Collaborating, Consulting, and Working in Teams for Students with Special Needs (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780134672588)

Ann Knackendoffel is an assistant professor in the Department of Special Education, Counseling and Student Affairs, at Kansas State University. She earned her PhD in Special Education from the University of Kansas. Her interest in collaboration and consulting began with her dissertation research on collaboration between general and special educators and it has continued with her being lead author of a book on collaborative problem solving and in her role as co-author of the previous two editions of this book. Dr. Knackendoffel has been a teacher at both elementary and secondary levels and a special educator for students with learning disabilities, intellectual disabilities, and emotional and behavior disorders. She currently teaches a graduate-level course in consultation and collaboration for special educators at Kansas State University. She has also conducted numerous workshops and conference presentations on collaborative school consultation. She has authored online course materials used the introductory special education courses for general education majors and teaches a section of that course. Dr. Knackendoffel also teaches graduate courses for special education majors in academic interventions, assistive technology, and teaches an online course about students with disabilities for college advisors as part of an online graduate program in college academic advising. Her particular interests are in collaborative problem solving, educational technology, and the utilization and supervision of paraeducators.

Peggy Dettmer is professor emeritus of Education at Kansas State University, where she earned an MS in Special Education and a PhD in Educational Psychology. For several years she chaired the Educational Psychology and Counseling Department and directed the College of Education honors program. Her 42 years of teaching experience includes teaching K-8, coordinating gifted programs for a special education cooperative, teaching and advising graduate and undergraduate students in teacher education, and directing federal and state grants for programs in education of gifted and talented. Her areas of teaching were educational psychology, assessment for effective teaching, education of gifted and talented students, creativity, professional development, and collaborative school consultation. She has written a number of books and articles for refereed journals and has conducted numerous professional development activities on these topics. She chaired the Professional Development Division of the National Association of Gifted Children (NAGC) and participated in construction of NAGC program standards for education of gifted, as well as state standards for special education in Kansas. Areas of professional interest include the constructive use of adult differences for teaching and collaborating; context-adaptive planning and assessment to enhance classroom teaching; and providing responsive environments for teaching and learning.

Linda P. Thurston is a professor in the Department of Special Education, Counseling and Student Affairs, Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies, and Lydia E. Skeen Endowed Chair in Education at Kansas State University. In addition to teaching research and evaluation courses at the graduate level in the College of Education, she founded of a university-based evaluation center and led efforts to create a graduate certificate in social justice education. Thurston has published and taught in the areas of disabilities, gender, family, and issues related to social justice in evaluation and education. She served as a program officer in the Education and Human Resources Directorate at the National Science Foundation for several years.