"We Share the Students is a book with a most fitting name for any teacher with multilingual learners, however, it is especially relevant for those teachers who engage in collaborative instructional and assessment practices with multilingual learners with exceptionalities. Honigsfeld and Cohan artfully interweave the knowledge and expertise of language development and special education in their combined understanding of these students’ complex identities. By highlighting the multiple dimensions of Universal Design for Learning as a framework for creating inclusive collaborative learning environments, multilingual learners with exceptionalities add their voices to help authenticate the field where they once were silenced. This timely addition to your teacher collaboration library offers insight and inspiration for all educators who work at the intersection of these two marginalized communities."

Margo Gottlieb, Author and Consultant

"Calling us to turn away from the 'your kids, my kids' mindset that has long thwarted collaborations in schools, this much-needed book equips teachers with concrete strategies and tools to work together in supporting multilingual learners with exceptionalities."

Sara E.N. Kangas, Associate Professor, Lehigh University

"Honigsfeld and Cohan have put together a clear, concise plan that will lead to greater student outcomes for MLE’s through inclusive collaborative teaching. The idea of the three-way co-teaching builds capacity for the teachers when all are focused on designing learning experiences for MLE’s, and brings a new understanding to language deficits vs. language acquisition. The tables are digestible ways to share information to busy staff following a coaching session."

Alice Braunstein, Special Education Grades 1-6, NYCDOE, NY

"Honigsfeld and Cohan have drawn upon their considerable background knowledge to create the go-to reference book for teachers working with Multilingual Learners with exceptionalities. We Share the Students is filled with summary charts and figures, graphs, resources, ideas, suggestions, reflective questions, tools, protocols, mindful moments, and voices from the field to support each topic. The book addresses the key issues of collaborative planning, program models, collaborative approach to identification and assessment, co-delivering of instruction, and capacity building for sustained collaboration of multilingual learners with exceptionalities. A 'must-have' book!"

Linda O’Konek, Former Elementary Schools Executive Director, Norfolk Public Schools, VI

"Drs. Andrea Honigsfeld and Audrey Cohan, both experts in their respective fields, have written an important contribution to the body of knowledge of transdisciplinary collaboration by focusing on multilingual learners of English with exceptionalities. This text, Collaboration for Multilingual Learners with Exceptional Students: We Share the Students, shares practical strategies for teams of Special Educators and MLL/ELL specialists to plan using Universal Design for Learning as a foundation, communicate clearer, and share their knowledge and perspectives with one another for improvement in teaching and supporting multilingual learners of English with exceptionalities. The text incorporates storytelling in each chapter with teachers’ perspectives, voices, and insights and provides solutions and tools/protocols for different grades and contexts. There is no higher recommendation that I can give this text than to indicate, I will be using it in my teacher education classes very soon."

Kate Mastruserio Reynolds, Professor of TESOL, Central Washington University

"In a world where students with disabilities are often pressured to mask their true selves, I am so utterly grateful that this book was written. It is a significant step towards language equity and appreciating neurodivergence. Honigsfeld and Cohan provide an incredible framework for how to change the system and honor the child."

Kelly Cray, Founder, The Autist Educator

"In this spectacular book Drs. Honigsfeld and Cohan guide us toward the long-awaited answers we need to the many crucial questions we have on ways to serve multilingual learners with exceptionalities. Their brilliant work brings clarity to the forefront so we may shift mindsets and practices that integrate services in the most collaborative, innovative, and inclusive ways. Now, more than ever, this book provides the essential foundation we require to elevate multilingual learners’ exceptionalities as assets within the language development processes. By using this guide, we may better offer, as the authors say, 'presence, dignity, and a most-expansive learning environment' to multilingual learners with exceptionalities through shared practices. This book is a must-have for every educator’s professional library!!"

Dr. Joan Lachance, Associate Professor, Author, and Consultant. UNC Charlotte and Clover Seeds Educational Consulting

"How to best teach multilingual learners with exceptionalities is often clouded with a tug-of-war between Special Education and English Language Development. To overcome this, the number one best strategy really is collaborative practices. This book is a practical exploration of assets-based approaches to multilingual learners with exceptionalities that are inclusive of families, as well as the ecosystem of all professionals who serve these students. This is a game changer in planning for MTSS, and the pre-referral process as well as enacting culturally and linguistically responsive IEPS."

Kelly-Ann Cooney, Co-Teaching Coach, Martha's Vineyeard Schools, MA

"There are so many touch points that make this an excellent book. Kudos and congratulations to Andrea and Audrey for a fresh and innovative approach that will serve global communities!"

Majorie H. Haley, Ph.D, Professor of Education, George Mason University , VA

"The education of multilingual learners with exceptionalities requires a schoolwide approach. Honigsfeld and Cohan bring a whole new dimension to this work. Expert scholars on collaboration, they offer a strengths-based framework for bringing grade level, content, ELD, bilingual, dual language, and special educators as well as support staff, administrators, families, and local community members together. Their ground-breaking source for creating an environment for students with exceptionalities to thrive should be a staple in all our professional libraries."

Dr. Debbie Zacarian, Author and Founder, Zacarian and Associates

"An outstanding guide from the voices we most need collaborating in education now. Dr. Honigsfeld and Dr. Cohan offer the opportunity to make a better world in collaboration with our community, with the research-based premise that by centering students who need us most --multilingual learners with exceptions in this case--we will better serve all students. Dr. Honigsfeld and Dr. Cohan exemplify how collaboration creates avenues of support for the many differing learning needs on any team. We've all heard about asset-based philosophies, but putting them in to action can be a challenge. Here, a great set of questions, tools, examples, and testimonies from the field to start processing our teaching strategies with assets in mind and in unity: the only way to make success systemic. 'Many hands make light work' comes to life as we accomplish the goals that the treasures need us to accomplish now. An essential bit of wisdom in preparation for teachers wanting to succeed at more than a minimum requirements with culturally and linguistically diverse students across the country."

