The Fifth Edition of Richard Gargiulo’s well-respected Special Education in Contemporary Society: An Introduction to Exceptionality offers a comprehensive, engaging, and easy-to-read introduction to special education. Grounded in research and updated to reflect the most current thinking and standards of the field, the book provides students with the skills and knowledge to become successful teachers. Gargiulo’s text encourages a deep awareness and understanding of the human side of special education. The book provides students a rare glimpse into the lives of exceptional students and their families, as well as the teachers that work with exceptional persons throughout their lives.

The New Edition of Gargiulo’s groundbreaking text maintains the broad context and research focus for which it is known, while expanding on current trends and contemporary issues to better serve both pre-service and in-service teachers of exceptional individuals. The text is organized into two distinct parts to offer students a truly comprehensive and humane understanding of exceptionality. In Part I, readers are provided strong foundational perspective on broad topics that affect all individuals with an exceptionality. In Part II, Gargiulo engages students with thorough examinations of individual exceptionalities, and discusses historical, personal, and educational details of each exceptionality as it affects a person across the lifespan.

“This is a well-written, comprehensive, well-organized text. It is obvious that much thought has been put into the supplementary materials and features.”—Jenny Fererro, Palomar College