Special Education International Perspectives

This volume provides an international perspective on special education issues. There is limited literature examining issues in special education from an international perspective, as such this volume will add considerably to the knowledge base across the globe.

Efforts to reduce discrimination and increase diversity on campuses, coupled with shrinking budgets causing administrators to devote more resources toward recruiting and retaining students with disabilities, are fuelling an explosion of research in the area of inclusive education. An important focus that has been largely neglected is the place of teachers with disabilities in academe. International Perspectives on Teaching with Disability brings together 25 multi-disciplinary scholars with disabilities from Africa, Canada, the Caribbean, the UK, Israel and the United States to share their struggles and successes in teaching with disability. The 18 chapters are written largely from autoethnographic perspectives grounded in solid academic research but full of anecdotes and self-reflexive narratives that provide insights into the lived experiences of the authors. Woven into the narratives are discussions of the complexities of self-disclosure and self-advocacy; the varied—and often problematic—ways disability is experienced, perceived and discussed in society and in the classroom; the challenges of navigating academe with disability, the value of disability pedagogy, the positive student outcomes achieved by teaching through disability, as well as practical applications and lessons learned that will benefit educators, administrators and students preparing to become teachers. This book is written to champion the integral place and role of disabled educators in academe. Current educators with disability will be affirmed. Those with disability aspiring to become teachers will be encouraged. Temporarily able-bodied administrators and educators will be challenged. Everyone will be informed. This book will be a welcome addition to reading lists in a wide array of academic fields including: Education, Pedagogy, Disability Studies, Human Resources Management, and Sociology.

Education systems in developed countries have come to prioritise the raising of standards, while also pursuing some degree of social inclusion and inclusive schooling. However, these policies represent different and often conflicting values and approaches to education. Central to these moves has been the specific thrust to include more students with disabilities and special educational needs within general rather than specialist education. The basic dilemma is whether to recognise or not to recognise differences because either way there are negative implications associated with stigma, devaluation, rejection or denial of relevant opportunities. The dilemmas of difference relevant to children with disabilities are about: identification - whether to identify and how or not ; curriculum - how much of a common curriculum is relevant to them ; placement - to what extent they learn in ordinary/general schools and classes or not. Dilemmas of Difference, Inclusion and Disability integrates recent empirical research and includes an international case study that examines the perspectives of education practitioners and policy makers in specific school systems in the UK, USA and the Netherlands.

The Legal Rights of Students with Disabilities: International Perspectives examines the rights of disabled students in ten diverse countries on six continents. Written by leading experts in education law, this volume provides comparative insights to help meet the educational needs of disabled students. The book also offers strategies to manage the legal and educational complexities associated with special education.

The integration of children with special educational needs was a crucial issue for the 1990s. Many countries were reassessing and reorganising their systems of provision in the light of legislation to provide entitlement for all. There was noticeable worldwide trend away from entirely separate provision for learners with special educational needs. At the same time there was no agreement on how exactly they should be integrated with other students. The reader will gain a clear understanding of educational provision, the societal forces that push for greater integration and the attitudes that promote or hinder educational success.

Music for all : everyone has the potential to learn music / Markku Kaikkonen -- Twice exceptional / Alice M. Hammel -- How the Orff approach can support inclusive music teaching / Shirley Salmon -- Lessons learned from the Prism project : pedagogical viewpoints in music education for teaching students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) / Ryan Hourigan -- Assistive technology to support students in accessing the music curriculum / Emily H. Watts, Kimberly McCord, & Deborah V. Blair -- SoundOUT : examining the role of accessible interactive music technologies within inclusive music ensembles in Cork City, Ireland / Grainne McHale -- Music activities for children with disabilities : an example from Taiwan / Liza Lee -- Behavioral issues in the music classroom : promoting the successful engagement of all students / Alice Ann Darrow and Mary Adamek -- Specified learning disabilities and music education / Kimberly McCord -- Including students with disabilities in instrumental ensembles / Christine M. Lapka -- Music for children with hearing loss / Alan Gertner and Lyn Schraer-Joiner -- Reading acquisition frameworks for music and language : layering elements of literacy for students with exceptionalities / Elaine Bernstorf -- Understanding the U.S. individualized education program model / Kimberly VanWeelden -- Special education and special music education outside of the United States / Kimberly McCord

In light of new theories of multiculturalism and globalization, this insightful book compares approaches to the educational inclusion of diverse minorities– such as the ethnic and linguistic minorities in America. Drawing on their extensive experience, the contributors examine: accounts from cross-cultural cognitive psychology on the special interests and educational needs of certain ethnic groups research on social class divisions, neighbourhood poverty and school exclusions in Britain educational developments for inclusion of minorities in Europe, Greece and Eastern Europe India's educational policies surrounding its struggle to achieve 'education for all' in a nation at the threshold of economic prosperity. This book is unique in its breadth, and scope of its integration of educational policy data generated by different countries, with contrasted minority populations, all at different stages of development.