ABSTRACT

Handbook of Educational Psychology and Students with Special Needs provides educational and psychological researchers, practitioners, policy-makers, and graduate students with critical expertise on the factors and processes relevant to learning for students with special needs. This includes students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, other executive function difficulties, behavior and emotional disorders, autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disabilities, learning disabilities, dyslexia, language and communication difficulties, physical and sensory disabilities, and more. With the bulk of educational psychology focused on "mainstream" or "typically developing" learners, relatively little educational psychology theory, research, measurement, or practice has attended to students with "special needs." As clearly demonstrated in this book, the factors and processes studied within educational psychology—motivation and engagement, cognition and neuroscience, social-emotional development, instruction, home and school environments, and more—are vital to all learners, especially those at risk or disabled.

Integrating guidance from the DSM-5 by the American Psychiatric Association and the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) by the World Health Organization, this book synthesizes and builds on existing interdisciplinary research to establish a comprehensive case for effective psycho-educational theory, research, and practice that address learners with special needs. Twenty-seven chapters by experts in the field are structured into three parts on diverse special needs categories, perspectives from major educational psychology theories, and constructs relevant to special needs learning, development, and knowledge building.

chapter 1|14 pages

Introduction

Educational Psychology and Students with Special Needs

part I|224 pages

Students with Special Needs and
Educational Psychology

chapter 2|33 pages

Specific Learning Disabilities as
a Working Memory Deficit

A Model Revisited 1

chapter 3|23 pages

Identifying and Supporting Students with Affective Disorders in Schools

Academic Anxieties and Emotional Information Processing

chapter 4|20 pages

The Importance of Self-Determination and Inclusion for Students with Intellectual Disability

What We Know and What We Still Need to Discover

chapter 6|24 pages

Language Impairments

Challenges and Opportunities for Meeting Children’s Needs and Insights from Psycho-Educational Theory and Research

chapter 9|23 pages

Child Maltreatment

Pathways to Educational Achievement through Self-Regulation and Self-Regulated Learning

chapter 10|19 pages

Behavioral Disorder

Theory, Research, and Practice

part II|218 pages

Perspectives from Major Educational 
Psychology Theories

chapter 11|19 pages

Social Cognitive Theory, Self-Efficacy, and Students with Disabilities

Implications for Students with Learning Disabilities, Reading Disabilities, and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

chapter 12|30 pages

Self-Determination and Autonomous Motivation

Implications for Students with Intellectual, Developmental, and Specific Learning Disabilities

chapter 18|31 pages

Control-Value Theory and Students 
with Special Needs

Achievement Emotion Disorders and Their Links to 
Behavioral Disorders and Academic Difficulties

part III|239 pages

Special Needs and Constructs Relevant to 
Psycho-Educational Development

chapter 19|26 pages

Improving Learning in Students with Mathematics Difficulties

Contributions from the Science of Learning

chapter 22|23 pages

Interpersonal Relationships and Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Perspectives from Theory of Mind and Neuroscience

chapter 23|27 pages

Student Engagement and Learning

Attention, Behavioral, and Emotional Difficulties in School

chapter 28|12 pages

Conclusion

Future Directions in the Application of Educational 
Psychology to Students with Special Needs