How Special Education Teacher Candidates Understand Neurodiversity in Films: An Examination of Students’ Papers.

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 1:45 pm - Gold 1
  In Roundtable Session: Posthuman Reimaginings of Teaching and Teacher Education

Abstract

This qualitative case study examined how special education teacher candidates (SETCs) at the beginning of a master’s program viewed and understood the portrayal of neurodiversity in films. Participants submitted papers for a course assignment in a special education introductory course, which were analyzed and coded for categories and themes. Findings framed by crip theory and posthumanist studies were interdependence, inspiration, ordinary life, and critical language. Implications for the results reveal the need to focus on interdependence as an essential component of education. SETCs were inspired and motivated by familiar and stereotypical tropes. Critical discourse analysis (Fairclough, 2013) revealed the use of language that was judgmental, binary, limiting, and some positive. Findings also uncovered SETCs’ comparison of neurodiverse individuals with others.

Author

• Shalinie Sarju, SUNY Old Westbury