One explanation for the widening achievement gap in America and throughout Europe between ethnic minorities/immigrants, and Whites is the influence of cultural stereotypes on attributions made by both educators and students. This paper explores some factors that increase the likelihood that educators will consciously or unconsciously rely on…

This booklet, one of 16 designed for use in an Open University Course on the education of handicapped children in the United Kingdom, focuses on ways in which a disability is affected by social factors. Effects of geographic, economic, and cultural conditions are examined. Clinical and sociological perspectives of mental retardation are compared…

Background: The study is set in the context of international moves towards more inclusion of children with disabilities into mainstream schools and the greater importance attached to the child's voice in decision making in education. Aims: To examine how children with moderate learning difficulties (MLD) in mainstream and special schools see…

This course, one of 16 sequential courses comprising phase one of a part-time Bachelor of Arts degree program in Australian Studies, discusses the conditions, mechanisms, and functions that characterize classificatory systems, taking as an example the 19th century classification of some types of behavior as madness. It is designed for independent…

This book addresses the negative consequences of labeling and separating education for students with "disabilities," the cultural biases inherent in the way that we view children's learning difficulties, the social construction of disability, the commercialization of special education, and related issues. The theme that unifies the chapters is…

This participant's manual covers "People are People," the first module of a four-module training program for all individuals employed in programs funded by Oklahoma's Developmental Disabilities Services Division. This includes van drivers, recreation workers, residential staff, administrators, case managers, secretarial/clerical staff, vocational…

Noting that the collective stories of special education have grown out of a tradition that, by its nature tends to perpetuate problems, this book examines such narratives and how they influence thinking and belief about intelligence and learning. It begins by examining how the current story of intelligence developed and illustrates some of the…