Keith D. Ballard

Researching disability and inclusive education: participation, construction and interpretation

Drawing on research with parents and teachers, this paper addresses issues of values and metatheory as central to the construction and analysis of inclusive education and disability. People without experience of disability interpreted difference as to be feared and controlled. Experiences of disability and support for inclusion were associated with alternative constructions opposing disabilist policies and practices. It is suggested that methodological strategies that distance researchers from the people and issues they study may limit what they can know and understand. Participatory approaches to research are explored as ways of thought and practice that acknowledge research as a personal and social activity in which interpretations and constructions reflect social, cultural, ideological and emotional contexts.

Inclusive Education in New Zealand: culture, context and ideology

Abstract Parents and teachers in New Zealand who have developed inclusive, non‐ discriminatory classrooms and schools are supported by education and human rights legislation and by recent policy on special education. Resistance to inclusion within the education system may be seen as reflecting disablist attitudes and practices. Inclusion values diversity, not assimilation. It is consistent with separate development, which might be chosen, for example, by those in the deaf and Maori communities as a means to maintain their language and culture. Education policies and practices are examined from the perspective of disability as a sociopolitical issue within a broader context of new right, libertarian ideologies that have impacted on the resources and structure of education and other state activities in New Zealand over the last decade.

Teaching Self‐management Strategies for Independent Story Writing to Children with Classroom Behaviour Difficulties

Abstract Seven primary school children with behaviour difficulties showed low levels of on‐task writing behaviour, high levels of off‐task disruptive behaviour and a low number of words written during regular classroom story writing sessions. Introduction of self‐recording of work behaviours during story writing for the whole class of 34 children was associated with increased on‐task, decreased off‐task disruptive behaviour and an increased number of words written for target children. There was also an increased number of words written by six other children for whom story writing data was collected. Introduction of say‐do correspondence training for five of the target children showed further increases in independent story writing behaviour and reductions in off‐task behaviours that disrupted the written language sessions.

Videotape modeling for preschool children with low levels of social interaction and low peer involvement in play

This research evaluated a videotape modeling intervention for six preschool children who showed low levels of social involvement with peers in natural free-play settings. Observations across 14 weeks gave frequency and topographic data on social interactions and assessment of social involvement in play using the Parten Scale. Simultaneous observation of three children gave data on two comparison children for each target child. A multiple-baseline across-subjects design was used with two data analysis strategies. Averaged group data showed statistically significant increases in both interactions and social involvement in play. Visual analysis of the single-subject data, however, indicated no clear treatment outcome for two children, while four subjects showed a variable increase in social responding after viewing the modeling videotape. Session-by-session variability was a feature of the interaction rate measure for comparison children and for posttreatment phase data for target subjects.

Reading Recovery in Context: implementation and outcome

Abstract Reading Recovery is a school‐based preventive strategy designed to reduce the number of children with reading and writing difficulties. This study evaluated the implementation of Reading Recovery in 12 New Zealand schools. Target (Reading Recovery) and Comparison pairs of children were identified through the Reading Recovery procedures operated by each school. Results indicated that very few schools adhered closely to all recommended entry and discontinuation criteria. Results for Target and Comparison childrens reading progress up to the time of discontinuation are highly consistent with results reported by Clay (1985), with clear gains in favour of Target children. However, these gains had reduced considerably by the time of follow‐up. Data suggest that programme gains were greatest for children entering the programme at the lowest reading levels. Outcomes are discussed in terms of the need for better articulation between Reading Recovery teachers and regular classroom teachers.

Special Education in New Zealand: Disability, Politics and Empowerment

RECENT CHANGES in educational administration in New Zealand have been premised on an economic model of schools as providers and parents as consumers. At the same time, laws relating to education have been changed toward establishing the right of all children, irrespective of ability or disability, to education in state schools. Both moves have the potential to empower parents seeking integration into mainstream classrooms for their children who have disabilities. Recognition of the rights of Maori as the indigenous people of New Zealand is a further context within which educational and disability issues can be interpreted in terms of the social, cultural and political beliefs that underlie our concepts and actions.

Thinking in Another Way: Ideas for Sustainable Inclusion.

Inclusion implies that someone has been excluded and that some are able to prevent others from participation in significant community, economic and political activities. The processes of inclusion and exclusion reflect ideas about how the world is to be seen and understood, about who is to be attended to and who ignored, and about how institutions are to be organised. Change towards more inclusive and socially just arrangements requires serious interrogation of the ideas informing policy and practice and critical analysis of the cultural beliefs and values from which ideas derive their influence and power.

Like everybody else? What seven New Zealand adults learned about blindness from the education system

From interviews with seven blind New Zealand adults about their school experiences, this paper discusses how blindness has been constructed by some New Zealand mainstream principals and teachers. The experiences of these participants were not that of inclusion, despite being in ‘the mainstream’. The participants described how principals and teachers were both welcoming and unwelcoming. Inclusive principals and teachers were described as friendly, challenging, helpful and positive. They believed their blind students were like their other students. Principals and teachers who were remembered as excluding blind students were described as unfair, inflexible, unprepared and absent. They believed their blind students were different and did not find a social place for them.

Establishing correspondence between saying and doing as a procedure for increasing the social behaviours of two elementary school children

Abstract Two elementary school children who showed low levels of social interaction and play activities with other children were taught to say three statements relevant to pro‐social behaviour. The children were then praised for achieving correspondence between what they said they would do and actual performance of the target behaviour during an unstructured classroom activities session. Treatment was evaluated using a repeated measures multiple baseline across subjects design. The two subjects initially interacted with peers approximately 8 percent of the time during baseline and subsequently 50 percent of the time during the treatment phase, equating them with the class mean for interactions occurring across 50 percent of the available time. Follow‐up observations after nine weeks showed treatment effects to have been maintained.

Student Behavior in Physical Education Lessons: A Comparison among Student Achievement Groups.

AbstractThis research provided descriptive data on student behavior over a series of related physical education lessons. We observed 8 teachers while they taught classes in their school’s gymnasium within the regular school timetable. A modified version of the ALT-PE observation system was used to take repeated measures of 2 randomly selected high-, average-, and low-achieving students in each class across all lessons. The results showed that the teachers allocated less than one half of the available lesson time for student participation with the learning tasks. Across all classes, less than 20% of student time was spent in motor-on-task behavior with a range of 18% (11.2-29.2%). The three student achievement groups in each class spent similar amounts of time in motor-on-task behavior and performed similar numbers of learning trials, but differed in the proportion of successful learning trials experienced.