Early Childhood Education Commons^™

Taking Flight: Giving Up The Things That Weigh Me Down, Karina Malik

Occasional Paper Series

From the perspective of a Latinx, dual-language, special education, public school teacher, I explore and detail what an equitable and just education could look like in our future. I begin by envisioning a future that:

• Values collaboration in teaching and learning

• Allows for spaces of ongoing teacher learning where we teachers decide where we want to grow and how we want to learn.

• Invests in our growth and development as educators.

• Consists of a solid understanding that there is more expertise across communities than in any one person.

I continue by explaining that in order for this to be a …

Childhood Disability: Challenges And Theory-Informed Child Life Interventions In The Healthcare Setting, Fatema-Zahra Jaffer

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Children with intellectual, sensory, physical, and/or speech disabilities encounter a proliferation of challenges in the healthcare environment. Such challenges are exacerbated by insufficient knowledge in doctors, nurses, child life specialists, and other healthcare providers in bias-free and specialized healthcare delivery. To remedy this, pertinent methods informed by theoretical perspectives of atypical development that ameliorate stress and augment coping in children with disabilities are warranted. Therefore, the purpose of this independent study is to provide a synthesis of the literature that chronicles this topic. Multifarious child life interventions that are premised on contemporary developmental frameworks of childhood disability will be presented. …

Including Autism: Confronting Inequitable Practices In A Toddler Classroom, Emmanuelle N. Fincham, Amanda R. Fellner

Occasional Paper Series

As co-teachers in a toddler room, we share a personal narrative about our experiences working with a child diagnosed with autism while in our care. Framed within the competing discourses of the medicalized perspective on disability and the individual, child-centered philosophies of early childhood education, we investigate the inequities we felt in the classroom and make connections to the field of early childhood inclusive education at large.

High-Needs Schools: Preparing Teachers For Today's World

Occasional Paper Series

In the second decade of the 21st century, some schools are in trouble and some schools are not. The subject of this Occasional Paper is the preparation of teachers for schools that--lacking sufficient resources, effective leadership, or vocal advocates--are failing to educate their students by any reasonable measures. The teachers and teacher educator contributors to this volume offer a more variegated set of responses grounded in a diversity of local experiences. Their approaches to researching and understanding the immediacy of becoming a teacher are based on decades of working in hard-pressed urban schools and the institutions that supply them with …

"See, Two Yellows Make A Rectangle!": Constructing Meaningful, Emergent Learning Moments In A Structured Special Education Program, Lucy Bayer

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This paper explores the relationship between emergent, child-driven learning and the structured curricula of a special education program. Relying on current research and theory as driving forces, the author designed and implemented a series of math lessons with a small group of kindergarten students in a self-contained, special-education setting. The paper begins in narrative form, detailing the author’s journey to her current line of inquiry. Empirical research and educational theory about both emergent, child-driven learning and math instruction are then summarized. The following two chapters chronicle the author’s work with her students. These chapters are presented as both narrative documentation …

A Circle With Edges: How Story Time Privileges The Abled Learner, Melissa Tsuei

Occasional Paper Series

Takes a critical look at one of the commonplace features of early childhood classrooms—story time. In her essay, Melissa considers the ways in which story time reinforces unequal power dynamics for diverse learners by privileging the able-bodied learner. In response, Melissa creates and presents the SPHERE model, which promotes active engagement and shared dialogue through collaborative storytelling and nurtures an inclusive literacy-learning environment.

Hitting The Switch: ¡Sí Se Puede!, Stephanie Alberto, Andrea Fonseca, Sandra J. Stein

Occasional Paper Series

Takes us into the lifeworld of first-grader Jason at Castle Bridge Elementary School, a public, dual-language school in New York City. Written by Jason’s teachers Stephanie and Andrea in conjunction with his mother Sandra, this essay puts forward the ethos ¡Sí se puede! (Yes, you can!), which relies on children’s empathy and calls for a collective response to inclusion. “Hitting the Switch” concludes with practical suggestions for creating an inclusive space for children who use assistive communicative devices so that they can become meaningful participants in the classroom community.

Talking Tolerance Inside The “Inclusive” Early Childhood Classroom, Karen Watson

Occasional Paper Series

Provides an inside look into what the Australian government calls “inclusive learning communities.” This term emerges from a national early-years learning framework that highlights ability and disability as diversity. Following the course of a six-month period in three “inclusive” early childhood classrooms, Karen offers an account of the transformative potential of inclusion in contrast to the harmful effects of teaching tolerance. Tolerance, as Karen’s study reveals, preserves the dualism of normal versus abnormal (or Other) and hinders critical reflection about ableist assumptions.

