Biliteracy, or the development of reading, writing, speaking, listening, and thinking competencies in more than one language, is a complex and dynamic process. The process is even more challenging when the languages used in the literacy process differ in modality. Biliteracy development among deaf students involves the use of visual languages (i.e., sign languages) and auditory languages (spoken languages). Deaf students' sign language proficiency is strongly related to their literacy abilities. The distinction between bilingualism and multilingualism is critical to our understanding of the underserved, the linguistic deficit, and the underachievement of deaf and hard of hearing (D/HH) immigrant students, thus bringing the multilingual and immigrant aspect into the research on deaf education. Multilingual and immigrant students may face unique challenges in the course of their education. Hence, in the education of D/HH students, the intersection of issues such as biculturalism/multiculturalism, bilingualism/multilingualism, and immigration can create a dilemma for teachers and other stakeholders working with them. Deaf Education and Challenges for Bilingual/Multilingual Students is an essential reference book that provides knowledge, skills, and dispositions for teaching multicultural, multilingual, and immigrant deaf and hard of hearing students globally and identifies the challenges facing the inclusion needs of this population. This book fills a current gap in educational resources for teaching immigrant, multilingual, and multicultural deaf students in learning institutions all over the world. Covering topics such as universal design for learning, inclusion, literacy, and language acquisition, this text is crucial for classroom teachers of deaf or hard of hearing students, faculty in deaf education programs, language instructors, students, pre-service teachers, researchers, and academicians.

Featuring chapters written by a diverse collection of educators within the discipline, Contemporary Issues in Special Education presents readers with insight regarding topics within the field of special education that are often deemed controversial in nature. The text encourages future educators to think critically regarding various challenges and opportunities they are likely to encounter during their educational careers. Over the course of nine distinct sections, students are exposed to chapters that discuss sensory friendly classrooms, positive behavior intervention and support, dangerous behaviors and crisis management, least restrictive environment, the relationship between special education and socioeconomic status, and the connection between English language learners and special education assignment. Readers learn about service and support animals in the school setting, assistive technology, transition services, mental health screenings in schools, disciplinary procedures for special education students, advice for engaging family members in an inclusive school community, and more. Designed to help future educators prepare to serve as highly effective and competent teachers, Contemporary Issues in Special Education is ideal for graduate-level courses and programs in special education instruction.

Structured Discovery Cane Travel (SDCT) is an Orientation and Mobility (O&M) curriculum which focuses on the foundational techniques necessary to develop future independence for students who are blind or visually impaired. The ABCs of Structured Discovery Cane Travel for Children addresses essential non-visual concept development, techniques and mobility skills needed to travel efficiently, gracefully and safely within a myriad of natural environments while using the long, white cane with a metal tip as the primary mobility tool. This curriculum utilizes transformational knowledge and problem-solving opportunities through teachable moments to develop personal reflection and mental mapping which can be utilized post instruction. These students maximize their cognitive intrinsic feedback while completing everyday mobility tasks. Parents and instructors of children who are blind or visually impaired will comprehend the essentials of SDCT by reading The ABCs of Structured Discovery Cane Travel for Children; in addition, they will receive a treasure trove of O&M skill-building activities.

This book is about the social condition of Deaf people, told through a Deaf woman's autobiography and a series of essays investigating how hearing societies relate to Deaf people. Michel Foucault described the powerful one as the beholder who is not seen. This is why a Deaf woman's perspective is important: Minorities that we don't even suspect we have power over observe us in turn. Majorities exert power over minorities by influencing the environment and institutions that simplify or hinder lives: language, mindsets, representations, norms, the use of professional power. Based on data collected by Eurostat, this volume provides the first discussion of statistics on the condition of Deaf people in a series of European countries, concerning education, labor, gender. This creates a new opportunity to discuss inequalities on the basis of data. The case studies in this volume reconstruct untold moments of great advancement in Deaf history, successful didactics supporting bilingualism, the reasons why Deaf empowerment for and by Deaf people does and does not succeed. A work of empowerment is effective if it acts on a double level: the community to be empowered and society at large, resulting in a transformation of society as a whole. This book provides instruments to work towards such a transformation.

In higher education systems, equal importance must be given to differently abled students. However, not all educational institutions have infrastructure and facilities to admit these students even though accessibility and support for these students is growing. There are many schemes, facilities, services, and financial assistance available to these students along with new assistive technologies that are making teaching and learning processes more effective. While using new technologies in education systems such as e-learning and blended learning, these students need special attention as well as some advanced training and additional features in the technology itself that better help them become familiar with it. Understanding the demands and requirements of differently abled students is the best way to provide them with quality education. Assistive Technologies for Differently Abled Students explores how to implement effective assistive technologies and other related services for providing differently abled students an education that is high quality and equal to their peers, enabling them to go on and excel in their field and obtain employment. Topics that are highlighted within this book include an overview for the different types of diverse assistive technologies for all types of students including students with visual impairments, learning disabilities, physical challenges, and more. This book is ideal for school administrators, researchers of higher educational institutes, non-governmental organizations, assistive technology experts, IT professionals, social workers, inservice and preservice teachers, teacher educators, practitioners, researchers, academicians, and students looking for information on the types of assistive technologies being employed in education for all types of differently abled students.

