Reconceptualizing Disability in Education


Book Description

Reconceptualizing Disability in Education provides an essential critical exploration of problematic discourses, practices, and pedagogies that inform how disability is presently understood and responded to within the field of education. Luigi Iannacci interrogates and destabilizes ableist grand narratives that dominate every aspect of how disability is linguistically, bureaucratically, procedurally, and pedagogically configured within education. Ultimately, this book seeks to forward human rights for people with disabilities in educational contexts by clarifying and operationalizing inclusion so that it is not just a model necessitated by a hierarchy of legality, but rather a set of beliefs and practices based on critical analyses and a reconceptualization of current understandings and responses to disability that prevent inclusion and human rights from being realized. As the book is grounded in reconceptualist theorizing, it draws on multiple perspectives—including critical disability theory, post-modernism, critical theory, critical pedagogy, and social constructivism—to deconstruct and destabilize what is currently taken for granted about disability and those ascribed disabled identities within education. A variety of personal, professional, research experiences and data are offered and drawn on to critically address questions regarding philosophical, epistemological, pedagogical, organizational, economic, and leadership issues as they relate to disability in education. Critical incidents, interviews, documents, and artifacts are drawn on and narratively presented to explore how disability is presently configured in language, identification, and placement processes, discourses, pedagogies, and interactions with students deemed disabled, as well as their parents/caregivers. This critical narrative approach fosters alternative ways of thinking, speaking, being, and doing that forward a human rights focused model of disability that sees as its mandate the amelioration of people with disabilities within education.




Strengths-Based Approaches to Educating All Learners with Disabilities


Book Description

Michael Wehmeyer, a leading scholar with over four decades of experience as a teacher, teacher educator, researcher, and advocate, provides a cogent but accessible account of the evolution of special education. Offering a compelling vision of where the field should be headed in the next decade, he notes how the digital revolution has made it possible for all learners to gain access to content and instruction. This text focuses on the need to consider how young people with (and without) disabilities learn and the importance of creating personalizable education as strengths-based approaches to disability move education away from diagnosis and remediation to schoolwide instruction for all students. This book is not written as a criticism of traditional special education models, but instead examines the big ideas for going beyond special education that can improve outcomes for learners with disabilities and prepare them for the 21st-century world. “If you are part of the field, you must choose whether to look backward or forward. This book includes the tools you need for the latter.” —Sue Swenson, president, Inclusion International “Dr. Wehmeyer masterfully articulates the flaws in our current approach and offers a roadmap to a more promising future for our nation’s children.” —Melody Bruce Musgrove, The University of Mississippi




Reconceptualizing Early Childhood Care and Education


Book Description

Reconceptualizing Early Childhood Care and Education is a foundational text, which presents contemporary theories and debates about early education and child care in many nations. Audiences include students in graduate courses focused on early childhood and primary education, critical cultural studies of childhood, critical curriculum studies and critical theories.




Excluded by Choice


Book Description

Through powerful narratives of parents of Black and Latinx students with disabilities, this book provides a unique look at the relationship between disability, race, urban space, and market-driven educational policies. Offering significant insights into complex forms of educational exclusion, the text illustrates the actual challenges and paradoxes of school choice faced by today’s parents. Included are explanations for the kinds of injustices students with disabilities face every day, as well as resources that can be helpful for engaging in collective action aimed at improving educational services for all children. This accessible resource offers recommendations to help policymakers, charter school administrators, teachers, and families tackle the challenges of school choice while dealing effectively with the new generation of inclusive schools. Book Features: Presents a first-of-its-kind look at how Black and Latinx parents of students with disabilities experience market-driven approaches to education. Identifies the consequences of push-out practices in charter schools and how families experience and resist these practices. Situates school choice amid historical and compounding forms of exclusion associated with geographical (neighborhood) and social (disability, race, and class) locations. Provides lessons learned and valuable guidance for creating a new generation of inclusive charter schools.




Nonverbal Learning Disabilities


Book Description

Increasing numbers of children and adolescents are being diagnosed with nonverbal learning disabilities (NLD), yet clinicians and educators have few scientific resources to guide assessment and intervention. This book presents up-to-date knowledge on the nature of NLD and how to differentiate it from DSM-5 disorders such as autism spectrum disorder and developmental coordination disorder. Effective strategies for helping K-12 students and their families address the challenges of NLD in and outside of the classroom are illustrated with vivid case material. The authors thoughtfully consider controversies surrounding NLD, discuss why the diagnosis is not included in the current DSM and ICD classification systems, and identify important directions for future research.




