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…

Classifying people into categories not only helps humans simplify a complex social world but also contributes to stereotyping and discrimination. This research examines how social categorization develops by testing how language imbues with meaning otherwise arbitrary differences between people. Experimental studies (N = 129) with 2-year-olds…

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a widely spread diagnosis. The dominant paradigm of ADHD is biomedical where ADHD is defined as a brain disorder. At the same time, the legitimacy of the diagnosis is being questioned since it is unclear whether or not ADHD can be deemed a medical disorder in itself. The aim of this article is to…

In a series of longitudinal research studies, researchers at Intel Corporation in Turkey have been working towards an adaptive learning system automatically detecting student engagement as a higher-order user state in real-time. The labeled data necessary for supervised learning can be obtained through labeling conducted by human experts. Using…

In this paper, we discuss the problematic use of the term dyslexia. Noting that there are no unambiguous objective diagnostic criteria for 'dyslexia', in part because this term is understood in multiple ways, we discuss its relevance for informing educational assessment, intervention and resourcing. We conclude by highlighting how current…

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most common behavioral disorder among U.S. children. ADHD diagnoses have risen among children with both severe and mild behavioral problems, partly in response to mounting academic pressure. This study examines the consequences of ADHD diagnosis. Diagnosis can bring beneficial pharmacological…

Attending college can create dissonance for working-class students as they experience tension between their home communities and the norms and values of higher education. In this study, I explored how working-class students make meaning of their social class identity at public research institutions. Through a critical constructivist narrative…

The reality is that most students and teachers have multiple, complex, and even contradictory identities. This matters greatly because it's hard for young people to succeed or be well if they feel they need to hide significant parts of themselves because their identities are stigmatized for being different or stereotyped to fit into a program or a…

By portraying the views and perspectives of children labelled as 'low-attaining', this text makes a significant contribution to the debate on within-class attainment grouping in primary schools. Extensive, active individual interviews plus observations over three terms facilitated rich insights into whether, and if so, how 23 'low-attaining'…

To determine if a person is gifted or not, the government sets the criteria of identification since giftedness is an abstract concept. However, the standard has always been decided and affected by the attitudes of the education authority and the allocation of resources. The opportunities for some potential learners to participate in gifted…

In Western countries, the number of ADHD diagnoses and medical treatments of children has risen spectacularly over the last decennia, as has the amount of criticism about this trend. Various studies have shown that children receiving an ADHD classification often follow from initial signals that were raised in a school context. Hence, it becomes…

This paper employs Critical Discourse Analysis to examine the representation of autism within a small sample of mainstream newspaper articles. The paper concludes that media, as a communicative tool, has enormous cultural power whereby the portrayal of Autism as a disability is predicated on notions of normality and underpinned by ableist…

There is much contention surrounding the term 'gifted' within Aotearoa New Zealand and international literature. Five teachers who were identified as exemplary teachers of gifted infants and toddlers by surveyed gifted and early childhood communities participated in this study. Whilst the majority of the community members used the term 'gifted'…

For decades, "societal reaction theory" or "labelling theory" has provided the most significant explanation for deviant behaviour, particularly in the case of juveniles. The theory argues that once a stigma is attached to an individual, an irreversible process occurs whereby the labelled individual begins to identify as deviant…

Purpose: The purpose of this epilogue is to offer five ways speech-language pathologists can positively impact children with dyslexia, drawing from and expanding on the articles presented in this clinical forum on dyslexia.