Special Education
- LAST REVIEWED: 27 July 2016
- LAST MODIFIED: 27 July 2016
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199791231-0168
- LAST REVIEWED: 27 July 2016
- LAST MODIFIED: 27 July 2016
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199791231-0168
Introduction
Special education is a form of educational provision intended to provide students with disabilities or difficulties in learning with something that is “additional to” or “different from” that which is ordinarily available to others of similar age. The field is broad, covering many questions about the nature of special educational needs, how they might be assessed and addressed, where, and how such provision should be made over the different phases of education, including pre- and post-school, in both formal and informal settings. Additionally, the terminology used to discuss issues of special education varies across regions and national contexts, which can make searching the literature a complex endeavor. Research in special education is located in many different disciplinary perspectives that collectively provide a rich tapestry of ideas that form the field’s knowledge base. This bibliography provides an introduction to some of the key literature in the field. It is comprehensive but not exhaustive. It includes some of the seminal articles that have influenced the field, articles that cover important topics of interest, and research reviews that provide up-to-date information on key areas of concern; it is a gateway to other important sources of information and references. Those using this resource are encouraged to follow up on the work of the authors cited in this article and to undertake additional searches for more detailed information about the topics. In addition, because certain difficulties in learning and problems with behavior are context specific, ideas and approaches used in one country may not be exported readily to a different context. Therefore, readers are encouraged to read broadly to get a sense of these contested concepts and diverse approaches that typify the field and to explore how these concepts and approaches vary from country to country.
Policy Context
In many countries, special education is conceived as a parallel or separate system of education, different from or additional to that which is provided for the majority of children. However, debates about the most appropriate educational responses to disability and other difficulties in learning have led to notions of inclusive education in which all children are considered to be part of one education system. In the international community, concern for the education of students with disabilities has been linked with the Education for All movement, now commonly referred to as Education 2030. Although the policy documents, goals, and targets associated with the early EFA efforts did not call attention specifically to the education of students with disabilities, a concurrent international effort—coordinated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and launched at the 1994 World Conference on Special Needs Education in Salamanca, Spain—linked the education of students with disabilities to the EFA agenda by recognizing that all children should be educated within an inclusive education system. Subsequently, the conceptualization of inclusive education was broadened beyond the education of students with disabilities to encompass anyone who might be excluded from, or have limited access to, the general educational system within a country. At the same time, the rights of children with disabilities to have access to and participate in a country’s general education system became firmly established as part of the EFA agenda; this was affirmed with the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2006. These are significant developments because the legislative framework in some countries specifically excludes or restricts access for children with disabilities to the general education system even where education is compulsory and free. Consequently, the processes of inclusive education are seen to be of particular relevance and importance in creating educational opportunities for students with disabilities.
Education 2030: Incheon Declaration and Framework for Action in Portuguese, 2015
World Forum on Education commitment to education for all, the Incheon Declaration and Framework for Action supports United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), specifically SDG 4 Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
Education for All. 1990.
Launched in 1990, the Education for All (EFA) is a global initiative to provide basic education for all children, youths, and adults. Superseded in 2015 by Education 2030.
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. 1975.
Landmark US legislation (formerly P.L. 94–142) passed in 1975 guaranteed a free and appropriate education to children with disabilities and served as a model for legislative developments in other countries. The legislation covers thirteen categories of disability and specifies due process and individualized educational program planning procedures that must be followed.
Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action. Salamanca, Spain: World Conference on Special Needs Education, 1994.
The 1994 World Conference on Special Needs Education, held in Salamanca, Spain, adopted the guiding principle that regular schools should accommodate all children, regardless of their physical, intellectual, social, emotional, linguistic, or other conditions.
Special Educational Needs: Report of the Committee of Enquiry into the Education of Handicapped Children and Young People. London: HMSO, 1978.
The Warnock Report is a historical and influential report published in the United Kingdom, which has had influence in many countries of the English-speaking world. It proposed that distinct categories of handicap in education were unhelpful and endorsed the concept of special educational needs (SEN).
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. 1989.
A 1989 international human rights treaty that recognizes the human rights of children. The Convention obliges states to protect and ensure the civil, educational, political, health, economic, social, and cultural rights of all children.
UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. 2006.
Adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2006, the Convention affirms the human rights of persons with disabilities. Article 24 specifies that states shall ensure an inclusive education system.
