and Professional Partnerships. Her research interests include legal issues in the provision of appropriate services for students with special needs parent advocacy and educational implications of disability that impact the educational success of students.