A World Away From IEPs

Step outside of the IEPs and behavioral paperwork currently generated in schools, go where disabled people are thriving today, and see the results in learning, growth, and expression. This authoritative book offers readers alternative ways to think about learning and behavior in special education. Through illustrative case studies and a disability studies lens, author Erin McCloskey uses the voices of people with disabilities to show how these students progress creatively outside the classroom and school building—at the dojo, the riding arena, the theater stage, the music studio, and other community-centered spaces where disabled students can make choices about their learning, their bodies, and their goals. Balancing theory and practice, the book describes alternative learning spaces, demonstrates how disabled students learn there, and passes on the important lessons learned in each space. The ideas apply to students of all ages with a wide variety of disabilities.

Book Features:

• Uses the voices of people with disabilities to promote alternative ways to think about learning and behavior in special education.
• Presents rich case studies and briefer interludes to illustrate how disabled students are learning and thriving in surprising ways outside of school where they have opportunities to explore.
• Distills important key takeaways from each case study through chapter sections of “lessons learned.”
• Promotes informed discussion of the concepts in the book with questions at the end of each chapter.
• Combines theory and practice to help readers put the concepts into action in a variety of settings with a variety of disabled students.

Erin McCloskey is an associate professor of education at Vassar College.

“Erin McCloskey tackles a subject that many special educators don’t entertain, much less talk about: how students with IEPs participate in afterschool activities, and what those activities look like for them.”

—Teachers College Record

“This volume incorporates a good mix of theory and practice, with reflection questions at the end of each chapter to help students synthesize the material. It would be an excellent resource for teacher preparation programs and disability studies programs designed to shake up conventional methods of treating disabled students.”

—CHOICE

“Like Erin McCloskey, I have little faith that the IEPs of most students receiving special education services translate into an education driven by the student’s strengths and high expectations. Special education and IEPs have, in far too many cases, become compliance-oriented processes centered on and ultimately perpetuating beliefs about student deficits and incapacity. In A World Away From IEPs: How Disabled Students Learn in Out-of-School Spaces, McCloskey instead centers disabled voices that challenge us to go beyond the low expectations reflected in IEPs and to recognize that when education focuses on students’ passions and strengths, all students learn.”
—Michael L. Wehmeyer, Ross and Marianna Beach Distinguished Professor in Special Education, The University of Kansas

“A World Away From IEPs is an artful fusion of McCloskey's own dynamic career with the developments of the greater field of special education. In this work, both the pitfalls and the promise of educating students with disabilities are earnestly explored, and a new way of extending beyond the often-limiting spaces of the school environment becomes accessible.”
—Eric Shyman, associate professor of child study, St. Joseph’s College

“In prose teeming with thick description, McCloskey beckons the reader to enter remarkable out-of-school spaces where labels hold no meaning and learners define themselves within authentic shared communities. The successes documented in and among these eclectic spaces both disrupt and challenge ‘learning’ as defined by IEPs and implemented within special education. For any teacher education program dedicated to reimagining schools for all students, consider this volume among your highly valued resources.”
—Jan Valle, professor, The City College of New York

Contents

Preface vii
Acknowledgments xi

1. A Special Education 1
Decision-Making and Special Education 2
Placement 3
Learning and Special Education 4
Individualized Learning 6
Behavior and Special Education 9
Theory and Method 12

2. The Dojo 17
Warming Up 22
Practice 24
Lessons Learned 31
Reflection Questions 37
Interlude, The Field 38

3. The Arena 40
The Reward of Risk-Taking 41
Gina’s Assistants 42
Mounting—ÒAre You Ready?Ó 43
ÒToday, You Are in ChargeÓ 45
Lessons Learned 52
Reflection Questions 57
Interlude, The Library 58

4. The Theater 60
Title: Affinity Spaces and the Theater 60
Act One 60
Scene One: Warm-Up 60
Act Two 66
Scene One: The Show 66
Title: Inclusivity by Design 67
Act One 67
Scene One: The Tour 67
Scene Two: Xavier 70
Scene Three: Karla 72
Act Two 73
Scene One: Belonging by Design 73
Lessons Learned 75
Reflection Questions 78
Interlude, The CafŽ 79

5. The Studio 81
Rhythm in My Bones 82
Suzy 83
Josh and Allie 85
Jam Session 88
Miriam 91
Lessons Learned 94
Reflection Questions 97

6. The Sinclair School: A Counterstory 98

References 105
Index 109
About the Author 116