Abstract
In this chapter, the aim is to use the cultural-historical perspective to analyse school practices of children with disabilities and understand learning of children with so-called “Special educational needs”. It is discussed how the threshold for when special educational needs emerge depends on three aspects: (1) The organisation of the learning setting, (2) the particular impairments of the child and (3) the change in support and demands within the setting through time. The incongruence, which arises when a child with an impairment has to learn in practices cultivated for typically developing children, has the potential to constrain cognitive and neural development through its impact on the possibilities of the child to participate in activities. Furthermore, the role of assessments is discussed in relation to the cultural-historical point that cognitive functioning as an innate and stable ability needs to be supplemented with a concept of cognitive potential focusing on how to employ the potential through learning and providence of the right means for the child to participate. Next, the role of motives is discussed. Creating opportunities for the active participation of children with severe disabilities might be more difficult not only because of their limited ability to act independently, but also because many children with severe disabilities come to school with motives typical of younger children. If the children are expected to participate in teaching activities with implicit cultural expectations to the children’s motivational developmental level it easily results in lower participation in learning activities.
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Bøttcher, L., Dammeyer, J. (2016). Learning and Teaching When the Child Has Special Educational Needs. In: Development and Learning of Young Children with Disabilities. International Perspectives on Early Childhood Education and Development, vol 13. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39114-4_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39114-4_7
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