Disproportionality persists with regard to the labeling of students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). A blending of critical race theory and disability studies, or DisCrit, provides a framework to examine disproportionality. In this article, a DisCrit mindset is applied to examine how racism and ableism intersect to disproportionately…

The reasons are examined for the disparity between the inclusive vision espoused by Article 24 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the reality of the limited extent of inclusion in education systems worldwide. First, the leadership of key senior academics in the field of special education is considered…

Purpose: The purpose of this review article is to conduct a critical analysis of state-level policies focusing on the provision of speech-language therapy and special education to children and youth who are racialized emergent bilinguals (REBs) suspected or labeled as dis/abled. Method: We analyzed the state-level policies focusing on…

The research presented in this article analyses 242 written responses to interview questions conducted with families who live in the United States to explore parental perceptions of disabilities. The data were analyzed through a case study methodology and discourse analysis. Findings from this study illustrate how parents drew upon both medical…

The attitudes towards inclusion and the terms used related to special needs by pre-service teachers in three Finnish universities were studied. Inclusion is the main educational policy in Finland, and special solutions are avoided when possible. With a questionnaire and a brief survey, data from 488 pre-service teachers (PSTs) were collected and…

The aim of this study was to analyse and compare teachers' attitudes towards inclusive education in two culturally different countries: Finland and Japan. A sample of 362 Finnish and 1518 Japanese teachers participated in this survey. The teachers' attitudes varied and were rather critical. The Finnish teachers were more worried about teachers'…

Students with special educational needs (SEN) are at risk of lower teacher expectations due to disability-related negative labelling effects. In most educational systems, students with SEN receive measures such as accommodations (adjustments of the learning/assessment conditions), curriculum modifications (adjustments of the learning objectives),…

Young adult literature that features respectful representations of fictional characters with reading difficulties can play a role in building classroom communities and helping readers understand more about themselves and their worlds. Furthermore, language arts teachers and special education teachers can use texts that feature positive portrayals…

A large body of recent research calls for expanding what it means to teach literacy in the content areas. This includes movement away from conceiving of content literacy instruction as generic literacy strategies superimposed on content-area text. Instead, the focus is on the discursive literate practices of the disciplines, including ways of…

The Identification, Placement, and Review Committee (IPRC) process has been long established within Ontario special education practice and provincial legislation. Borne out of advocacy for advancing the right to education for children with disabilities, the IPRC process is now being critically explored as to whether the process itself creates an…

At the University of Manitoba, Canada a team comprised of four faculty members from the Faculty of Education, an Indigenous Education Consultant, and a graduate student embarked on a change initiative entitled: "Indigenizing Curriculum, Pedagogy and Spaces in Teacher Education." In the spirit of reconciliation, the initiative involved…

Although the incomplete school histories of homeless youths are often highlighted, little is written about their school careers involving special education. This study is based on the educational narratives of homeless youths in special education. Their narratives were constructed using "direct scribing" and narrative ethnography. The…

Today's education reform movement is funded heavily by a network of wealthy elite that often prize neoliberal and free-market interests. Within this network, Teach for America (TFA) is at the nexus of overlapping interests in an educational marketplace where corporate values become the norm for defining both progress and success. Students labeled…

In 1986, the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) position paper, "Rights without Labels," was published. This document was radical because it acknowledged that serious problems existed in the educational classification system and proposed the necessity of serving students with special needs within the general education…

The purpose of this "Equity by Design Research Brief" is to summarize a study by Dr. David Hernández-Saca of student Sophia Cruz's experiences of being labeled with a Learning Disability (LD), and what the meaning of LD was for her. The purpose of the study was to center student voice within the traditional special education field of LD…