Descriptive Inquiry to Advance Justice in ECSE (Early Childhood Special Education) Teacher Preparation

• In Event: Friday Roundtable Session 3:05 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Critical Disruptions: Perspectives on Teacher Preparation Informed by Disability Studies in Education (Table 1)

Abstract

Early childhood special education continues to be dominated by a medical model of disability that positions young disabled children as deficient. We argue that for teacher preparation programs that are aligned with Disability Studies in Education, Descriptive Inquiry can support teacher candidates to counter this dominant deficit-based lens. Descriptive Inquiry supports educators to see and appreciate children as they are - multifaceted and full of strengths - and resists the pathologizing view that young disabled children must be fixed or remediated. Through case study methodologies and discourse analysis, we explore how 36 graduate students applied Descriptive Inquiry to their work with young disabled children. Our findings indicate that Descriptive Inquiry can serve an important means of advancing justice for young disabled children.

Authors

• Soyoung Park, Bank Street College of Education

• Rae Leeper, Bank Street College of Education