Beyond the monster’s wanting and doing: Special Education as a barrier and diacritical hermeneutics as possibility

This hermeneutic, interpretive case study reflects on an experience with the placement of a student in a specialized classroom who did not want to be there and had informed educators around her of this prior to her placement. She claimed she would “do anything to get kicked out of the placement” and ultimately, this happened. Through this case study I argue that Special Education policy and its infusion into psychology, especially through the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, conceals or limits the possible ways for such students to be because of how we use that language to frame them. Special Education diagnosis and coding are more than labels, I suggest: they are constitutive and we play a role in that constituting action, I argue. Richard Kearney’s Diacritical Hermeneutic approach reveals possibilities for seeing differences outside of the binary of normal / abnormal. Such an approach could allow us to value such students outside the exteriority of Special Education’s framing. We may more openly see their rights as human beings, thus allowing them the space to tell their stories so that we hear them. Concurrently, I suggest we might also critically reflect on our roles in supporting students.Key words: Discourse, psychology, mental health, special education, subject, democracy, phronesis, experience, pedagogyCette étude de cas interprétative et herméneutique renvoie à une expérience concernant le placement d'une élève dans une classe d'inclusion scolaire qui ne voulait pas se retrouver là et en avait informé les éducateurs autour d'elle avant son placement. Elle a affirmé qu'elle allait «... tout faire pour se faire expulser de ce placement» et c'est, finalement, ce qui est arrivé. Grâce à cette étude de cas je soutiens que les politiques de l'éducation spécialisée et son infusion dans la psychologie, notamment avec le manuel diagnostique et statistique des troubles mentaux, dissimulent ou limitent les moyens possibles pour ces élèves d'être, en raison de la façon dont nous utilisons ce langage pour les cadrer. Selon moi, le diagnostic et le codage dans l'éducation spécialisée sont plus que des étiquettes : ils sont constitutifs et je soutiens que nous jouons un rôle dans cette action constituante. L'approche herméneutique diacritique de Richard Kearney révèle des possibilités de voir les différences en dehors du concept binaire normal / anormal. Une telle approche pourrait nous permettre d'estimer ces élèves en dehors de l'extériorité du cadrage de l'éducation spécialisée. Il se peut que nous voyions plus ouvertement leurs droits en tant qu'êtres humains, leur laissant ainsi un espace pour raconter leurs histoires afin que nous les entendions. Parallèlement nous pourrions également réfléchir de façon critique sur nos rôles dans l'appui et l'aide aux élèves

From the "Science of Disease" to the "Understanding of Those Who Suffer": The Cultivation of an Interpretive Understanding of "Behaviour Problems" in Children

In this interpretive essay, I attempt to unconceal the problematic history at play in Special Education in Alberta today, with a focus on “behaviour students†or their norm-referenced disability status. A brief, but central, anecdote is used to help reveal some of the everyday problems that arise in education because of the behavioural disability framing of students. I suggest that these problems are examples of Illich’s appropriated notions of iatrogenesis and counterproductivity. As an applied emancipatory action, I call upon Gadamer and Ricoeur to help me interpretively turn the common, everyday understanding of pathology and self in the context of others as possibilities for understanding “behaviour students†anew.Keywords:behaviour, coding, dignity, disorder, iatrogenesis, self-esteem, special education

The Privileges Chart in a Behaviour Class: Seeing the Power and Complexity of Dominant Traditions and Unconcealing Trust as Basic to Pedagogical Relationships

Through an anecdote this interpretive work suggests that a chart on student privileges in a class for students with behavioural challenges led to an understanding of dominant traditions at play and the power such traditions can hold over educators. These complexly intertwined traditions included the efficiency movement, the norm, and market capitalism’s emphasis on personal rights. These traditions set the conditions for an abused and exclusive notion of privileges for particular students. This led the teacher and me to question who decides student rights and for whom do such rights apply. We were then able to talk about how the teacher came to understand his students through pedagogical relationships built on trust rather than a singular belief in the rights of each student. This paper also attempts to show the above understandings involved an investigative labouring to dialogue with the topic and that such effort is worth-while because we were able to return to or recover some ‘basics’ within pedagogical relationships. Keywords: behaviour, special education, interpretation, tradition, discourse, rights, trust, pedagog

Inclusion Reconceptualized: Pre-Service Teacher Education and Disability Studies in Education

In this article, two teacher educators describe and explain how they are reconceptualizing a pre-service teacher education course on inclusion using disability studies in education (DSE) scholarship. The DSE approach better connects the oft-separated field of diversity and inclusion, and builds on the program’s overall focus on equity education. Using a critical reflective self-study approach, these researchers weave together scholarship about inclusive education with their lived classroom experiences in a teacher education program. They conclude that cultivating practical judgement in pre-service teachers is important to inclusive education

Winning and Re-Winning: Recommendations for Inclusive Education Reform for Students Labelled as Disabled in Alberta’s Schools

Alberta Education has been engaged in reviews and reforms of special education, and attempting to describe and move toward more inclusive ways of supporting students with disabilities since 2008. These efforts have, at times, resulted in the production of more progressive inclusive education policies and, at times, seemed somewhat halting. The obstacle to realizing policies that are more consistently inclusive, the authors believe, has been a continuing tendency toward deficit understandings of disability. In this paper, the authors critique recent inclusive education reform and current policy documents in light of ongoing barriers to inclusion, both in practices in schools and in continuing deficit-based tendencies in some current policy statements and resource manuals. The authors conclude by making a series of recommendations, including a consideration of the activist discipline of Disability Studies in Education, to guide continuing reform efforts along more genuinely inclusive lines

