ABSTRACT
Educational psychology is a discipline that attends to the factors and processes relevant to and implicated in learning. These factors and processes include motivation, engagement, and achievement—to name a few. Harnessing J. Coleman and A. Hagell’s framework, risk factors were identified as factors increasing the probability of maladaptive outcomes, including illness, dysfunction, and disorder. The special needs space also presents unique challenges to educational psychology. The reality is that many at-risk students experience more than one disability, disorder, and so on. Importantly, however, understanding of boundary conditions can also inform the generality or generalizability of psycho-educational theories, factors, and processes. The psychologically oriented authors were selected for their reach into one or more special needs area. The special educators were identified on the basis of their connections to educational psychology. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