DisCrit—Disability Studies and Critical Race Theory in Education


Book Description

This groundbreaking volume brings together major figures in Disability Studies in Education (DSE) and Critical Race Theory (CRT) to explore some of today’s most important issues in education. Scholars examine the achievement/opportunity gaps from both historical and contemporary perspectives, as well as the overrepresentation of minority students in special education and the school-to-prison pipeline. Chapters also address school reform and the impact on students based on race, class, and dis/ability and the capacity of law and policy to include (and exclude). Readers will discover how some students are included (and excluded) within schools and society, why some citizens are afforded expanded (or limited) opportunities in life, and who moves up in the world and who is trapped at the “bottom of the well.” Contributors: D.L. Adams, Susan Baglieri, Stephen J. Ball, Alicia Broderick, Kathleen M. Collins, Nirmala Erevelles, Edward Fergus, Zanita E. Fenton, David Gillborn, Kris Guitiérrez, Kathleen A. King Thorius, Elizabeth Kozleski, Zeus Leonardo, Claustina Mahon-Reynolds, Elizabeth Mendoza, Christina Paguyo, Laurence Parker, Nicola Rollock, Paolo Tan, Sally Tomlinson, and Carol Vincent “With a stunning set of authors, this book provokes outrage and possibility at the rich intersection of critical race, class, and disability studies, refracting back on educational policy and practices, inequities and exclusions but marking also spaces for solidarities. This volume is a must-read for preservice, and long-term educators, as the fault lines of race, (dis)ability, and class meet in the belly of educational reform movements and educational justice struggles.” —Michelle Fine, distinguished professor of Critical Psychology and Urban Education, The Graduate Center, CUNY “Offers those who sincerely seek to better understand the complexity of the intersection of race/ethnicity, dis/ability, social class, and gender a stimulating read that sheds new light on the root of some of our long-standing societal and educational inequities.” —Wanda J. Blanchett, distinguished professor and dean, Rutgers University, Graduate School of Education




The Legal Rights of Citizens with Mental Retardation


Book Description

This book is the formal presentation of the issues discussed at the Second National Conference on the Legal Rights of Citizens with Mental Retardation. A relationship between the community and its citizens with mental retardation is discussed extensively in the first section of the book. Other sections of the book are devoted to key litigation and legislation for the rights of citizens with mental retardation, law as it pertains to newborns with severe handicaps, advances in education and rehabilitation, and future strategies for advocacy. A few of the noted contributors include Carl R. Halpern, Dean of the CUNY Law School, Professor Robert A. Burt of Yale University, and Professor Robert H. Mnookin of Stanford University. This book is designed as a basic reference for advocates and others concerned with the mentally retarded.




Unifying Educational Systems


Book Description

Unifying Educational Systems encourages leaders to move beyond the traditional forms and rituals of leadership for special education that are caught within traditional definitions of a continuum of services. Grounded in public policy debates, research on teaching and learning, and an emerging consensus throughout the leadership community that calls into question our current practices, chapters in this volume provide a discussion of the purpose, principles, and paradoxes extant in the implementation of current special education policy. Chapter authors discuss how students are currently served, the feasibility of re-conceptualizing special education leadership in the current policy context, and the challenges for the future. Ultimately, Unifying Educational Systems calls for a new policy framework to integrate special education within the larger instructional support system in schools, in order to support a social justice and inclusive practices agenda.




Disability Classification in Education


Book Description

"Makes a strong contribution to the field, illuminating many issues and significant concerns."-Mary Carlson, Special Education TeacherPark Hill K-8 School, Denver, CO"A unique, timeless collection that raises interesting questions about disability classification internationally."-Wendy Dallman, Special Education TeacherNew London High School, WIPromote equal educational opportunity through improved classification practices!The identification of children for special educational services has long been a topic of debate. Are students classified accurately? Do current classification systems produce adequate education services? Have systems designed to ensure equity instead resulted in discrimination?Disability Classification in Education offers a comprehensive analysis of current classification systems and categorical labels in the United States, the United Kingdom, and other countries. Covering specific national policies from historical, sociological, and legal perspectives, this collection of articles from a group of esteemed educational researchers identifies the disparities between different classification systems and suggests changes based on recent requirements, challenges, and trends. Aligned with NCLB and the reauthorization of IDEA 2004, this edited volume examines:The evolution of special education classification policies The relevance of existing disability classification systemsDilemmas educators face in using current classification proceduresAlternatives for serving learners with special needs Approaches to developing a standardized or universal classification policyIntended to stimulate discussion and spark change, this guide helps school or district administrators and university faculty improve the professional practice of those entrusted with the development and well-being of children with disabilities.




The SAGE Handbook of Special Education


Book Description

The second edition of The SAGE Handbook of Special Education provides a comprehensive overview of special education, offering a wide range of views on key issues from all over the world. The contributors bring together up-to-date theory, research and innovations in practice, with an emphasis on future directions for the role of special education in a global context of inclusion. This brand new edition features: " New chapters on families, interagency collaboration and issues of lifelong learning " The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities " Policy reform proposals " Equity and social justice in education " The impact of new thinking on assessment " Issues and developments in classification " The preparation and qualifications that teachers need The Handbook′s breadth, clarity and academic rigour will make it essential reading for researchers and postgraduate students, and also for practitioners, teachers, school managers and administrators.