Introduction

This resource repository was created by and for institutions of higher education in Virginia to align with courses  that meet Virginia Department of Education licensure regulations for a provisional license for special education K-12 (general curriculum or adapted curriculum) or early childhood special education  (e.g., Introduction to Special Education or Introduction to Early Childhood Special Education courses). The resource is designed to address three primary themes:

• Legal foundations of special education
• Exceptionalities
• Evidence-based  practices for students receiving special education

In each section you’ll find chapters that (1) highlight important introductory information in alignment with preparation standards and state regulations and (2) provide annotated resources, suggested activities, and reflective prompts for further consideration of diverse perspectives and critical issues in the field.

The purpose of this resource repository is to support state-wide efforts to relieve the financial burden associated with purchasing traditional textbooks for college coursework. Thus, we envision this resource repository to be effective in replacing the need for a textbook in introductory special education coursework. Our intention with developing this resource was not to write our own textbook, but instead to curate existing resources and supplement these with sharing or development of our own course materials. Though the Introduction to Special Education Resource Repository is primarily for college students and faculty, our hope is that practitioners will benefit from the open-access nature of this resource as well and use it as a reference tool to nimbly support real-time special education practice.

Most resources were collected from openly licensed resources (e.g., Creative Commons licensed IRIS Center resources), content that is free and open to the public on the web (e.g., TED Talks and special education regulations and guidance documents from the Virginia Department of Education [VDOE]), and pre-existing open educational resources (e.g., Lombardi [2019]. Understanding and Supporting Learners with Disabilities [CC- BY-NC-SA]), and open peer-reviewed publications (e.g., Rao & Meo [2016]). The accessibility status of resources may vary due to original creator of the resource.  Instructors from Institutions of Higher Education in Virginia (Virginia Commonwealth University, George Mason University, Old Dominion University, Virginia State University, Longwood University) also shared materials they individually created.

The authors appreciate the content contributions made by Kim Avila (George Mason University; Chapter 24), Alison King (Longwood University; Chapter 22), and Ira Padhye (Virginia Commonwealth University; Chapter 12).