The need for teachers who have both the knowledge and the skills to teach students in special education, especially students who are emergent bilinguals, is more critical today than ever before. Assumptions about the assurances outlined in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) have led to practices that have limited the scope of opportunities for culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students with disabilities. This book examines the intent of special education policy, challenges existing systems, and explores the promise of using biography-driven instruction to transform students' learning and enhance their personal growth and community life. With a focus on inclusive practices for working with CLD students with disabilities and their families, the book examines decision-making processes for placement, access, instruction, assessment, and evaluation. The authors show how inclusionary practices create contexts and conditions for teachers to foster their students' academic abilities through authentic cariño and an ecology of care. Book Features: Elucidates the challenges faced by educators and support personnel as they navigate and prioritize the needs of CLD students with disabilities in inclusive classrooms. Reveals the outdated, politically driven, inequitable, and inconsequential educational opportunities often afforded to CLD students receiving special services. Provides a framework for creating learning opportunities grounded in the six principles of IDEA and the personal and academic biography of learners and their families. Supports teachers and other staff to maximize four interrelated facets of the CLD student biography: sociocultural, linguistic, cognitive, and academic. Explores the multiple meanings of inclusion and academic engagement at the intersection of IDEA and biography-driven instruction.

The need for teachers who have both the knowledge and the skills to teach students in special education, especially students who are emergent bilinguals, is more critical today than ever before. Assumptions about the assurances outlined in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) have led to practices that have limited the scope of opportunities for culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students with disabilities. This book examines the intent of special education policy, challenges existing systems, and explores the promise of using biography-driven instruction to transform students’ learning and enhance their personal growth and community life. With a focus on inclusive practices for working with CLD students with disabilities and their families, the book examines decision-making processes for placement, access, instruction, assessment, and evaluation. The authors show how inclusionary practices create contexts and conditions for teachers to foster their students’ academic abilities through authentic cariño and an ecology of care. Book Features: Elucidates the challenges faced by educators and support personnel as they navigate and prioritize the needs of CLD students with disabilities in inclusive classrooms. Discloses the outdated, politically driven, inequitable, and inconsequential educational opportunities often afforded to CLD students receiving special services. Provides a framework for creating learning opportunities grounded in the six principles of IDEA and the personal and academic biography of learners and their families. Supports teachers and other staff to maximize four interrelated facets of the CLD student biography: sociocultural, linguistic, cognitive, and academic. Explores the multiple meanings of inclusion and academic engagement at the intersection of IDEA and biography-driven instruction.

This comprehensive account of bilingualism examines the importance of using students' native languages as a tool for supporting higher levels of learning. The authors highlight the social, linguistic, neuro-cognitive, and academic advantages of bilingualism, as well as the challenges faced by English language learners and their teachers in schools across the United States. They describe effective strategies for using native languages, even when the teacher lacks proficiency in that language. This resource addresses both the latest research and theory on native language instruction, along with its practical application (the what, the why, and how) in K-8 classrooms. Key features include: Examples of programmes that address the needs of learners from diverse language backgrounds, including Spanish, Chinese, Korea, Haitian Creole, Hindi, Bengali, and Russian. Teaching strategies, activities, and student tasks geared toward current academic standards. The role of primary languages in ESL, dual language, special education, and general education programmes.