Detection and analysis of mass wasting events in chalk sea cliffs using UAV photogrammetry

Coastal cliff recession represents a significant risk to both people and infrastructure, it is therefore important that we are able to efficiently monitor these environments to inform future management decisions. Through the use of UAV digital photogrammetry, we obtain point clouds to develop monthly models of the sea cliffs at Telscombe, East Sussex, UK between August 2016 and July 2017. The models captured were accurate to 0.05 m and had an average point density of 351 pts./m2. Using the methodology presented we were able to automatically detect rockfalls by undertaking a 2.5D surface change detection which populated monthly inventories through volumetric estimations. A total of 10,085 failures were observed with an estimated volumetric flux of 3889.4 m3 over the 12 month period of data collection. Due to the high frequency of data capture, successive block failures in the Newhaven Chalk formation were observed. The largest failure within the 12 month period was estimated at 2546.8 m3 and followed significant toe erosion due to wave action. The steepening of the cliff face was modelled through limit equilibrium analysis to determine the reduction in factor of safety for the months preceding failure. We then present a magnitude-frequency analysis using negative power laws from the monthly rockfall inventories for the entire study area. The negative power law models produced a strong correlation across all months with r2 values ranging from 0.97 to 0.99. The normalised power law scaling parameters ranged from 1.421 to 1.955 for β and from 33.79 to 904.14 for s. The observed rollover in power laws presented in previous research matches the resolution of the data presented in this study. Our results show that this method of data capture is comparable to existing methods whilst offering significant benefits in field surveying time and cost

Effect of Online Modules on Pre-Service Teacher Mental Health Literacy and Efficacy toward Inclusive Practices

Mental health literacy (MHL) for pre-service teachers seeks to improve knowledge and help-seeking behaviours and decrease stigma. Increased MHL may also change perceived stress and self-efficacy for inclusive practices. This cohort study evaluates the impact of an online MHL resource for educators, embedded within a mandatory Bachelor of Education (BEd) course, on pre-service teachers’ MHL, perceived stress, and teacher efficacy toward inclusive practices. Seventy-one pre-service teachers completed the course as well as pre- and post-surveys. Results demonstrated significant and substantial improvements on knowledge, help-seeking, and perceived efficacy for inclusive practices. Increased MHL may be an effective approach in meeting the requirements of inclusive education. Keywords: mental health literacy, pre-service teachers, inclusive education, self-efficacyLa littératie en santé mentale (LSM) pour les enseignants en formation initiale vise à améliorer les connaissances, les comportements de recherche d’aide et à réduire la stigmatisation. Une meilleure LSM peut également modifier la perception du stress et de l’autoefficacité vis-à-vis des pratiques inclusives en enseignement. Cette étude de cohorte évalue l’impact d’une ressource de LSM en ligne pour les éducateurs, qui s’intègre à un cours obligatoire du Baccalauréat en éducation (B. Éd.), sur la LSM chez les stagiaires, leur stress perçu et leur efficacité vis-à-vis des pratiques inclusives. Soixante et onze stagiaires ont suivi le cours et rempli des questionnaires avant et après l’emploi de la ressource. Les résultats ont démontré des améliorations significatives et importantes sur les connaissances, la recherche d’aide et l’autoefficacité perçue vis-à-vis des pratiques inclusives. Une amélioration de la LSM pourrait représenter une approche efficace pour répondre aux exigences de l’éducation inclusive. Mots-clés : littératie en santé mentale, stagiaires en formation à l’enseignement, éducation inclusive, autoefficacit

Pleural mesothelioma and lung cancer risks in relation to occupational history and asbestos lung burden.

BACKGROUND: We have conducted a population-based study of pleural mesothelioma patients with occupational histories and measured asbestos lung burdens in occupationally exposed workers and in the general population. The relationship between lung burden and risk, particularly at environmental exposure levels, will enable future mesothelioma rates in people born after 1965 who never installed asbestos to be predicted from their asbestos lung burdens. METHODS: Following personal interview asbestos fibres longer than 5 µm were counted by transmission electron microscopy in lung samples obtained from 133 patients with mesothelioma and 262 patients with lung cancer. ORs for mesothelioma were converted to lifetime risks. RESULTS: Lifetime mesothelioma risk is approximately 0.02% per 1000 amphibole fibres per gram of dry lung tissue over a more than 100-fold range, from 1 to 4 in the most heavily exposed building workers to less than 1 in 500 in most of the population. The asbestos fibres counted were amosite (75%), crocidolite (18%), other amphiboles (5%) and chrysotile (2%). CONCLUSIONS: The approximate linearity of the dose-response together with lung burden measurements in younger people will provide reasonably reliable predictions of future mesothelioma rates in those born since 1965 whose risks cannot yet be seen in national rates. Burdens in those born more recently will indicate the continuing occupational and environmental hazards under current asbestos control regulations. Our results confirm the major contribution of amosite to UK mesothelioma incidence and the substantial contribution of non-occupational exposure, particularly in women