Product Description

"I recommend this book as an important contribution to the debate on pedagogy in special education. It is largely well written and informative and rich with ideas and opinions."
Educational Review

• What, if anything, is ‘special’ about teaching children with special or exceptional learning needs?

This book addresses this question, looking at pupils’ special learning needs including low attainment, learning difficulties, language difficulties, emotional and behavioural problems and sensory needs.

Some special needs groups (for example dyslexia) have argued strongly for the need for particular specialist approaches. In contrast, many proponents of inclusion have argued that ‘good teaching is good teaching for all’ and that all children benefit from similar approaches. Both positions fail to scrutinise this issue rigorously and coherently, and it is this aspect which distinguishes this book.

Leading researchers in each special needs field defend and critique a conceptual analysis of teaching strategies used with particular learner groups with special educational needs. Summaries by the editors after each chapter link pedagogic strategies, knowledge and curriculum to key points from the chapter and pave the way for discussion.

This book is indispensable reading for students, policy makers, researchers and professionals in the field of special educational needs and inclusion.

Shortlisted for the TES / NASEN Book Awards 2005

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22659 in Books
• Published on: 2004-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

About the Author
Editors

Ann Lewis is Professor of Special Education and Educational Psychology at the University of Birmingham. Her publications include Researching Children’s Perspectives (Open University Press 2000), Children’s Understanding of Disability (1995), Working with Children with Special Needs in the Primary School (2005).

Brahm Norwich is Professor of Educational Psychology and Special Educational Needs at the University of Exeter. His publications include Psychology and Education in Interaction:working with uncertainty in connected fields (2000), and Moderate Learning Difficulties and the Future of Inclusion.(2004)

Contributors

Paul Cooper, Professor of Education, Centre for Innovation in Raising Educational Achievement, University of Leicester, UK

Graeme Douglas, Research Fellow, School of Education, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK

Alan Dyson, Professor of Education, Faculty of Education, University of Manchester, UK

Felicity Fletcher-Cambell, Principal Research Officer, Department of Professional and Curriculum Studies, NFER, UK. UK National Co-ordinator, European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education

Susan Gregory, Consultant, previously Senior Lecturer in Hearing Impairment, School of Education, University of Birmingham, UK

Liz Hodges, Lecturer, School of Education, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK

Rita Jordan is Reader in Autism Studies, School of Education, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK

Ann Lewis, Professor in Autism Studies, School of Education, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK

Deirdre Martin, Senior Lecturer, School of Education, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK

Mike McLinden, Lecturer, School of Education, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK

Olga Miller, Course Leader, Disabilities of Sight, Institute of Education, University of London, London, UK

Brahm Norwich, Professor of Educational Psychology and Special Educational Needs, School of Education and Lifelong Learning, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK

Tim O’Brien, Consultant in the area of EBD, UK

Jill Porter, School of Education, University of Birmingham, Birmingham UK

Dr Madeleine Portwood, Senior Educational Psychologist, Durham LEA, Dyspraxia Foundation Trustee, Chair of the Education Committee, UK

Dr Gavin Reid, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Education, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

Dr Jean Ware, Director of Special Education, St Patrick's College, Dublin, Ireland

Jennifer Wishart, Professor of Special Education, Moray House School of Education, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

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Customer Reviews

EXPERT contributors
I found this book to be amazingly helpful. The most helpful chapter for me was the one by Dr. Tim O'Brien writing about social, emotional and behavioural difficulties. This was an amazing chapter that gave me a totally new insight into how we understand such difficulties as something that people 'experience' rather than something genetic. The chapters about Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Dr. Rita Jordan and ADHD, Dr. Paul Cooper were interesting to me too. If you work in special ed, these experts offer insight into whether there are any ways of teaching that work specifically for these groups beased upon their expertise and, critically, their research

good overview of the issues surrounding educational inclusion
This book offers a broad overview of 'special needs'. Discussions of different learning needs include short chapters on deafness, visual impairment, children with Down's syndrome, English as additional language, autism, AD/HD, Dyslexia and Dyspraxia etc. Teaching strategies are also put forward in many chapters of how to meet these specific learning needs. Overall this was a good book, though i would not recommend reading it for fun, it was a rather dry read.

Those interested in this book, would do well to look for books and journals by Tony Booth and Mel Ainscow whose field research (tho itself not without problems) tries to assess the realities of inclusion alongside its political dimensions, thus moving away from the purely theoretical. In my view, Booth & Ainscow are far better