Inclusive Education in a Strengths-based Era: Changing Perceptions and Practices

It’s time to focus on what students can do, rather than what they can’t.

In this inaugural book in their Inclusive Education for Students with Disabilities series, Michael L. Wehmeyer and Jennifer A. Kurth explore central, defining questions for the field of special and inclusive education: who, what, and where do we teach; what works in inclusive education; and where does inclusive education go now?

Arguing that the concept of disability for the past fifty years has emphasized students as incapable and incompetent, the authors propose instead to build on a growing understanding that students with disabilities can be successful and meet high expectations, and that educators have the knowledge and skills to achieve this. From this strength-based perspective, the presumption is that disability is part of, and not apart from, typical human functioning.

Using this lens, Wehmeyer and Kurth describe effective practices to guide instruction in inclusive settings―practices that begin with a consideration of each student’s strengths and capacities, rather than with a diagnosis.

10 black-and-white illustrations

Michael L. Wehmeyer is the Ross and Marianna Beach Distinguished Professor of Special Education; Chairperson, Department of Special Education and Director and Senior Scientist at the Beach Center on Disability, all at the University of Kansas. He is a past-president and Fellow of the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, and the Council for Exceptional Children’s Division on Autism and Developmental Disabilities, a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, Division 33 Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities/Autism Spectrum Disorders, and a Fellow of the International Association on the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.

Jennifer A. Kurth is Associate Professor of Special Education at the University of Kansas. Her academic interests include methods implementing inclusive education, including methods of embedding critical instruction within the context and routines of general education as well as methods of providing appropriate supports and services for individual learners.