Myrna Muñoz, Executive Director, M&M Multilingual Equity Education Consultancy LLC

"I've found the perfect book! I'm thrilled about the potential for collaboration it brings as I introduce it to my team. With its insightful structure, practical tools, and meaningful content, it promises to enhance our support for multilingual learners. This book will enable us to share knowledge, expertise, and foster collective thinking. Huge thanks to Andrea Honigsfeld and Audrey Cohan for their timely contribution."

Amy Brennan, Elementary Principal, Cutchogue East Elementary School, NY

"Have you wondered how to best service your multilingual learners with exceptionalities? If you answered, yes, then this book is for you. It explores the different ways to collaborate with the special service team to meet the needs of these students. I love how the authors include voices from the field to show us the strategies being used in actual schools and to hear teacher perspectives. In addition, they provide reflection questions at the end of each chapter to discuss with colleagues or use for your own reflection of your practices and what is best to meet the needs of your multilingual students with exceptionalities."

Jennifer Frankowiak, Elementary ELD/Newcomer Teacher, Wes Bloomfield Schools, MI

It’s perfectly fitting that Andrea Honigsfeld and Audrey Cohan focus on language to dive deeply into Collaboration for Multilingual Learners with Exceptionalities: universally welcoming learners; rightful presence; educational dignity; expansive learning environments; multilingual consciousness; intersectional traps; asset-based lens. Afterall, language is definitional to culture and Honigsfeld and Cohan provide a much-needed dignified framework for collaborators to support multilingual learners with exceptionalities. This text is certainly needed in the increasingly diversifying field of education and I’m excited to use it to expand my graduate students’ knowledge in my course on co-teaching. The sketchnotes by Carmen Nguyen and the artwork by Coleen Wilcox give visual representation to the many complex concepts presented and add a great deal to the understanding of multilingual learners with exceptionalities. Well done!

Gloria Lodato Wilson, Ph.D., Director, Secondary Special Education Programs, Hofstra University

"In their new book, Multilingual Learners with Exceptionalities: We Share the Students, Honigsfeld & Cohan thoughtfully and practically address the needs of students who are at the intersection of diversity and exceptionalities. They designed the book in an accessible and systematic manner that creates space for educators at any stage of their career (beginning through experienced) to engage with the content from multiple vantage points, making it a valuable resource for a wide range of stakeholders. While attending to the importance of addressing the needs of all students, they provide specific examples that educators can use to learn more about their students and create the most expansive learning environments to support student success."

David Forker, Ph.D., Coordinator of EL Language Programs

"Working with multilingual learners with exceptionalities can seem like a steep hill to climb, but Multilingual Learners with Exceptionalities: We Share the Students is well organized, and each chapter breaks down various challenges and opportunities in a clear, concise, and straightforward manner. The graphic 'sketch notes' provide a visual overview of each set of topics, and features like 'reflections' and 'collaborations' contribute to parent partnerships and ongoing professional learning, bringing a strong real-world component to the text. I cannot wait to share this book with the graduate students in English as a new language at our school of Education!"

Audrey Figueroa Murphy, Ed.D., Associate Professor and Coordinator of Graduate TESOL and Bilingual Programs

"At last, a practical and informative resource that breaks down so many of the siloes between the fields of general education, bilingual/ESOL education, and special education! Grounded in universal design for learning (UDL), this book offers ideas and real applications that show what inclusive, integrated, multimodal classrooms designed with the learner in mind can and should look like. With realistic vignettes and stories from real practitioners in classrooms and positions of school and district leadership, this book not only answers the “what” and the “why” of true collaboration at many levels, but also the “how”. Offering an approach that highlights the strengths of learners and the educators who serve them, the book illustrates the notion of a “multilingual consciousness” that centers language, culture and ability in new and innovative ways. Each chapter provides thoughtful questions for reflection and connection to the realities of today’s schools that take the reader “beyond the chapter”, offering a world of possibilities. The many resources included, from helpful checklists and protocols to suggested websites and research literature make this a complete guide for educators and school and district leaders wishing to implement new collaborative practices or hone their current practices in forward-thinking ways. All of this is greatly enhanced by the cleverly designed sketchnotes that introduce each chapter. Collaboration for Multilingual Learners with Exceptionalities: We Share the Students is a book that will open up new pathways to collaboration within classrooms, across school and district hallways, and across fields. It is a resource no district should be without."

Tamara Alsace, PhD, Educational Consultant and Associate Investigator for the CUNY Initiative on Immigration and Education

"My deepest gratitude to the authors for this wonderfully positive and forward-looking volume! This engaging book will serve as an excellent guide to organize systemwide collaborative practices in support of Multilingual Neurodiverse Learners and indeed all students. The authors provide authentic resources, frameworks and voices from the field that will help schools and school districts develop universally welcoming environments. The very strengths-based, student-centered voice in this volume will inspire readers to realize that collectively they can make changes that will optimize learning and wellbeing for the students they serve."

Cristina Sánchez-López, Paridad Education Consulting and DePaul University, Chicago

This book is incredibly helpful for ALL teachers, but especially for SPED and ML teachers. The checklists and tools included are a fantastic resource. What makes this book so special is that there is very little written about this topic and it is one that challenges educators each year.

Dr. Michelle Shory, ML Specialist, JCPS, IUS, and EKU Adjunct Professor, ELL 2.0 website co-creator