Generative AI Implications for Special Education: Learning, Teaching, and Professional Development

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is rapidly transforming educational practice, creating new possibilities for teaching, learning, assessment, and professional development. While interest in GenAI within education continues to grow, much of the existing research has focused on mainstream learning environments, leaving important questions about its role in special and inclusive education largely unexplored. For learners with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), GenAI has the potential to support accessibility, personalization, communication, and engagement, but it also raises concerns related to equity, ethics, safeguarding, and the evolving role of educators. As schools and institutions increasingly adopt AI-powered tools, there is a growing need to understand how these technologies can be implemented in ways that are both pedagogically effective and responsive to the diverse needs of learners. Examining the opportunities and challenges of GenAI in special and inclusive education is therefore essential for ensuring that technological innovation supports meaningful, equitable, and inclusive educational outcomes. Generative AI Implications for Special Education: Learning, Teaching, and Professional Development critically examines the role of GenAI in special education and inclusive learning environments, offering theoretically grounded, empirical, and practice-oriented perspectives. Bridging research, policy, and educational practice, this book offers coherent and responsible approaches to GenAI use in special and inclusive education systems. Covering topics such as differentiated assessment tools, real-time differentiation of instructional materials, and rights-based architectures, this book is a fundamental academic resource for graduate and doctoral students, special education teachers, inclusive education practitioners, learning support specialists, school leaders, education agencies, educational technology developers, policymakers, and more.