This paper examines the Canadian school system's image of children with diverse abilities aged 0-6-years old, and critiques this image in light of that held in the municipal early education system in Reggio Emilia, Italy. The argument is made that the Canadian image of young children with diverse abilities has its roots in modernism and sees them…

The skills for effective teaching were investigated among elementary teachers working in inclusive classrooms to determine whether the appearance of "constructivist" skills are independent of, or follow from the mastery of teaching behaviours that are more transmissive in nature. The data were extracted from the Classroom Observation…

In 1997, the government of Ontario announced the establishment of the Learning Opportunities Task Force (LOTF) to develop and administer a series of pilot projects to enhance the transition of students with specific learning disabilities into postsecondary education, and to identify what supports, services and accommodations would assist these…

This grounded theory study employed in-depth interviews with nine student/parent dyads from eastern Canada. Youth with disabilities, aged 16 to 21, contributed narratives describing high school transitions. Shared experience that transcends disability categories produced powerful results. Three categories emerged: (1) transition facilitators; (2)…

Little research has focused on inclusion of students with disabilities at the university level. We asked students and professors at the University of Lethbridge to indicate their acceptance of three levels of inclusion (included in classes, provided with assistance and provided with professorial accommodation) for students with five categories of…

Self-report is a time- and cost-efficient screening measure that has the potential to be useful as a stand-alone means of recruiting adults for participation in reading research. We report on a sample of university students (N=46) recruited using the Adult Reading History Questionnaire-Revised, half of whom reported early difficulty with reading…

This study is one in a series examining pre-service teacher attitudes, concerns, and sentiments regarding inclusive education (see Forlin, 2007; Forlin, Earle, Loreman & Sharma, 2007; Forlin, Loreman, Sharma & Earle, 2007; Loreman, Earle, Sharma & Forlin, 2007; Loreman, Forlin, & Sharma, 2007; Sharma, Forlin, Loreman & Earle,…

Writing samples were examined from 42 post-secondary students with or without writing difficulties. Guided by the Simple View of Writing (Berninger et al., 2002), the samples were examined for evidence of difficulties with lower-order transcription processes and higher-order composition skills. Retrospective reports on writing strategies were also…

According to Gough and Tunmer (1986), in a "Simple View of Reading" (SVR), Reading comprehension (RC) = Decoding (D) x Linguistic Comprehension (C). To further evaluate this model, this paper describes an exploratory study of the performance of 60 university students, the majority of whom received academic accommodations at university to…

Exposure to print is a significant predictor of vocabulary growth and declarative knowledge in normally achieving readers (Stanovich, West, & Harrison, 1995). Research has also shown that initial differences in print exposure can be used to predict differences in reading comprehension in children studied ten years after initial assessment…

This study examined the status of current reading, spelling, and phonological processing skills of 28 university students who reported a history of reading acquisition problems. The results indicated that 21 of these participants were currently able to comprehend text at a level expected for university students, although only 8 at a rate…

In Canada over the past two decades many legal disputes have arisen concerning education for children with learning disabilities. Most often these disputes are concerned with equal access for children with disabilities and centre on the notion of appropriate education. Issues concerning equal access to appropriate education have a long history and…

The principle of inclusion of children with exceptionalities is accepted by teachers, but the practice of inclusion is problematic, particularly at the secondary level. In a study of inclusion and the impact of budgetary constraints in Nova Scotia, teachers reported that they had difficulty meeting the needs of all students within their classroom…

In this paper we examine the contention that many schools and school boards use funding generated from testing and coding of students with special needs as a means of augmenting general operating revenues. As a result, students with special needs do not receive the full benefit of the monies received for individualized programs. The article draws…

Human Rights statutes prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability, which includes learning disabilities. As such, the pedagogical debate on whether to educate special education students in mainstream or segregated schools, is also an equality and human rights issue. The author attempted to analyze, by looking at current legal cases and…