Inclusive Education In A Strengths Based Era Mapping The Future Of The Field The Norton Series On Inclusive Education For Students With Disabilities

It’s time to focus on what students can do, rather than what they can’t. In this inaugural book in their Inclusive Education for Students with Disabilities series, Michael L. Wehmeyer and Jennifer A. Kurth explore central, defining questions for the field of special and inclusive education: who, what, and where do we teach; what works in inclusive education; and where does inclusive education go now? Arguing that the concept of disability for the past fifty years has emphasized students as incapable and incompetent, the authors propose instead to build on a growing understanding that students with disabilities can be successful and meet high expectations, and that educators have the knowledge and skills to achieve this. From this strength-based perspective, the presumption is that disability is part of, and not apart from, typical human functioning. Using this lens, Wehmeyer and Kurth describe effective practices to guide instruction in inclusive settings—practices that begin with a consideration of each student’s strengths and capacities, rather than with a diagnosis.

It’s time to focus on what students can do, rather than what they can’t. In this inaugural book in their Inclusive Education for Students with Disabilities series, Michael L. Wehmeyer and Jennifer A. Kurth explore central, defining questions for the field of special and inclusive education: who, what, and where do we teach; what works in inclusive education; and where does inclusive education go now? Arguing that the concept of disability for the past fifty years has emphasized students as incapable and incompetent, the authors propose instead to build on a growing understanding that students with disabilities can be successful and meet high expectations, and that educators have the knowledge and skills to achieve this. From this strength-based perspective, the presumption is that disability is part of, and not apart from, typical human functioning. Using this lens, Wehmeyer and Kurth describe effective practices to guide instruction in inclusive settings—practices that begin with a consideration of each student’s strengths and capacities, rather than with a diagnosis.

A playbook for designing schools where no student is marginalized. Educators all over the country are waking to a collective realization: The hope and compassion they have for their students is not enough to counteract the inequitable policies and practices of the school system. Students and communities who have been historically disenfranchised along lines of race and disability continue to face predictable barriers to opportunity and independence. In Build Equity, Join Justice, the authors present a new path forward that leads away from deficit-focused policies and toward strengths-based practices. The authors’ ten equity-advancing principles, based on the groundbreaking work of the SWIFT Education Center in multiple school districts, are designed to address the learning needs and social concerns of all students without requiring them or their advocates to “ask permission” to be included. Complete with practical tools and reflective activities throughout, this book empowers educators at every level to transform their schools into equity-advancing, justice-centered institutions.

High-leverage practices are key to collaborative co-teaching in an inclusive setting.

This book addresses the tensions of existing theories and practices of inclusive education from an international perspective. Adopting Disability Critical Race Theory in Education (DisCrit) and Critical Disability Studies (CDS), the authors expose how race neutral knowledge characterizes inclusive education and exhorts readers to consider how intersectional perspectives provide more complex and nuanced understandings about ways in which racism and ableism simultaneously circulate as intersecting oppressions in schools and societies and across geographical borders. The authors begin by engaging in a critical analysis of the genesis of inclusive education before exploring how existing policies and practices of inclusive education in the global North evade the collusive nature of oppressions faced by minoritized students with disabilities and are uncritically transferred into the global South. Ultimately, the book encourages readers to reconceptualize inclusive education and move towards developing and sustaining transformative notions of global justice.

Peer-mediated interventions benefit all students in the classroom. Peer-mediated interventions are a category of practices in which students without disabilities provide academic and social support to classmates with disabilities in inclusive classrooms, cafeterias, and on playgrounds. These support strategies are shown to have positive effects on academic, interpersonal, and social development—not only for students with disabilities, but also for their classmates who serve as peer supports. Students with a variety of disabilities benefit from peer-mediated support interventions, including students with intellectual disabilities, autism spectrum disorder, and multiple disabilities. In this book, Matthew Brock provides educators with a practical guide to the implementation of peer-mediated interventions. General and special education teachers will receive expert guidance on how to decide which combination of interventions is likely to work best for each child, and how to collaborate with paraeducators and each other to implement the selected strategies.

The research is clear: Including students with disabilities in general education classrooms is the most effective way for all students to learn. If you are working toward greater inclusivity in your school or system, this book from educators and inclusion experts Julie Causton, Kate MacLeod, Kristie Pretti-Frontczak, Jenna Mancini Rufo, and Paul Gordon is an invaluable guide for you and your leadership team. Chock-full of research, resources, and seasoned advice, The Way to Inclusion walks you step-by-step through the inclusivity change process, from envisioning your path to reimagining the roles of existing staff and everything in between. The book outlines seven clearly defined milestones tied to an Action Plan that will help you stay the course with so vital an initiative. In addition to milestones and leadership questions, you'll find * Instructions for conducting an equity review of your system with a focus on special education. * Guidance for creating and analyzing service-delivery maps, including before-and-after examples from systems that have successfully shifted to greater inclusivity. * Classroom observation and staff survey tools. * First-person accounts from educators who have undergone the change process. * Best practices for developing an inclusivity-focused vision statement. * Downloadable forms and templates to help you move forward with implementation. There is no excuse for segregating our students with disabilities from the rest of the student body. This indispensable guide will help you make certain that all students in your system not only learn but also thrive in the least restrictive environment possible.

Aligned with CEC Initial Content Standards, Teaching Everyone is a core text that fully prepares teachers to see past disability labels and work with all children's individual needs and strengths. Includes teaching strategies for all major academic content areas.

This book is a panoramic view of inclusive education, past, present, and future. Grounded in historical perspective and fueled by contemporary accomplishments, the insightful discussions in this volume cover a wide range of issues, from program implementation and classroom supports to court decisions and financing. The authors compare successes and setbacks from schools and studies nationwide, drawing the big picture of practice and research. Complementing their highly informed, balanced analysis of special education and inclusion programs are highlights of the results from a revealing national study of inclusive education. Emphasizing the need for the concurrent development of inclusion and school restructuring, this book gives policy makers, administrators, school board members, teachers and parents a solid understanding of the process of school reform, as well as a vision for the 21st century. - Back cover.

A rich view of inclusive education at the intersection of language, literacy, and technology—drawing on case study research in a diverse full-inclusion US school before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite advancing efforts at integration, the segregation of students with disabilities from their nondisabled peers persists. In the United States, 34 percent of all students with disabilities spend at least 20 percent of their instructional time in segregated classrooms. For students with intellectual or multiple disabilities, segregated placement soars to 80 percent. In Voices on the Margins, Yenda Prado and Mark Warschauer provide an ethnography of an extraordinary full-inclusion public charter school in the western United States—Future Visions Academy. And they ask: What does it mean to be inclusive in today’s schools with their increasingly pervasive use of digital technologies? Voices on the Margins examines the ways digital technologies support inclusion and language and literacy practices for culturally and linguistically diverse children with and without disabilities. A wide range of qualitative data collected in the case study illuminates three central themes: (1) the kinds of social organization that allow a fully inclusive environment for children with disabilities to thrive, (2) the ways that digital technologies can be used to help students express their voice and agency, while developing language and literacy skills, and (3) the ways that digital technologies can be used to foster stronger networks and connections between students, teachers, staff, and parents.