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Article
- Abduction of Children
- Aboriginal Childhoods
- Addams, Jane
- ADHD, Sociological Perspectives on
- Adolescence and Youth
- Adolescent Consent to Medical Treatment
- Adoption and Fostering
- Adoption and Fostering, History of Cross-Country
- Adoption and Fostering in Canada, History of
- Advertising and Marketing, Psychological Approaches to
- Advertising and Marketing, Sociocultural Approaches to
- Africa, Children and Young People in
- African American Children and Childhood
- After-school Hours and Activities
- Aggression across the Lifespan
- Ancient Near and Middle East, Child Sacrifice in the
- Animals, Children and
- Animations, Comic Books, and Manga
- Anthropology of Childhood
- Archaeology of Childhood
- Ariès, Philippe
- Art History, Children in
- Attachment in Children and Adolescents
- Australia, History of Adoption and Fostering in
- Australian Indigenous Contexts and Childhood Experiences
- Autism, Females and
- Autism, Medical Model Perspectives on
- Autobiography and Childhood
- Benjamin, Walter
- Bereavement
- Best Interest of the Child
- Bioarchaeology of Childhood
- Body, Children and the
- Body Image
- Bourdieu, Pierre
- Boy Scouts/Girl Guides
- Boys and Fatherhood
- Breastfeeding
- Bronfenbrenner, Urie
- Bruner, Jerome
- Buddhist Views of Childhood
- Byzantine Childhoods
- Care, Early Childhood Education and
- Child and Adolescent Anger
- Child Beauty Pageants
- Child Homelessness
- Child Mortality, Historical Perspectives on Infant and
- Child Protection
- Child Protection, Children, Neoliberalism, and
- Child Public Health
- Child Trafficking and Slavery
- Childcare Manuals
- Childhod, Agency and
- Childhood and Borders
- Childhood and Empire
- Childhood as Discourse
- Childhood, Confucian Views of Children and
- Childhood, Memory and
- Childhood Publics
- Childhood Studies and Leisure Studies
- Childhood Studies in France
- Childhood Studies, Interdisciplinarity in
- Childhood Studies, Posthumanism and
- Childhoods in the United States, Sports and
- Childism
- Children and Dance
- Children and Film-Making
- Children and Money
- Children and Social Media
- Children and Sport
- Children and Sustainable Cities
- Children as Language Brokers
- Children as Perpetrators of Crime
- Children, Code-switching and
- Children in the Industrial Revolution
- Children with Autism in a Brazilian Context
- Children, Young People, and Architecture
- Children's Humor
- Children’s Museums
- Children’s Parliaments
- Children’s Reading Development and Instruction
- Children's Views of Childhood
- China, Japan, and Korea
- China's One Child Policy
- Citizenship
- Civil Rights Movement and Desegregation
- Class
- Classical World, Children in the
- Clothes and Costume, Children’s
- Collective Memory in Latin America, Childhoods and Collect...
- Colonial America, Child Witches in
- Colonialism and Human Rights
- Colonization and Nationalism
- Color Symbolism and Child Development
- Common World Childhoods
- Competitiveness, Children and
- Conceptual Development in Early Childhood
- Congenital Disabilities
- Constructivist Approaches to Childhood
- Consumer Culture, Children and
- Consumption, Child and Teen
- Conversation Analysis and Research with Children
- Critical Approaches to Children’s Work and the Concept of ...
- Crying
- Cultural psychology and human development
- Debt and Financialization of Childhood
- Disability
- Discipline and Punishment
- Discrimination
- Disney, Walt
- Divorce And Custody
- Dolls
- Domestic Violence
- Drawings, Children’s
- Early Childhood
- Early Childhood Care and Education, Selected History of
- Eating disorders and obesity
- Education: Learning and Schooling Worldwide
- Environment, Children and the
- Environmental Education and Children
- Ethics in Research with Children
- Eugenics
- Europe (including Greece and Rome), Child Sacrifice in
- Evolutionary Studies of Childhood
- Family Meals
- Fandom (Fan Studies)
- Fathers
- Female Genital Cutting
- Feminist New Materialist Approaches to Childhood Studies
- Feral and "Wild" Children
- Fetuses and Embryos
- Filicide
- Films about Children
- Films for Children
- Folk Tales, Fairy Tales and
- Folklore
- Food
- Foundlings and Abandoned Children
- Freud, Anna
- Freud, Sigmund
- Friends and Peers: Psychological Perspectives
- Froebel, Friedrich
- Gangs
- Gay and Lesbian Parents
- Gender and Childhood
- Generations, The Concept of
- Geographies, Children's
- Gifted and Talented Children
- Global South, Skilling Youth in the
- Globalization
- Growing Up in the Digital Era
- Hall, G. Stanley
- Happiness in Children
- Hindu Views of Childhood and Child Rearing
- Hispanic Childhoods (U.S.)
