Experts

Beverley Holden Johns has 40 years experience working with students with autism, learning disabilities (LD), and/or behavioral disorders (EBD) within the public schools. She supervised LD and EBD teachers in 22 school districts, was the founder and administrator of the Garrison Alternative School for students with severe EBD in Jacksonville, Illinois, and later the coordinator for staff development for the Four Rivers Special Education District. She is now a learning and behavior consultant, and an adjunct instructor for MacMurray College (where she teaches the course on Special Education Law, on Adaptations for the General Education Classroom, and on EBD).She chaired the 10th Biennial Conference of the International Association of Special Education (IASE) held June 10-14, 2007, in Hong Kong, served as President from 2006 until January 1, 2010, and presided over the 11th Biennial Conference in Alicante, Spain in 2009. She presented the Inaugural Marden Lecture at The University of Hong Kong in January, 2006.Johns is the lead author of 11 books (and co-author of 4 others) including 401 Practical Adaptations for Every Classroom, Reduction of School Violence: Alternatives to Suspension (4th edition); Techniques for Managing Verbally and Physically Aggressive Students (3rd edition); Surviving Internal Politics Within the School; Safe Schools; Teacher’s Reflective Calendar and Planning Journal; Special Educator’s Reflective Calendar and Planning Journal; Effective Curriculum and Instruction for Students with Emotional/Behavioral Disorders; Students with Disabilities and General Education: A Desktop Reference for School Personnel; Getting Behavioral Interventions Right; Preparing Test-Resistant Students for Assessments: A Staff Training Guide; Ethical Dilemmas in Education; Motivating the Unmotivated Student; Reaching Sudents with Diverse Disabilities: Cross Categorical Ideas and Activities;and The Many Faces of Special Educators: Their Unique Talents in Working with Students with Special Needs. She has written the workbook to accompany the video entitled: Paraprofessional’s Guide to Managing Student Behavior, and over 40 education and special education articles.She is co-author with Janet Lerner of the seminal college LD textbook, the 12th edition of Learning Disabilities and Related Mild Disabilities.She recently completed the writing of an online course for the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development on the common core standards and students with disabilities.She is the 2000 recipient of the CEC Outstanding Leadership Award from the International Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), served for 3 years as Chair of CEC’s Advocacy and Governmental Relations Committee, past International President of the Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders (CCBD), past President of the CEC Pioneers, and the 2007 Recipient of the Romaine P. Mackie Leadership Service Award.She is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who of American Women, Who’s Who in American Education and Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers. She has chaired ISELA, the Illinois Special Education Coalition (whose membership includes 13 Statewide organizations) for 32 years.She has presented workshops across the United States and Canada; in San Juan, Puerto Rico; Sydney, Australia (keynote); Warsaw, Poland; Wroclaw Poland (keynote); Hong Kong, China; Lima, Peru; and Riga, Latvia.She is a Past President of the Learning Disabilities Association (LDA) of Illinois and has been the National State Presidents’ Representative on the Board of LDA of America.She served as President of the Illinois Division on Learning Disabilities (DLD), and as Secretary and Governmental Relations Chair for the National Board of DLD.She is a graduate of Catherine Spalding College in Louisville, Kentucky, and received a fellowship for her graduate work at Southern Illinois University (SIU) in Carbondale where she received an M.S. in Special Education. She has done post-graduate work at the University of Illinois, Western Illinois University, SIU, and Eastern Illinois University.