The Unfolding Of Lucas’S Story In An Inclusive Classroom: Living, Playing, And Becoming In The Social World Of Kindergarten, Haeny S. Yoon, Carmen Llerena, Emma Brooks

Occasional Paper Series

Tells stories about a vibrant kindergartner named Lucas through the viewpoints of his mother (Emma), teacher (Carmen), and teacher-educator (Haeny). In this multi-voiced story, the narrative centers on Lucas and shifts outward toward those orbiting Lucas’s wondrously playful universe. The magic of Lucas’s unfolding story is in the ways it disrupts conventional discourses about labels, interventions, and imposed meanings of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Teaching Self-Advocacy For Students With Developmental Variations In Primary Grades, Sarah E. Sloane

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Discusses children who have disabilities, refered to in this paper as "developmental variations," and how they are either not taught how to advocate for themselves or are not given an opportunity to do so. This paper explores the various components to teaching this skill.

Utilizing American Sign Language In The Early Childhood Setting, Samantha Hakim

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Explores the benefits of using American Sign Language (ASL) in a general education classroom as a tool for classroom management, as well as a way to create an inclusive setting for deaf and hearing impaired children.

Sensory Processing Handbook For Early Childhood Educators, Kristina De Michael

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This handbook is to help educators of young children understand the role of sensory integration and recognize how sensory processing difficulties may impact a child's everyday life.

The Benefits Of Art For Children With Special Needs : A Guidebook For Teachers, Rachel Rothberg

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This thesis gives information to educators about the benefits of art with children, specifically those who require special education. It will examine different lessons and activities that can help achieve positive results for children. It includes specific lesson plans, sample artwork of children, brief assessment of these sample works, a personal narrative of individual experience, and interviews with an occupational therapist and art therapist.

Disability In Hiding : The Effects Of Trauma In Early Childhood And The Implications For Classroom Teachers, Dana Baker

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Seeks to define trauma within the context of early childhood and describe in depth the interrelated neurobiological, behavioral, and psychopathological effects of experienced trauma.

12 Museum Theorists At Play, Marian Howard, Lauren Appel, Nicole Ferrin, David Vining, Katherine Hillman, Marissa Corwin, Berry Stein, Nicole Keller, William Elliston, David Bowles, Tiffany Reedy, Kathryn Eliza Harris, Liat Olenick

All Faculty and Staff Papers and Presentations

Introduction by Lauren Appel
1. Learning by Do-weyan, by Marian Howard, with Nicole Ferrin
2: Dewey Defines Himself and Education, by David Vining
3. Benjamin Ives Gilman: Arts in People’s Lives, by Katherine Hillman
4. John Cotton Dana: The Social Construction of Museums, by Marissa Corwin
5. Piaget in the Art Museum: Constructing Knowledge Through Active Engagement, by Berry Stein
6. Lev Vygotsky: The Social Aspects of Learning, by Nicole Keller
7. Paulo Freire: Literacy, Democracy, and Context, by Nicole Keller
8. Maxine Greene: Aesthetic Education, by Lauren Appel
9. Howard Gardner and Multiple Intelligence Theory: A Practical Application of …

Parents' Access To Information And Ability To Advocate For Their Young Children With Disabilities, Ellen W. Fisher

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This study was motivated by the fact that there is an overrepresentation of child­ren from minority backgrounds with disabilities in the United States school system (Ar­tiles & Trent, 1994; Cartledge, 1999; Chinn & Hughes, 1987). In considering factors causing the inequality in the special education system, this study explored (a.) parents' access to information regarding the preschool special education system and (b.) how that access to information affects parents' ability to advocate on behalf of their young child­ren with disabilities. Through twelve anonymous surveys and six interviews with par­ents, information was collected regarding who has and does not have access …

The Integration Of Affective And Cognitive Concerns In Educational Programs, Elaine Avidon

Graduate Student Independent Studies

The social and political confrontations of the 1960's forced public school educators to reassess many of their values. Among the crucial issues which resurfaced as a result of this reassess­ment was the basic question of why some students were learning while others were not. This independent project addresses itself to that question. In particular, it presents one approach .which, when used responsibly, can alter the patterns of non-· learning that exist for so many young people attending schools today.

The integration of affective and cognitive concerns has been written about by many educators. It is also the topic of this …