Social Perceptions of Students with Learning Disabilities Who Differ in Social Status

As a group, students with learning disabilities (LD) have social difficulties. One possible explanation for these difficulties is the unique way they process social information. Although students with LD may differ from their nondisabled peers in their social cognition, investigators have suggested the presence of subgroups within the population of students with LD who may differ in their social competence and, thereby, shed light on the source of the difficulties. The present exploratory study examined how two subgroups of students with LD in inclusive settings, students with high and low social status, perceive social situations. Using a sociometric technique, three students with LD receiving high social‐status ratings and three students with LD receiving low social‐status ratings were identified. A qualitative approach was used to gather and evaluate data from the participants and their teachers. Results suggested differences between the two subgroups in their (1) sensitivity to cues in the environment, (2) interpretation of social situations in relation to their own experiences, and (3) levels of self‐control. Implications of these findings for practice and future research are discussed.     

Children are not Meant to be Studied …

The project of studying children in order to understand them, which lies at the heart of contemporary thinking about children and their education, is misconceived. It rests, jrst of all, upon a false belief that we can only come to know something properly by deliberately and systematically pursuing knowledge of it. Secondly, it offers a paradigm of knowing children which justifies parents and teachers in not giving themselves to children. By re-interpreting the problems that adults experience with children as technical, as arising from lack of information about them, it ignores the personal and moral dimension of adults' relations with children and thus further alienates them from one another.     

What Assessment and Research Say About the Condition of Education

Do students today know less than their parents or grandparents did as students? Are they being academically outclassed by students of other nations? Or have ideologically driven policy makers painted an unnecessarily negative picture of student achievement?     

Literacy Instruction in Multiple‐Language First‐Grade Classrooms: Linking Student Outcomes to Observed Instructional Practice

This study examined literacy instruction in 14 first‐grade classrooms of English learners (ELs) in three schools in a large urban school district in southern California over a two‐year period. Pre‐ and posttest measures of oral‐reading fluency for 186 first graders, representing 11 native languages, were the outcome data. Reading‐fluency data were examined in reference to ratings of literacy practices using the English Learners Classroom Observation Instrument (ELCOI). Results indicated a moderately strong correlation (r= 0.65) between ELCOI rating and gain in oral‐reading fluency at the end of first grade. We report patterns of ELs who read below the oral‐reading fluency benchmark thresholds and patterns of students who were ultimately labeled with learning disabilities. Instructional practices of teachers rated “high” and “low” are discussed. Educational implications and recommendations for future research are discussed.     

The Concept of Inclusive Education: Teacher Training and Acquisition of English Language in the Hearing Impaired

Three languages are widely used in schools in Kenya – English, Kiswahili and Kenya Sign Language. Many pupils with hearing impairments are taught separately from the mainstream, in specialist settings. The fact that most of the formal teaching, assessment and examination processes in Kenyan schools rely upon spoken and written English compounds the separation of these pupils from the mainstream of education and, potentially, from the mainstream of society. In this article, Gertrude Wamae, graduate assistant in the Department of English and Linguistics at Kenyatta University, and Rachael Kang'ethe-Kamau, lecturer in the Department of Special Education at Kenyatta University, discuss the relationships between language, hearing impairment and inclusion in the Kenyan context. The article suggests that the use of signed exact English would enhance opportunities for inclusion for those with hearing impairments and that programmes of teacher training need to take account of persuasive research in this area. The article closes with a plea for further research, carried out collaboratively by educationalists, linguists, teacher trainers and practitioners, to develop policies and practices suited to more inclusive futures. The article is based on a paper presented to the International Conference on Inclusive Education run by Maseno University in September 2002.