The author offers eight guiding principles that can be used to advance an inclusive pedagogy. These principles permit teachers to both acknowledge and draw from the conditions within which they work, even as they uphold their commitments to equitable schooling for students from historically marginalized groups, particularly students with disabilities.

Our intention in writing this book is to provide three distinct but closely related groups with insight into the factors required to help a blind child attain his/her maximum level of cognitive abilities. The first group consists of parents who face the day to day reality of helping their blind child deal with the challenges imposed by the lack of sight. The second group consists of beginning and future professionals who will find themselves deeply involved with providing social, psychological, and educational support of these parents. The third group includes friends, family, and others who are not and will not be on the front lines of working with blind children, but who are interested in understanding the issues for their own reasons. There are many articles and books available that discuss the various aspects of the development of both sighted and blind children from almost every possible perspective related to the factors that impact the learning and developmental processes of children. Unfortunately, the vast majority of these have been written by professionals to professionals, using the jargon of the author's chosen field of study. As a result, people who are not part of the "in groups" often find these publications hard to understand, boring, or both. In this book, we do not aim to provide any new insights to established professionals or other individuals who are knowledgeable in this area. Rather, our purpose is to translate the knowledge provided by these professionals into ideas and concepts that can be readily understood and applied by parents, teachers, and other caregivers of blind children. Throughout the book, we will be dealing with highly specialized concepts and theories of education, psychology, and human development. We have done our best to translate the professional and academic jargon into what most people would call "simple English. Throughout the text, we have provided our definitions of key terms as we have come to understand and apply those terms. We recognize that others may have different interpretations for the same terms, and we do not dispute that their definitions serve their particular purposes.

When Deb Willows was diagnosed with cerebral palsy 50 years ago, her parents were advised to "put her in an institution and get on with your lives." Experts believed parents were incapable of raising disabled children. But God had other plans. Deb's parents challenged her to see her severe limitations as opportunities, to dream big dreams and to work hard to accomplish them. Overcoming many challenges, Deb has blazed the trail for other disabled people, representing Canada around the world as a Paralympian and the first disabled boccia ball referee. Her story is one of hope and inspiration for everyone who has a dream they want to achieve but with obstacles to overcome. Deb Willows has truly lived beyond her circumstances and demonstrates that with God's help we can all accomplish great things Deb represented Canada numerous times on the world stage in swimming, slalom, wheelchair soccer and boccia. At her first international boccia event (New York, 1984), she won a bronze medal in the women's CP1 category. She competed at the 1988 Paralympic Games and set a Canadian and world record in the 50m backstroke at the 1986 Paralympic Games. In 1990, Debbie broke this record at Assen, and then demonstrated slalom for the Queen of Holland.

Essential Elements in Early Intervention is a complete sourcebooks and guide for early interventionists, teachers of students with visual impairments, and other professionals who work with young children with visual impairments, dual sensory impairments, and multiple disabilities. It includes comprehensive information on vision and hearing examinations, functional vision and hearing assessments, and effective methods of providing early intervention services. The new edition includes expanded, updated information on federal special education legislation, best practices in early intervention, evidence-based outcomes, and the role of the early interventionist, as well as strategies for working with families and educational teams successfully.

Meet Marty, a very special seven -year old boy who is just like any other boy, except that he has Cerebral Palsy and is in a wheelchair. Unfortunately, some people just ignore Marty because they cannot see anything beyond his wheel chair and do not take the time to realize how special he really is,

Marty loves to create art, likes animals and enjoys going to the beach; he even won a very special Gold Medal because of his determination. Meet Marty and you will never forget how big of a heart he has and how special he really is

For several decades, the University of Calgary, Canada, housed an otherwise community-based service for people with dual diagnoses: developmental delay, plus a behavioural disorder. The mandate of "The Behaviour Support Team" was to support clients who were transitioning from institutions into community living. The Team was for many years considered the agency of last resort. Virtually all people who were receiving service were diagnosed with a mental health disorder, along with a second disabling condition; for example, visual impairment, brain injury, genetic skin disorders, deafness (not always considered a disability) and many others, coupled with an intellectual challenge. As practitioners, we were expected to offer support groups along with individual counselling as well as outreach support. Drama groups were a hit, and this book tells the evolutionary story of the ultimate development of a theatre company, mandated to tell the stories, and to provide the thrilling opportunity for its "actors" to experience the spotlight This book, complete with scripts, takes a political stance, which is not always easy for some readers to accept. Herein lays some of its appeal as the narrative, at times, challenges the rehabilitation and theatre communities. This fact, coupled with the reality that the artistic director has a disability of her own, makes for an interesting, if not edgy, yet educational read. The book provides theoretic considerations, which are often contradictory, but virtually always controversial where mental health is concerned. Theoretic considerations are contrasted and compared to feminism, shamanism (depicted by turtle on the book cover; more specifically trickster, depicted by coyote), and trends in rehabilitation within a Canadian context. The final draft of the book goes on to include some American context provided by my theatre colleague Leslie Fanelli, who began similar work within the disability theatre movement on the other side of the continent, decades before we had the pleasure of meeting. The reader will also find practical application and instruction for the development of three levels of theatre experience for acting enthusiasts. In essence the stories gleaned from the chapters and accompanying scripts, speak of our inherent right to creative expression, one which is often denied those who are differently able.