Remedial and Special Education

One of the fundamental values built in to current special education practice is the notion of equity for students with disabilities. In a review regarding the least restrictive environment (LRE), Yell (1995) said, "LRE is a principle stating that students with disabilities are to be educated in settings as close to regular classes as appropriate for the child" (p. 193). Although almost all stakeholders agree with these goals in principle, there is significant and heated debate in the professional community about how to achieve these goals. Much of the discussion on LRE seems to reflect a specific place-a physical context such as the general education classroom. In this article, we draw on a sociocultural framework to propose an expanded view of LRE. Specifically, we argue that a focus on the physical setting is not the most appropriate unit of analysis. Rather, we suggest that the same placement or setting can be either facilitating or restrictive, depending on the social organization of specific activity settings that comprise a given context. A different view is provided by sociocultural theory, which proposes a unit of analysis that includes the individual in interaction with a specific activity setting.

Due to poor school performance among significant numbers of minority students in U.S. schools, many parents, educators, and policymakers now look to teacher education programs (TEPs) to prepare preservice teachers more effectively for student diversity. Unfortunately, although multicultural TEPs and courses have been in existence for quite some time, we know very little about the nature of teacher learning and development and the conditions that promote teacher learning for student diversity in both preservice courses and field experiences. Moreover, we know little about what program components improve learning experiences for culturally and linguistically diverse students. In this article, we propose a reconceptualization of multicultural teacher education. For this purpose, we summarize basic principles of cultural-historical theory that must be considered by teacher educators who prepare preservice teachers for student diversity. We also discuss how cultural-historical theory can inform research designs as teacher educators attempt to assess preservice teacher learning. Through preliminary analysis of a study conducted in a preservice teacher education course, we provide examples of how constructs from cultural-historical theory are being used to assess teacher learning about teaching and learning in multicultural contexts.

The concept of family-centered, culturally responsive practices in early childhood intervention is based on principles of respect for and acceptance of each family's ethnicity, culture, language, and worldviews. Parental beliefs and expectations about children's development tend to reflect cultural perspectives of their community, and may differ from those espoused by professionals who serve them. In contrast to deficit-oriented interpretations often attributed by professionals to such disparities, sociocultural theory offers a framework for understanding beliefs in their cultural context. Using examples from a study of Mexican American mothers' beliefs about their children with language disabilities, this article interprets the mothers' views about language and disability from a sociocultural perspective and discusses implications for early childhood intervention.

Using a sociocultural framework, the authors describe scientific literacy and the importance of mediated activities for scientific learning. The difference between empirical and theoretical learning is introduced as an important aspect for teachers to understand as they work with students learning scientific concepts. Components of scientific literacy are described, and recommendations for teaching in the zone of proximal development are provided. A conceptual model adapted from ethnomathematics is introduced to demonstrate the effect of theoretical learning on cultural change, using an intergenerational study from Chiapas, Mexico, as an example.

The purpose of this article is to consider the relevance and contributions of sociocultural theory and multicultural and critical pedagogies to professional development in special education. To this end, a brief review of the major tenets of sociocultural theory is presented. The position taken in this article is that an adequate and a sufficient theoretical framework for professional development in special education must explicitly and directly address the issues of power, discrimination, and relative status that, we argue, underlie many dilemmas of application of practice. Vignettes illustrating such dilemmas, with reference to the 1998 Council for Exceptional Children professional standards, are presented. Multicultural pedagogy and critical theory are suggested as potentially complementary and important additions to sociocultural theory, as applied to the professional development of special educators.

This article reviews the literature with respect to the perceptions and experiences of parents of children with and without disabilities concerning inclusive educational programs. The findings of the studies cited indicate that the attitudes and reactions of parents of children with and without disabilities toward inclusive educational programs appear to be varied, complex, and multidimensional, and affected by a variety of interacting variables. The implications of the findings for the development and implementation of inclusive educational programs as well as the limitations of the studies cited are discussed.