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The world revolves around sound. Children who are deaf/hard of hearing (D/HH) lack access to sound, thus need careful monitoring and planning to ensure they have access to adequate language models and supports to develop a strong language foundation. It is this foundation that is needed to ensure D/HH children are able to achieve developmental and academic milestones. Research is emerging to suggest specific intervention strategies that can be used to support D/HH children from birth throughout their educational career. In this chapter, we highlight several strategies that can be used to support communication, language, academic, and social/emotional growth. We freely admit that this is in no way a comprehensive and exhaustive list, but rather only scratches the surface. The field of deaf education and related research and technology is constantly changing. To ensure adequate educational access, it is highly recommended that a professional specialized in hearing loss be a part of the educational team any time a child is identified as having any degree or type of hearing loss.

Roles of special education-related service professionals have changed since the passage of P.L. 94-142. Many children are spending a majority of their day in the general education classroom, however services can be delivered in a variety of settings ranging from the general education classroom to a one-on-one setting. Professionals deliver services based upon the educationally necessary model, which is determined by members of the Individualized Education Program team. Regardless of where services are delivered, when there are multiple related service professionals on a child’s educational team, there is a great deal of collaboration and communication required. A basic framework for ensuring this occurs includes selecting a key communication person or case manager, striving for clarity in communication, setting a schedule for consistent check-ins, removing discipline jargon, and communicating what is important to parents.

Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are one of the least included in the general education environment, only falling behind children with intellectual disabilities, multiple disabilities, and deaf/blindness (U.S. Department of Education, 2015). Teacher attitudes, knowledge and training of ASD, and administrative support are essential components of successful inclusive environments (Ferraioli & Harris, 2011; Harding, 2009). Researchers have also identified evidence-based practices to support students with ASD (National Autism Center, 2015; Wong et al., 2014). This chapter provides research related to inclusion of students with ASD, factors that may influence inclusion rates, and provides educators a few practices to try if they are given the opportunity to work with a student with ASD in their inclusive classroom.

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders (E/BD) present unique challenges to the families and educators supporting them. Even though families and educators report that behavioral issues can be identified by age 3 (Walker, Ramsey, & Gresham, 2004), the commonly used wait-and-see approach to intervening results in children with E/BD not receiving services until after the age of 10 (Park & Scott, 2009). By this time, behaviors have become chronic (Lewis, Jones, Horner, & Sugai, 2010) and educators primarily focus interventions on the child's social skills and behavioral deficits while there is a lack of focus on the student's academic needs (Lane, 2007). The purpose of this chapter is to review trends in E/BD research and practice that specifically focus on social emotional and academic interventions. While there is a strong history and direction for behavioral interventions for students with E/BD, researchers have only begun to investigate the academic learning needs of this population of students. The documented deficits in reading, writing, and mathematics for students with E/BD make it clear that further research is needed in these areas. The use of strategies including self-mediated, group/peer-mediated interventions, and explicit instruction may be effective teaching strategies across content areas. Initial studies show not only improved academic outcomes but also increases in positive behavior. The need for teachers and researchers to focus on the whole child, both the social emotional needs and the academic deficits, is imperative in order to improve the lives of children with E/BD.

Today's classroom differs greatly from the classroom a decade ago. This is due, in part, to the changing demographics of students across the United States where diversity is now the norm. As children enter the educational system with diverse backgrounds, they are exposed to new experiences that facilitate changes in interests, behaviors, and learning styles. One way to address diversity in the classrooms is to focus on the model of differentiated instruction (DI). The purpose of this chapter is to discuss DI and its relationship to Universal Design for Learning (UDL), provide information why DI is a valuable model for students with EBD, and review DI modifications and adaptations that serve as academic and behavior change elements in the classroom. At the core of both of these models lies the need for flexibility and adaptations to the learning environment and materials to meet the needs of all students. Furthermore, there is a heavy emphasis from both of these constructs to allow all students access to the general education environment – not just physical but the educational benefits. To best address the social, emotional, behavioral, and academic needs of students with EBD, educators must differentiate their instruction.

In 2018, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released the statistic that 1 out of every 59 children had a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Young children with ASD have unique needs specifically related to the characteristics that impact their communication and social emotional and behavioral development. These unique needs require early and intensive intervention to minimize their lifelong impact. It is important to identify and use evidence-based interventions to help parents support their children at home, and as a continuation of the skills they are being taught in other settings. This chapter will address the prevalence of young children with ASD, the impact and need for family involvement in intervention, and service provision and potential interventions.