The use of creative methods has been advocated within disability and childhood research as a means of including voices of inarticulate participants in research, as it can support and supplement the use of conventional language. This paper draws on a research project aimed at designing "the best school in the world" with five students in…

This paper aims to examine what the capability approach has to offer to the field of special needs and inclusive education. Several key questions are addressed: can the capability approach replace the language of needs and rights; whether the capability approach can address key issues in the field of disabilities and difficulties in education and…

As a result of their high contact time with children, particularly children identified with special educational needs, it is widely acknowledged that teaching assistants (TAs) have great influence on pupils' education (Balshaw). However, recent research into the impact of TAs on pupils' learning has questioned TAs' usefulness in…

We compared two instructional models (co-teaching inclusion and solo-taught special education) for students with learning disabilities (LD) with regard to their effect on academic achievement and class attendance. Twelve inclusive classes (experimental group) and 13 special education classes (control group) participated in the study. In grade 1,…

This paper reports on a four-year research project examining the experiences of children with dyslexia in mainstream schools and reading schools/classes. The focus of this paper is on the socio-emotional effects of dyslexia on a group of children attending a reading school/class for a specific duration before returning to mainstream. The findings…

This paper argues that the standards agenda works in opposition to the inclusion agenda despite government rhetoric, which suggests that both agendas are complementary. The paper emphasises the need to embrace a broader understanding of what constitutes "achievement" in order to enable all learners to experience success. In developing…

The inclusion of children with special needs in mainstream regular schools has been seen as the best practice in special education provision, most markedly since the 90s. International research has provided amassing evidence towards the advantages of inclusive model over a segregation model of special education provision. However, nearly two…

In this paper, we present an analysis of the implementation of measures of attention to diversity for students with special educational support needs studying Compulsory Secondary Education (12-16 years) in the Region of Murcia, Spain. Our aim is to learn about the organisational and curricular structures implemented in five secondary education…

In Sweden today, special educational needs coordinators (SENCOs) are educated at universities to help resolve educational problems related to children in need of special support at three levels, that is, the organisational level, the classroom level and the individual level. Before the education of SENCOs was created in the early 1990s, special…

The lack of clear language in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which is the federal law that governs the provision of special education and related services to children with disabilities in the USA, has led to inconsistencies in school districts' decisions regarding the least restrictive environment (LRE). This…

It is estimated that of approximately 150-250 million children with disabilities across the world, a large number have difficulties related to problems in the central nervous system (CNS). This paper considers school dropout rates of children with special educational needs associated with CNS problems from a study of educational institutions in…

The literature suggests that understandings of teaching and learning can be classified around two metaphors: acquisition and participation. It is further argued that neither metaphor is sufficient and that both are necessary. Drawing on material from a larger study related to the professional development of Special Educational Needs Coordinators,…

This paper describes the development of education of students with special needs in vocational education. The paper is based on a case study research conducted in 2001-2005 in Jyvaskyla Municipal Federation of Vocational Education in Central Finland. The study consisted of two parts: firstly of the historical analysis of special educational…

A small group of children and young adolescent with dyslexia has severely impaired reading skills despite prolonged special education. These are the students in focus. In dyslexia, problem behaviour, internalised as well as externalised, has previously been reported, so also for the participants with dyslexia in this study. The aim of the present…

Participatory research methods directly engage with the topics that they set out to address. It is therefore no surprise that participatory research practice on the topic of educational inclusion and exclusion raises ethical issues for the participatory researcher that are themselves about inclusion and exclusion. This paper describes and analyses…