As the conservative political mood of our nation eliminates programs for the increasing numbers of bilingual children, educators are nevertheless expected to teach linguistically and culturally diverse learners with limited background knowledge and resources. This edited volume challenges « mainstream educators to critically examine how to best meet the needs of bilingual/bicultural children in contemporary America. Contents: Lourdes Diaz Soto: Introduction: The Political, the Dialogic, and the Critical - Haroon Kharem/Leila E. Villaverde: Teacher Allies: The Problem of the Color Line - Ryan Moser: Bilingual Abolitionists: Shadows of Facism - Propaganda of the Third Reich and the English-Only Movement - Lyudmila Bryzzheva: From Vygotsky to Bakhtin: Grand Theories and Teaching Practices - Colin Lankshear/Michele Knobel: Doom or Mortal Kombat? Bilingual Literacy in the « Mainstream Classroom - Ladislaus M. Semali: The Case of Repressed Native or Indigenous Languages - Richard De Gourville: What's Policy Gotta Do Wit Dis? - Cathy Gutierrez-Gomez: Golden Eagle Goes to Kindergarten - Miryam Espinosa-Dulanto: Are Schools Prepared to Support Excellence for Nonmainstream Children? Latino/a Voices as a Response - Irene Pabon: A Life Span / Toda Una Vida: The Pain and the Struggle That Will Strike / El Dolory la Lucha que Embiste - Lynus Yamuna: My Story and the Melanesian Knowledge - Rebecca Blum-Martinez: Parents as Guardians of the Mother Tongue - Maria de la Luz Reyes/Lisa Costanzo: On the Threshold of Biliteracy: A First-Grader's Personal Journey - Jofen Wu Han/Gisela Ernst-Slavit: Here They Come: Creating Rich Language-Learning Environments for Chinese-Speaking KindergartenStudents - Jocelynn Smrekar: Early Childhood Bilingual Classrooms - Maria E. Franquiz: Caring Literacy and Identity Struggles: The Transformation of a Chicano Student - Jim Cummins: Rights and Responsibilities of Educators of Bilingual / Bicultural Children.

Human-computer interaction studies the users and their interaction with an interactive software system (ISS). However, these studies are designed for people without any type of disability, causing there to be few existing techniques or tools that focus on the characteristics of a specific user, thus causing accessibility and utility issues for neglected segments of the population. This reference source intends to remedy this lack of research by supporting an ISS focused on people with visual impairment. User-Centered Software Development for the Blind and Visually Impaired: Emerging Research and Opportunities is a collection of innovative research on techniques, applications, and methods for carrying out software projects in which the main users are people with visual impairments. While highlighting topics including mobile technology, assistive technologies, and human-computer interaction, this book is ideally designed for software developers, computer engineers, designers, academics, researchers, professionals, and educators interested in current research on usable and accessible technologies.

A volume in Critical Concerns in Blindness Series Editor Edward C. Bell, Louisiana Tech University All parents hope for an independent future for their blind/visually impaired child. To turn that hope into a reality, parents need to understand the scope of skill development that must be addressed, along with the importance of equal expectations for the child's development, proper training, and opportunity to practice and develop skills. But what if expectations are low, training in blindness skills is scanty or even absent, and overprotection prevents the blind/VI child from learning and practicing skills? The idea of an independent future can remain a distant dream. The purpose of this book is to guide parents and teachers in fostering the blind/visually impaired child's skill development in such critical areas as academics, independent movement and travel, social interaction, daily living, and self-advocacy, so that he or she will truly be on the road to an independent future. A practical, easy to use guide, written in plain English, the book warns about common problem areas and provides ideas for getting and keeping the child's education and development on track. It highlights the interplay between skills and competence, confidence, self-respect, and the respect of others. Of the small number of books and videos available on the subject, most were written by professionals in the field and many begin with the supposition that blindness is at best sad and at worst tragic. Few --maybe none --have the ardent passion for independence that the parent of a blind/visually impaired child brings to the subject. Instead of overwhelming parents and teachers with the difficulty of the undertaking before them, Getting Ready for College Begins in Third Grade will inspire their confidence and enthusiasm for the task at hand.

While governing bodies have mandated that all students have the right to an education, with disabled students treated to the same rights and opportunities as non-disabled students, policymakers do not always agree on what all-inclusive education should look like. Challenges Surrounding the Education of Children with Chronic Diseases explores the needs that children with certain conditions-such as diabetes, cancer, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, and inflammatory bowel disease-might have in the classroom. Featuring coverage on a wide range of topics relating to pre-service teacher training, school administrators' policies, and the experiences of children with chronic health conditions, this book is an essential reference source for teachers, educators, school administrators, policymakers, and anyone else concerned with inclusive educational rights for all students.

This book presents an ethnographic case study of the personal motivations, advocacy, and activation of social capital needed to create and sustain the Immortelle Children's Centre, a private school that has served children with disabilities in Trinidad/Tobago for four decades. Based on narratives by parents from the 1980's, current parents, teachers, community advocates, and the author, who was the founder of Immortelle in 1978, the study views the school within the context of a nation standing in a liminal space between developed and developing societies. It argues that the attainment of equity for children with disabilities will require an agenda that includes a legal mandate for education of all children, increased public funding for education, health and therapeutic services, and an on-going public awareness campaign. Relating this study to the global debate on inclusion, the author shows how the implementation of this agenda would have to be adapted to the social, cultural, and economic realities of the society.

It is widely agreed throughout the world that education and access to education are human rights. In order to accommodate the educational needs of people globally, technology will be required that supports inclusion and promotes equity for both learning processes and governance in educational institutions. In order to achieve this, technological resources must be designed to be accessible and usable for all individuals by implementing user-centered design (UCD) and user experience design (UXD) processes. UXD and UCD Approaches for Accessible Education is an academic research publication that explores thoughts and experiences on accessible and equitable education from perspectives on human-computer interaction, user research, and design thinking. It seeks to improve the understanding on how technology should be designed to truly contribute to and support accessibility and equity in education. Featuring a wide range of topics such as online courses, inclusive education, and virtual reality, this publication is essential for academicians, curriculum designers, researchers, instructional designers, educational software developers, IT consultants, policymakers, administrators, and students.