The Positive Side of Special Education: Minimizing Its Fads, Fancies, and FolliesSpecial education often goes astray because of a continuing failure to see events in historical context. The failure to resolve issues means that special education has developed a tendency to enact interventions without any regard to past success or failure. Here, authors Kavale and Mostert provide a description of special education practices that have had significant impact but lacked scientific validation. The history of special education shows a number of instances where practices were initiated more for ideological rather than scientific reasons. When scientific standards of evidence are applied, these practices are found to verge on being fraudulent, worthless, or sometimes harmful. Although these practices were initiated with good intentions, the logic and rationality emanating from a scientific foundation quickly made them highly questionable. The authors describe many of these examples and show how a more scientific attitude can avoid beliefs that potentially undermine the integrity of special education.The Positive Side of Special Education: covers past and present intervention activities, describes scientific method and what it means, describes the influence of ideology, special education practice, and how science can overcome it, decribes the notion of "fallible judgment" and pseudoscience. A must read for special education professionals, special education undergraduates, graduate students, psychologists, parents, and teachers of students with disabilities. |
Contents
Science Good Bad and Bogus | 1 |
Educating Intelligence Mind over Matter | 13 |
Heredity Environment and the Great Debate about Intelligence | 29 |
PerceptualMotor Training and the Improvement of Nothing at All | 49 |
Psycholinguistic Training Faculty Psychology Revisited | 77 |
Treating Autism Manipulators Mystics and Monsters | 99 |
Dyslexia Interventions Sorcery Witchcraft and Legerdemain | 137 |
Ideology and Special Education Cry Havoc | 175 |
The End of Special Education? | 225 |
Epilogue | 237 |
References | 239 |
287 | |
289 | |
About the Authors | |
Common terms and phrases
academic achievement ADHD analysis appeared assessments Association assumption auditory autism average Ayres behavior Bettelheim Biklen brain Burt Burt's child children with autism clinical cognitive concluded correlations Crossley deficits Delacato developmental disorder Doman-Delacato dyslexia education classroom Effect Size effects efficacy empirical evidence evaluation example Exceptional Children experimental Facilitated communication faculty psychology Feingold diet findings Fuchs functioning Hammill and Larsen ideology improvement included individual intelligence intervention Irlen lenses ITPA Journal of Learning Kallikak Kavale language Learning Disabilities Lovaas mental retardation meta-analysis methods methylphenidate motor negative neurological organization outcomes percentile ranks perceptual-motor training positive postmodern problems psycholinguistic training Psychology qualitative research reading ability remedial reported response result scientific Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome sensory integration significant skills social special education stimulant medication students with disabilities studies subtest suggested teachers technique tests therapy tion treatment validity visual perception
References to this book
The Routledge International Handbook of Critical Education Michael W. Apple,Wayne Au,Luís Armando Gandin No preview available - 2009 |