The second edition of this brief survey text is as clear, concise, and comprehensible as the first—updated with contemporary literature, recent research, and expert commentary to address current trends and issues in the field. The authors explain the salient features of each significant category of special education, neither short-changing topics nor providing unnecessary detail; examining all of the fundamental principles of special education, as well as the practices that have evolved from those principles. Category chapters each follow the same format; and the introductory chapter explains the umbrella of special education—what it encompasses and how it fits into the larger discipline of education.