Purpose: This comparative study explored the perceptions of educational stakeholders in Oman and the Philippines concerning children with disabilities and the goals of special education. Stakeholders' perspectives can influence their professional behaviours and attitudes, which, in turn, can profoundly impact children with disabilities who already…

Handicapped, special, or diverse? Segregated, mainstreamed, or included? The field of disability and difference within education, is vast and wide-ranging. This review of the literature highlights how, although we have come far in the last 40 years, there is still much to learn about effective inclusion of disabled children in early childhood…

The least restrictive environment (LRE) is the educational placement determined necessary for obtaining maximum educational benefits. The individualized education program (IEP) team determines the LRE after analyzing the student's academic and behavioral data and assessing the student's unique needs. Specific special educational labels may produce…

The experiences of d/Deaf and hard of hearing children enrolled in a mainstream school in Zimbabwe are explored. The study used a qualitative approach and a narrative case study design. A sample consisting of two boys and three girls whose ages ranged from 13 to 14 years was purposively selected. Face-to-face semistructured interviews were…

In a recent themed issue of "Journal of Teacher Education" ("JTE" 63.4) about issues of disability, diversity, and teacher education, guest editors Marleen Pugach, Linda Blanton, and Lani Florian (2012) invite readers to participate in "honest, difficult, and much needed dialogue across the many diversity constituencies in teacher education" (p.…

This paper explores some of the tensions that frequently arise in debates about inclusion and the education of children and young people on the autism spectrum. This debate is often characterised by bipolar thinking and moral posturing, and is obscured by misunderstandings and omissions. This can create confusion for practitioners trying their…

This article explores the benefits and challenges of operating an inclusive elementary and special education teacher preparation program within a disability studies framework. How does such a program balance issues of theory and practice? How does it provide students with a critical approach that essentially views disability as a social and…

This paper attempts to make important connections between listening and inclusive education and the refusal to listen and exclusion. Two lines of argument are advanced. First, if educators and learners are to include each other within their educational institutions as unique individuals, then they will need to listen attentively to each other.…

This review essay examines "Special Educational Needs: A New Look" by Mary Warnock which was initially published as a "pamphlet" by the Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain in 2005. In this new edition, the original publication is reprinted as the first chapter and Brahm Norwich contributes a chapter in which he responds to the issues…

Len Barton has pioneered the sociological study of education in the areas of disability studies and inclusive education. This paper addresses an argument developed by Len Barton that social exclusion, of which disablism is one element, (1) has many compounding forms of differing exclusions, (2) is not a natural but a socially constructed process,…

Drawing on the insights of critical disability studies, this article addresses anxieties frequently articulated by academic staff around the implementation of the United Kingdom's Disability Discrimination Act: how to accommodate the needs of students with "hidden" impairments. Following the social model of disability, it argues that…

Stigmatizing effects of special education can be minimized by careful management of the physical environment, replication of the mainstream program wherever and whenever possible, and inter-class visitations to foster interaction. (CL)

The classroom teacher and the special education teacher should work together to provide individual instruction for the learning disabled student in the mainstreamed classroom. (CMJ)

The main criterion for eligibility for special education services in schools has been proof of intrinsic deficit. There are two problems with this focus: First, defining and identifying high-incidence disabilities are ambiguous and subjective processes. Second, the focus on disability has become so intertwined with the historical devaluing of…

Available from: Teacher Education and Special Education, The Council for Exceptional Children, 1920 Association Drive, Reston, Virginia 22091. The author views the concept of mainstreaming exceptional children from his perspective as a parent of an educable retarded child, a school board member, and a regular teacher educator. (CL)