Kieron Sheehy

The Open University (UK) · Centre for Childhood, Development and Learning

Children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) have a profoundly higher risk of death or injury than their peers when natural disasters occur. International policies call for inclusive disaster risk reduction education (DRRE) to help ameliorate this situation. This paper focuses on Indonesia, which has one the highest incidences of...

The epistemological beliefs of students are an important area for higher education research. This paper firstly reports on a research review concerning the impact of epistemological beliefs on academic outcomes. This review indicates that students’ epistemological beliefs are an influence on their engagement with learning and academic success, and...

Inclusive kindergarten provision remains relatively rare in Indonesia. This article indicates factors that contribute to this situation (stigmatisation, lack of resources and training) and reports on an approach to begin to address it. Sign Supported Big Books were evaluated in mainstream kindergartens (i.e. classes without children with special ed...

Understanding components that influence students’ enjoyment of distance higher education is increasingly important to enhance academic performance and retention. Although there is a growing body of research about students’ engagement with online learning, a research gap exists concerning whether fun affect students’ enjoyment. A contributing factor...

The involvement of all participants within all aspects of the research process is a well-established challenge for participatory research. This is particularly evident in relation to data analysis and dissemination. A novel way of understanding and approaching this challenge emerged through a large-scale international, 3-year participatory research...

Abordagens curriculares mais humanistas centradas no aprendiz com tecnologias são vitais como uma resposta para o mundo dominado por grandes desafios, tais como a COVID-19. Este artigo examina o valor da diversão na Educação a Distância visando promover o sucesso dos estudantes e reduzir a evasão. Embora a experiência da diversão seja parte da natu...

Authentic participation involving jointly undertaken analysis of data and dissemination of findings is rarely evident in participatory research involving disabled people. This paper examines analysis and dissemination which offers greater participation, providing a theoretical underpinning for this approach. This conceptualization arises from ARCHE...

Purpose This paper aims to report the findings of a systematized literature review focusing on participatory research and accessibly in the context of assistive technologies, developed for use within museums by people with sensory impairments or a learning disability. The extent and nature of participatory research that occurs within the creation o...

In this paper, we will describe, justify and critique a participatory approach that we have developed in order to evaluate the success of a participatory research project that was exploring ways of making museum learning experiences more inclusive for adults who have a diverse range of access preferences. Because we were researching in a unique spa...

A comprehensive literature review was undertaken in order to identify design approaches that have been employed with users who have learning disabilities or sensory impairment; the factors that influenced their choices and the extent to which the approaches and techniques adopted were successful. There was a huge variation across the corpus regardi...

There is a complementarity between Uganda’s aim for ‘education for all’ and the pedagogy indicated as underpinning Uganda’s child-focused thematic curriculum. However, child-focused pedagogies are rare. The case is made that child-led research is an appropriate model for developing inclusive classroom practice. This research is the first to conside...

There is a large number of children with autism who need to be taught within the Indonesian education system. A significant influence on how their needs are perceived are the epistemological and cultural beliefs of teachers. This research is the first to examine these issues in the context of the Indonesian government’s intention to develop an incl...

This article reports on a survey of network and Wi-Fi enabled technologies to support disabled learners in museums and similar cultural heritage environments. In this study, literature is classified using the Epistemological Model of Disability, classifying and defining methodologies and ontologies as it does so. Data was collected using a systemat...

This paper reports on the first systematic review of literature associated with participatory research involving people identified with sensory impairments and/or intellectual impairments. It was initiated as part of ARCHES, an European Union-funded heritage project. The review sought to examine processes and activities used for organising particip...

Augmented reality (AR) technology possesses several affordances that can support disabled museum visitors. A structured research review was used to examine the ways in which AR being used in, or developed for, museums to support access for disabled people and /or those with cognitive or sensory impairments. It also considers the extent to which the...

Background: This investigation addresses the question of whether there exists a significant discrepancy in the cognitive abilities of children with cerebral palsy (CP) who, despite the presence of age appropriate communication and language, have reading and spelling delays. Aims: We wanted to discover whether there was a relationship between the ph...

BACKGROUND: Existing generic technology design principles and guidelines are considered not to be sensitive enough to meet the needs of people with learning difficulties. OBJECTIVE: To propose a unified design framework that can inform the design of technologies for people with learning difficulties. METHODS: A literature search was undertaken and...

Signalong Indonesia (SI), a key word signing approach, was created to support the development of Indonesian inclusive schools. A mixed methods approach collected data about teacher’s beliefs and experiences regarding SI from the first two schools to pilot it. Thirty-two teachers completed questionnaires, followed by interviews with nine teachers. T...

A growing number of children with intellectual disabilities attend inclusive schools in Indonesia. Previous research has suggested that teachers' type of school and experience influences their beliefs about inclusive education. This research collected questionnaire data from 267 Indonesian teachers and compared the responses from those working in i...

