10 Critical Components for Success in the Special Education Classroom

Your blueprint for building structure, consistency, and accountability year-round!

This must-have guide provides special education teachers with a solid, workable action plan to manage the classroom and ensure student success. Learn instructional strategies to:

• Support all students with special needs,  including those with more severe disabilities
• Organize your classroom, materials, and staff and student schedules
• Plan and assess standards-based lessons, annual IEP’s, behavioral interventions, and more
• Foster parent communication and staff collaboration

Packed with real-world examples, free tools to use and share, a list of resources and a helpful glossary, this dynamic resource will inspire you, develop your teacher toolbox, and ensure your students are on the path to achievement!

Marcia Rohrer lives in Houston, Texas, and currently is an educational consultant for Behavior Plus, Inc. in Friendswood, Texas.  She has worked closely with school district special education directors on how to implement the 10 Critical Components in various types of special education classrooms.  She has consulted with special education teachers who are now using these components in their classrooms.  Her special area of interest and expertise is teaching parents and teachers the importance of using visual strategies and ways to structure the classroom and home to increase student success.

During her 24 years of experience teaching students in self-contained and resource settings, she was a liaison between school and parents, presented numerous in-services and workshops to educators and parents, and served as an In-Home and Parent Trainer.  She was also a founding member of an innovative district-wide team of autism professionals.

She and her co-author, Nannette Samson, have presented in-services and workshops on the 10 Critical Components as well as other topics at the Texas Council of Administrators of Special Education, at the Texas State Autism Conference, and at Educational Regional Service Centers throughout Texas. 

Nannette Samson is an educational consultant for Behavior Plus Inc. in Friendswood, Texas.  When she is not presenting the two day workshop based on this book with her co-author and good friend, Marcia Rohrer, she presents various parent and teacher workshops, conducts In-Home and Parent Training evaluations, teaches social skills classes, assists teachers in implementing the 10 Critical Components in their classrooms, and consults with schools and parents.  

As a retired teacher whose degrees include both Elementary and Special Education, she has over 26 years of experience teaching students with special needs in self contained, resource, and inclusion settings.  Nannette also served as a district-wide consultant to general and special education teachers regarding implementation of students’ individual education plans, behavior strategies, and classroom management.  Her last five years in the public school system were spent as a member of her district’s autism support team providing In-Home and Parent Training services, consulting with educational staff and parents, and serving as a liaison between parents and school personnel. 

Her special area of emphasis has been assisting students and their families with the transition process in moving from elementary to intermediate school.  Nannette has presented numerous workshops and in-services throughout Texas at Educational Regional Service Centers, school districts, the Texas State Autism Conference, and the Texas Council of Administrators of Special Education.