What Mothers Say About Special Education: From the 1960s to the Present

This book documents the experiences of 15 mothers whose children labeled learning disabled attended public schools during the last four decades. Despite the right of parents to participate in educational decision-making, these mothers describe the challenge of exercising that right. In candid and compelling narratives, mothers speak to the language of experts, conflicts in shared decision-making, devaluation of “mother knowledge,” and the influence of race, class, and gender. The constancy of issues suggests that this landmark legislation may, in fact, have engendered minimal changes in the lives of mothers and their children.

Jan Valle is Assistant Professor and program head for the graduate childhood education program at The City College of New York (CUNY). She has been an educator for nearly three decades, as a public school special education teacher, educational diagnostician/consultant, parent and family advocate, and teacher educator. She is the author of numerous articles and book chapters that address educational issues in both general and special education. In recognition of her scholarship, Jan received the 2001 Walter Sindlinger Writing Award at Teachers College, Columbia University and the Junior Scholar Award at the 2006 Annual Second City Disability Studies in Education conference. She is presently co-authoring a textbook on inclusive education that is scheduled for release in 2009.