- Historical Approaches to Child Witches
- History of Childhood in America
- History of Childhood in Canada
- HIV/AIDS, Growing Up with
- Homeschooling
- Humor and Laughter
- Images of Childhood, Adulthood, and Old Age in Children’s ...
- Infancy and Ethnography
- Infant Mortality in a Global Context
- Innocence and Childhood
- Institutional Care
- Intercultural Learning and Teaching with Children
- Islamic Views of Childhood
- Japan, Childhood in
- Juvenile Detention in the US
- Key, Ellen
- Klein, Melanie
- Labor, Child
- Latin America
- Learning, Language
- Learning to Write
- Legends, Contemporary
- Literary Representations of Childhood
- Literature, Children's
- Love and Care in the Early Years
- Magazines for Teenagers
- Maltreatment, Child
- Maria Montessori
- Marxism and Childhood
- Masculinities/Boyhood
- Material Cultures of Western Childhoods
- Mead, Margaret
- Media, Children in the
- Media Culture, Children's
- Medieval and Anglo-Saxon Childhoods
- Menstruation
- Middle Childhood
- Middle East
- Migration
- Miscarriage
- Missionaries/Evangelism
- Moral Development
- Moral Panics
- Mothers
- Multi-culturalism and Education
- Music and Babies
- Nation and Childhood
- Native American and Aboriginal Canadian Childhood
- New Reproductive Technologies and Assisted Conception
- Nursery Rhymes
- Organizations, Nongovernmental
- Orphans
- Parental Gender Preferences, The Social Construction of
- Parenting
- Pediatrics, History of
- Peer Culture
- Perspectives on Boys' Circumcision
- Peter Pan
- Philosophy and Childhood
- Piaget, Jean
- Play
- Politics, Children and
- Postcolonial Childhoods
- Post-Modernism
- Poverty, Rights, and Well-being, Child
- Pre-Colombian Mesoamerica Childhoods
- Premodern China, Conceptions of Childhood in
- Prostitution and Pornography, Child
- Psychoanalysis
- Queer Theory and Childhood
- Race and Ethnicity
- Racism, Children and
- Radio, Children, and Young People
- Readers, Children as
- Refugee and Displaced Children
- Reimagining Early Childhood Education, Reconceptualizing a...
- Relational Ontologies
- Relational Pedagogies
- Rights, Children’s
- Risk and Resilience
- Russia
- School Shootings
- Sex Education in the United States
- Sexuality
- Siblings
- Siblings, Learning Disabilities and
- Social and Cultural Capital of Childhood
- Social Habitus in Childhood
- Social Movements, Children's
- Social Policy, Children and
- Socialization and Child Rearing
- Socio-cultural Perspectives on Children's Spirituality
- Sociology of Childhood
- South African Birth to Twenty Project
- South Asia
- South Asia, History of Childhood in
- Special Education
- Spiritual Development in Childhood and Adolescence
- Spock, Benjamin
- Sports and Organized Games
- Street Children
- Street Children And Brazil
- Subcultures
- Sure Start
- Teenage Fathers
- Teenage Pregnancy
- Television
- The Bible and Children
- The Harms and Prevention of Drugs and Alcohol on Children
- The Spaces of Childhood
- Theater for Children and Young People
- Theories, Pedagogic
- Tourism
- Toys
- Transgender Children
- Tweens
- Twins and Multiple Births
- Unaccompanied Migrant Children
- United Kingdom, History of Adoption and Fostering in the
- United States, Schooling in the
- Value of Children
- Views of Childhood, Jewish and Christian
- Violence, Children and
- Visual Representations of Childhood
- Voice, Participation, and Agency
- Vygotsky, Lev and His Cultural-historical Approach to Deve...
- War
- Welfare Law in the United States, Child
- Well-Being, Child
- Western Europe and Scandinavia
- Western Literature, The Urban Child in
- Witchcraft in the Contemporary World, Children and
- Work and Apprenticeship, Children's
- Young Carers
- Young Children and Inclusion
- Young Children’s Imagination
- Young Lives
- Young People, Alcohol, and Urban Life
- Young People and Climate Activism
- Young People and Disadvantaged Environments in Affluent Co...