Kelly Hunter

We surveyed almost 50 K-12 classroom teachers and special educators across the United States and interviewed 12 of them to understand their experiences with students with exceptional needs during real or simulated school-based crisis situations, the kind of training they received (if any) to meet the needs of all students during such situations, and what kind of support they need (if any) to ensure the safety of exceptional students during real or simulated school-based crisis situations. Preliminary analysis of the data suggests that classroom teachers and special educators are not prepared enough and are not receiving specific training to support exceptional children during school crisis situations even though almost all of them have experienced such situations.