Inclusive education: knowing what we mean

Abstract:: This unit introduces you to the contested area of educational inclusion. You will look at differing perspectives on inclusion, in particular the way that medical and social models have influenced and shaped current thinking. You will also think about barriers to inclusion and the difference between integration and inclusion. In addition, you will consider some of the key documents, such as the Salamanca Statement, that underpin current thinking in this area.

No Strings Attached

A Multidimensional Approach To Educating All Children: Empowering Stakeholders To Make Appropriate Decisions

Abstract:: This conceptual paper diagnoses the limitations and historic misuses of Deno’s Cascade Model for students with special needs and proposes a new schema for the individualized inclusion of all students. The extension of a once simplistic model is viewed through the triangulated perspectives of (1) students’ understanding and attitude; (2) parental care and advice; (3) teachers’ conscientious behaviors; and (4) administrative leadership. We propose a comprehensive placement option for students receiving special education services, and also extend that continuum of services to students who have no mandated protection in general education. Hence, the original, single-dimensional model is transformed into a metaphorical PRISM to represent a new paradigm of best practices for empowering all stakeholders. A systematic tool for addressing the diversity of the entire student population is structured to provide multiple options that are conducive to learning, while restructuring the administrative process and campus infrastructure.

Abstract:: This course explores how social theories of urban life can be related to the city's architecture and spaces. It is grounded in classic or foundational writings about the city addressing such topics as the public realm and public space, impersonality, crowds and density, surveillance and civility, imprinting time on space, spatial justice, and the segregation of difference. The aim of the course is to generate new ideas about the city by connecting the social and the physical, using Boston as a visual laboratory. Students are required to present a term paper mediating what is read with what has been observed.