1st Edition

Handbook of Critical Special Education Research, Policy, and Practice

Edited By Eric B. Claravall, Amy L. Ferrell Copyright 2026
312 Pages 5 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

312 Pages 5 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

312 Pages 5 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

The Handbook of Critical Special Education proposes a transformative framework that reimagines special education as dialogic, relational, decolonial, and justice oriented. Critical special education calls for methodological pluralism, epistemic humility, and the integration of social and embodied understandings of disability to dismantle oppressive structures and rebuild education as a site of... Read more

1. Introduction to Critical Special Education: Reimagining Epistemological Foundations and Shifting the Paradigm  Part 1: Agency, Advocacy, and Lived Experience.  2. Unveiling the Intersections of Anti-Blackness, Misogynoir, and Parent Advocacy in Special Education: A Critical Examination of Access and Equity  3. Reforming Special Education Means Reforming Research Methods: Nothing About Us Without Us  4. Disability Joy: Producing Supportive Curricula for D/disabled Students Through a Framework of Historical Materials from Camp Jened  Part 2: Intersectional, Critical, and Decolonial Frameworks  5. Toward a Global Affective Intersectional Epistemology in Inclusive Education  6. Critical Inclusive Education as a Full-Measure Solution for Equity, Justice, and Belonging  7. Using DisCrit as a Tool of Critical Special Education: Actively Challenging Deficit Perspectives of Disability and Race Embedded in Research and Practice  8. From Inclusion to Community: A Paradigm of Wholeness for Special Education  Part 3: Transforming Policy and Practice  9. Children with Emotional and Behavioral Disabilities Cannot Access Education Until IDEA Transforms Their Social Environment  10. From Margins to Center: Amplifying Voices in Equity-Oriented Special Education Policy Formulation with Learning Lab  11. Critical Literacy: Reframing Literacy Practices for Students with Learning Differences  12. Incorporating Social Justice and Equity into Evidence-Based Writing Instruction for Students with Learning Differences  13. Enacting Critical Special Education through Harm Reduction in Teacher Education  14. Radical Reimagination in Our Practices as School Psychologists: Interrogating Oppression Toward Liberation  15. Understanding the Role of School Counselors in Special Education Through a Critical Lens  16. Epilogue: Closing Thoughts from a Disabled Student

Biography

Eric B. Claravall’s research interests lie at the intersection of disciplinary literacies, critical pedagogy, and decolonial education for students with learning differences. His work has been published in the Journal of Literacy Research, Journal of Mixed Methods ResearchJournal of Social Studies Research, Reading and Writing Quarterly, Reading Teacher, Journal of Curriculum Studies and Research, and Teaching Exceptional Children. He has also written chapters for edited books published by Routledge, Lexington Books, and Information Age Publishing.

Amy L. Ferrell studies community, discourse, and literacy for people with disabilities. Her scholarship, which situates disability research in social, cultural, historical, racial, linguistic, and political contexts, has appeared in journals such as Harvard Educational Review, Reading Research Quarterly, Urban Education, Linguistics and Education, and International Journal of Inclusive Education. She is coauthor of the second edition of The Ethics of Special Education (Teachers College Press).