Abstract

“If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn’t be called research, would it?” (Albert Einstein). In Diversity Issues in Special Education: Theory, Research, and Practice I will define the diversity perspectives within the context of research, then I will develop an understanding and understand theory as it is related to research, and inform personal stance on the merits of various traditions and their use in multicultural education. Thus, I will consider numerous topics such as, social construction of disability, multicultural education, and race. Moreover, in this paper, I will address multicultural education as a knowledge production movement by discussing Rosenqvist’s theories in inclusive and diverse special education classes and adopting the idea of the enhancement of competence and the extension of independence. The enhancement of competence, for example, needs recognition of what the child brings to school, accepting his/her skills, attitudes, ways of thinking and social and language experience. Similarly, the extension of independence concentrates on cultural differences. However, the idea of independence may vary in different cultures.

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