Written by an experienced team of practitioners and scholars, this text attempts to fill the gap in texts that specifically address the needs of Learning Disabilities (LD) students in the socioemotional and mental health domains. By providing a foundational understanding of some of the salient issues facing students with learning disabilities, we hope to empower all of those who are working to ensure their success by providing the particular challenges that LD students and their families may face, and strategies and best practices for building creativity, resiliency, prosocial behavior, and positive mental health. As a practitioner and family-oriented text, this book seeks to offer a truncated review of relevant literature followed by suggestions to guide practice.

'Maximizing Mental Health Services: Evidence-Based Practices that Promote Emotional Well-Being' examines best therapeutic practices for patients, therapists, graduate professors, family members and all who struggle to find the most effective treatment modalities for those dealing with mental health challenges. Mental health issues are rising at an alarming rate, while positive therapeutic outcomes have not kept pace and remain low for many conditions, making an investigation of evidence-based treatment options critically important to the helping profession. While certain types of therapy bring success to specific clients, these modalities cannot be easily applied to all client profiles. Understanding the strengths of each modality and how to match them to the respective needs of the client will be emphasized. Furthermore, the impact of counselors’ own traits on the client-therapist relationship is an important and often overlooked topic that will be explored. Therapy practices have changed over the past decade to include non-traditional options; therefore, the authors investigate the ways in which these practices have either helped or hindered patient success. Lastly, the book offers readers information on resources for further information on the evidence-based practices presented within.

This unique book informs elementary school counselor practice in a positive way that changes the lives of students with learning disabilities by helping to engage them in their learning in an effective and concrete manner. Through a comprehensive lens, this book gives elementary school counselors the tools they need to work with students with learning disabilities in a school setting, starting with an overview of learning disabilities as they apply to the role of the elementary school counselor. The second part of the book then explores these topics in depth with a step-by-step program for creating counselor-led groups for elementary school students with learning disabilities. The 6-to-8-week plan outlines how elementary school counselors can create and implement the program in their own schools and is accompanied by worksheets and handouts to help engage students. Exceptionally beneficial for elementary school counselors and graduate students in school counseling programs, it is a guide book for counselors working with elementary school students with learning disabilities.

The Burden of Being a Boy: Bolstering Educational Achievement and Emotional Well-Being in Young Males is written for everyone who has a stake in the health and well-being of contemporary American boys and adolescents—parents, educators, counselors, educational administrators, student services personnel, higher education faculty, and students studying education and psychology. Mainly though, this is a book for those who are committed to seeing all boys grow and thrive while avoiding what has been termed as toxic male culture in this, and other, countries. While this book largely focuses on understanding the roles that schooling and upbringing play on boys’ development, it explores this complex topic with a clear belief that there are myriad factors that influence each boy’s developmental trajectory and that there are many ways to promote healthy, prosocial development among all young men.

Throughout the chapters of this book, the reader will be introduced to the thirteen disability categories included in IDEA (specific learning disabilities, emotional/behavioral disorders, autism, other health impaired, intellectually disabled, multiple disabilities, speech or language impairments, traumatic brain injury, hearing impairment, deaf/blind, deafness, visual impairment, and orthopedic impairment), using the legally established definitions. Lengthy descriptions of best practices, modifications and accommodations follow, offering a complete picture of each disability and how educators and parents collaboratively can assist the struggling student. To set the stage, the book begins with chapters that discuss special education in general, response to intervention as an intermediary step in the academic continuum of support, and the individualized education plan process. Subsequent chapters examine each of the thirteen aforementioned IDEA disability categories, which have not been commonly incorporated into one comprehensive resource; however, for the sake of brevity, some disability categories have been combined when doing so did not impact practice implications. Emphasis is placed on effective classroom strategies and interventions associated with each disability category with the intent of providing practitioners and those who support them with the information and tools necessary to support students with identified educational needs. To the extent possible, the primary authors sought to ensure this resource was practical and user-friendly for educators who work directly with students with the range of recognized disabilities. This book demystifies the special education process and disability categories as well as offers educators and their families the tools to help our students, who have one or more disabilities, find life-long success. Ensuring the best for our students with disabilities requires that we first acknowledge and support the hard work and deep commitment of those professionals and parents/guardians who devote their lives to teaching, reaching, mentoring and advocating for those most vulnerable in our classrooms.

