Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), elementary and secondary special education teachers are required to be “highly qualified.” The definition of “highly qualified,” within IDEA, closely aligns with the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and requires highly qualified teachers to: 1) have a bachelor’s degree, 2) have full state certification or licensure, and 3) demonstrate subject-matter knowledge for the subjects they teach. While reports indicate that almost 90% of special education teachers are “highly qualified,” there is a considerable shortage of teachers qualified to serve students with emotional disturbance/behavioral disorders and ASD (Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, 2011). In particular, 46% of districts routinely experience difficulty finding qualified applicants to serve students with ASD.