A critical view is taken of the predominant positivist-empiricist assumptions that underlie most theories in the social sciences and which have had enormous influence on special education. These mechanistic assumptions (which include linearity, predictability, quantification, fact/value separation, stimulus-response model, and fragmentation) form the foundation for textbooks in early childhood special education, screening tests, and early identification measures. In the United States they have been solidified under Public Law 94–142.
Against this backdrop, contemporary theoretical developments are noted as they provide us with more adequate principles by which to guide our work. Holism, phenomenology, and social constructionism offer valuable support to the concepts of all children as meaning makers, of growth through transformations, and of the socially constructed nature of knowing and of knowledge. Implications for early childhood education are drawn.
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