This book examines the critical issues associated with the topic of social justice in primary and secondary education. Understanding the challenges related to educational inequity requires a comprehensive and systematic re-examination of educational reform; specifically, this book defines social justice education, offers different perspectives from major thought leaders and examines the challenges faced by different populations when it comes to receiving equal opportunity and treatment. Emphasis will be placed on programs, approaches and strategies to increasingly teach tolerance, respect, and understanding within and between these groups and members of the majority culture. The focus, then, will be on educational practices designed to prepare students from diverse backgrounds to be active, contributing, and fully participatory members of our contemporary society. This book is most appropriate for preservice and veteran teachers, school and educational psychologists, related special education service professionals, educational administrators, guidance counselors, graduate education professors, policymakers, parents, and student leaders who wish to gain a better understanding of how social justice can and should become a valuable part of the educational landscape.

Empathic Teaching: Promoting Social Justice in the Contemporary Classroom is written for those who are committed to employing social justice practices in the classroom. The intent is to educate the next generation to value tolerance and to have respect and empathy for others in society. While this tome will largely focus on understanding the role that equity should play in P-12 education, it will do so with an acute awareness that there are myriad factors that influence student engagement and the motivation to learn. Although some of the subjects under consideration have been written about elsewhere broadly, this tome will offer a unique contribution by examining each from a social equity perspective. As schools move to ensure a more inclusive and well-rounded student body, this book will be a substantial asset to anyone interested in advancing a social justice agenda.

Contemporary society has imposed a set of unrealistic and confusing rules for men over 18 to follow. With post-adolescent men experiencing lower rates of academic success at the post-secondary level and escalating rates of violence perpetrated by this age group, jobs, careers and life itself are in crisis. These men in transition have emotional, social, academic, and career struggles that affect every aspect of their lives. Masculinity in the Making: Managing the Transition to Manhood; therefore, will examine these issues and offer strategies and examples of what is possible for the post-adolescent male; more specifically, attention will be paid to theories and health issues specific to this population, social and cultural issues, academic and career interventions, aggression and violence, and media portrayals. The reader will be left with a deep and clear understanding of the needs of men as well as how mentoring and counseling can provide them with the support needed to be successful and productive members of society.

What role does student engagement play in educational achievement on the post-secondary campus? And, what factors affect each student’s ability and motivation to engage with the full college experience, both in and outside of the classroom? It is now widely acknowledged that post-secondary institutions must not only focus on facilitating the transition from high school to college, but that they must also make a concerted effort to listen to the needs and experiences of their students in order to achieve maximal involvement within the college environment. Students need to be captivated by at least one element of their college experience - whether that be in the classroom, dorm, or extracurricular activities - in order to form a bond with their institution and feel motivated and attached enough to put in the hard work until graduation. Campuses that capture their students’ interests and passions, provide spaces for them to develop as individuals, and opportunities to form meaningful professional and personal relationships have a far greater chance of both retaining their students to graduation and helping them develop as whole human beings who will contribute. This book studies the many facets of student engagement as it attempts to define student engagement, differentiating it from involvement, and covers seminal theories of college student engagement. The contributions to this volume discuss the powerful role that relationships play in helping students identify their interests and talents, and other examples of best practice when it comes to creating engaging classroom experiences, such as collaborative projects with peers, study abroad, and learning that is situated in real-life problems that are of importance to the student.

As a result of this distressing information on the challenges facing our educators, this book was written to highlight approaches and strategies that have been found to improve student outcomes. Administrative factors, educational policy and law, implementation of evidence-based teaching practices, collaborating with teachers’ unions, fostering partnerships with parents as well as community organizations, meaningful professional development, and considerations for early childhood and special populations of students have been found to play a role in achieving such improved results.