Education Commons^™

Inclusive Classrooms: From Access To Engagement

Occasional Paper Series

No abstract provided.

Life In Inclusive Classrooms: Storytelling With Disability Studies In Education

Occasional Paper Series

No abstract provided.

Writing In Journals As A Tool For Expressing Ourselves: A 6-8 Week Long Writing Curriculum For A 3rd/4th Grade, Self-Contained, Special Education Classroom., Christine Carosotto

Graduate Student Independent Studies

The following writing curriculum is intended for students aged 8-12 years old in a 12:1, self-contained special education classroom setting. Through journal writing instruction, this curriculum aims to provide support to students struggling with foundational writing skills. These skills include: topic selection, stamina, organization, awareness of audience and sentence clarity. This unit’s theoretical foundation is grounded by the core components of a Writers Workshop model, the belief in developing social and oral language skills as a pre-writing tool and the importance of providing writing opportunities that incorporate choice in both topic and response format in order to increase motivation and …

I [Don’T] Belong Here: Narrating Inclusion At The Exclusion Of Others, Emily Clark

Occasional Paper Series

Borrowing from narrative research and Disability Studies in Education, Emily tells the story of her adoptive siblings Maria and Isaac, who were orphaned by AIDS. She explores the paradox of inclusion which is that it sometimes, if not oftentimes, fails and results in exclusion. A chief reason for the failure of inclusion, Emily argues, is that children with real and perceived differences challenge the “grammar” of schooling—that is, they stand out for their differences.

Rethinking "Those Kids" : Lessons Learned From A Novice Teacher's Induction Into In/Exclusion, Louis Olander

Occasional Paper Series

Argues for reframing inclusionary practices as pedagogies for equity that attend to the intersectional dynamics of race, class, and disability. He also encourages more local control over the implementation of inclusionary classroom practices.

From Access To Interaction, Daniel Atkins

Occasional Paper Series

Atkins calls on educators to see beyond access to identify “core moments” for child-centered experiential learning in inclusion classrooms. He warns that “[t]he process of scaffolding the child’s inclusion in the activities or interactions of the day can too often become conflated or confused with the process of scaffolding the child’s physical ability to gain access to those activities or interactions.”

Overcoming Barriers To Coteaching, Seamus O'Connor

Occasional Paper Series

Seamus O’Connor, a high school special education teacher, shares a story of bridging a divide. He takes a clear and honest look at the evolution of his relationship with his coteaching partner, Carol. In doing so, he explores themes of equity, trust, and negotiated differences in building a collaborative classroom.

Doing The Civil Right Thing: Supporting Children With Disabilities In Inclusive Classrooms, David J. Connor, Kristen Goldmansour

Occasional Paper Series

David J. Connor and Kristen Goldmansour explore cotaught inclusion classrooms through the lens of the social justice narrative. They write about the parents who asserted “that it was their children’s civil right to be educated within a diverse classroom, one that truly mirrored the nation’s population.” They critique the alternative to inclusion as “segregation,” which results in “devaluation, a loss in cultural capital for individuals” and argue that cotaught classrooms can upend “artificial notions of ‘normalcy’ that have served to diminish and devalue ‘disabled’ children.”

Inclusion: What Came Before, Judith Lesch

Occasional Paper Series

Judith Lesch’s firsthand account of her teaching experiences from the late 1970s through the mid-1990s takes us on a journey through the evolving approaches to inclusion.

Front Matter And Introduction, Valentine Burr

Occasional Paper Series

The writers in this issue of Occasional Papers advocate for models of inclusion that support children’s capabilities and challenge systemic inequities based on ableism and cultural biases. They examine the complex and changing nature of collaboration between general and special educators in inclusion settings. Underlying these essays, though not always explicitly stated, is recognition that the fields of special education and disability studies can deepen and inform each other.

Adolescents With Sensory Processing Disorder In Middle School Settings : A Guidebook For Learning Support Coordinators, Jenna Borden

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This paper explores how sensory processing disorder (SPD) impacts adolescents' lives and their success in school and provides special educators with resources to support students with SPD.

Talking With Symbols, Elizabeth Helfman

Thought and Practice: (1987-1991) the Journal of the Graduate School of Bank Street College of Education

Discusses a classroom of seven children with cerebral palsy and the effective communication techniques they learned through the language of symbols.

A Mainstreaming Story: What The Labels Leave Out, Susan Goetz

Thought and Practice: (1987-1991) the Journal of the Graduate School of Bank Street College of Education

Case study of a kindergarten child who defied the labels and evaluation reports and surprised his teachers and classmates.

The Fisher-Landau/Dalton Program: A Pilot Study Of Teachers' Perceptions Of Learning Disabilities, Herbert Zimiles, Sylvia Ross

Thought and Practice: (1987-1991) the Journal of the Graduate School of Bank Street College of Education

Describes the two major objectives of the Fisher-Landau program at Dalton: 1. To achieve early identification of specific learning abilities in otherwise intellectually gifted children in order to help them compensate for and thereby forestall some of their difficulties and academic defeats earlier in their school careers, and 2. to improve the effectiveness with which schools are able to meet the educational and developmental needs of learning-disabled children.

The Role Of The Teacher In The Interdisciplinary Team, Sue S. Suratt

Thought and Practice: (1987-1991) the Journal of the Graduate School of Bank Street College of Education

Describes the author's impression that teachers are inadequately prepared to assume leadership roles in clinical settings, especially as members of interdisciplinary teams.

A Special Educators Insight On Stigma, Student Performance And Job Satisfaction : Who Determines Educational Success?, Claudette Mincey

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This study describes the views, perceptions and thoughts of special education teachers at a New York City public school in Brooklyn, NY.

Chartered Sites Of Exception : Problematizing The Construction Of Bare Life For Exceptional Populations In The United States Educational System, Jonathan Michael Mcintosh

Graduate Student Independent Studies

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the influence of deregulation policies in charter schools through a site of exception analysis and the resulting effect on exceptional populations in these schools.

Racial Inequality In Special Education And The Need For Cultural Competence, Nicole Rosado

Graduate Student Independent Studies

For many years, schools in the United States have been dealing with the persistent overrepresentation of students of color in special education. The research suggests a variety of causes for this epidemic. After an analysis of the ways in which racially, culturally and linguistically diverse students are on the receiving end of unequal educational experiences, recommendations for the implementation of culturally competent education will be provided.

Racial Disproportionality In Special Education: Causes, Outcomes And Avenues For Change, John Gillies

Graduate Student Independent Studies

In school systems across the United States, disproportionality in special education along racial and ethnic lines is not merely a problem of overrepresentation or underrepresentation, but misrepresentation. African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans are given incorrect diagnoses, disproportionate educational designations, and inappropriate placements. The key factors behind disproportionality include racial bias among educators and other service providers, socio-economic status, substandard early childhood environments, and family composition. Inappropriate special education placements can lead to increased rates of school dropout, poor academic achievement, lower-paying jobs, and juvenile crime. Therefore disproportionality is not a problem confined to the education system, it is of …

Parent Voices : A Study Of The Early Intervention, Cpse And Cse Experiences And Perceptions Of Parents Of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Suzy Jensen

Graduate Student Independent Studies

In recent years the number of children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) has skyrocketed. In New York City this influx of children needing special services and special education has coincided with changing special education priorities and a major overhaul of the public school system. Added to this has been a lack of knowledge or agreement about the most effective interventions and teaching approaches for children with these disorders.

Six parents, each with a child aged five to nine-years-old with an ASD diagnosis, were interviewed and asked to describe their experiences with Early Intervention, and with CPSE and CSE interactions, …