The origin of this chapter lies in a presentation by a colleague whose work I admire. Drawing on their extensive experience, they have developed guidance for schools to support children with special educational needs. Their conclusion was that teachers could adopt an eclectic approach, utilizing and combining different interventions as appropriate....

Purpose The picture exchange communication system (PECS) is an established communication intervention for non-verbal children with autism. The purpose of this paper is to present an evaluation of a computer-based PECS approach, in which young non-verbal children with autism respond to an on-screen “virtual tutor” through the manipulation of pictur...

This paper provides the theoretical underpinnings for Point of Learning (PoL) - a new approach to enhancing professional learning (which some might use to support assessment of practice). The paper sets out the three key elements of PoL.

The notion of the continuum is applied to special education in diverse contexts across many nations. This article explores its conceptual underpinnings, drawing on a systematic search of the literature to review recurring ideas associated with the notion and to explicate both its uses and shortcomings. Through a thematic analysis of the literature,...

This research explores, for the first time, the pedagogical orientations of Indonesian teachers in the context of inclusive education. A mixed-method approach was used for an analysis of questionnaire data from 140 teachers and qualitative interviews from 20 teachers in four inclusive schools. The findings suggest that, in general, the implicit ori...

The Indonesian education system is striving for an inclusive approach and techniques are needed which can support children with severe learning disabilities and their peers in this context. Manually signed language has proved useful both in supporting the development and empowerment of children with severe learning disabilities and supporting inclu...

This paper is concerned with a so far little explored situational context: sharing books which have been personalised for individual children in a pre-school. Thirty-five children (mean age 36.94 months) were read a book with a personalised and non-personalised part. Their spontaneous verbal responses were video recorded and later transcribed. The...

This study explores the themes in the talk of two mothers and daughters as they share a self-created story with an iPad app. Vygotsky's theory of learning is applied to inform a thematic analysis and help interpret the learning potential within the observed parent–child exchanges. A deductive–inductive thematic analysis identified three recurring t...

This study examines whether books that contain personalized content are better facilitators of young children’s word acquisition than books which are not personalized for a child. In a repeated-measures experimental design, 18 children (mean age 3;10) were read a picture book which contained both personalized and non-personalized sections, with unk...

This study investigates the effects of a story-making app called Our Story and a selection of other educational apps on the learning engagement of forty-one Spanish 4–5-year-olds. Children were observed interacting in small groups with the story-making app and this was compared to their engagement with a selection of construction and drawing apps....

The recent move towards inclusive education has radically influenced the way educational research is conducted. Students need to become aware of the critical legal and ethical responsibilities that arise from investigation in this new and expanding area. Written from the standpoint of inclusive education, rather than 'special education', this caref...

This chapter deals with the development of informal learning communities in real and virtual settings and explores the impact of location-aware mobile technologies, augmented by Web 2.0 social spaces, on informal learning through community membership, using the Geocaching community as an example.

In chapter 1, we considered why it is important to examine augmented learning and the use of augmented reality in education at this point in our technological and cultural history. This is partly because our view of “augmented reality” and its effects changes over time, as illustrated in our previous examples of written orthographies, road signs, a...

The focus in this chapter is on the virtual; on experiences mediated by a computer screen or similar interface. Although these virtual interactions can take place on laptops and tablets or via phones and gaming devices, this chapter is not focused on mobile learning. Augmentation with the virtual can take place in a classroom or at a study desk—it...

As augmenting technologies develop, they can become an increasingly integral part of our embodied, distributed, and disembodied identities. This has a potentially profound impact on the social posi-tioning and agency of currently disabled learners and those with learning difficulties. This chapter presents a critical analysis of augmented environme...

This book began with the premise that our experiences of the world are augmented in many ways that help create our reality, yet they become invisible over time. Currently, technology is creating a con-vergence between the virtual and the physical world. Development of the former is shaped by realities of the physical world, and the latter is becomi...

The last two chapters have explored ways in which learning can be augmented through the use of virtual worlds. Although such environments are widely used, particularly for gaming, their use is dwarfed by social media, which are now almost ubiquitous in many countries. Accessible through phones, tablets, games consoles, and computers, the 1.3 billio...

Is there water on Mars? Today’s learners do not need to check a book— they can receive the latest updates on their computer or a handheld device. “My lidar laser has spotted snow falling from above,” tweets the Mars Phoenix lander. This is not static information, but part of an open conversation. “Do they have foggy mornings on Mars?” is one follow...

Previous chapters have focused on augmenting the formal education associated with schools, colleges, and universities. In these settings, an external authority such as an organization, institution, or teacher defines not only learners’ goals but also the ways in which they work to achieve those goals. However, much of our learning takes place infor...

As we have seen, many of the positive features of augmented reality are not unique to technologically mediated learning. Nevertheless, augmented reality may offer several advantages to learners when used as part of an appropriate pedagogy and within particular topic areas. A systematic review of augmented reality noted the use of the terms “game-ba...

p>The recent move towards inclusive education has radically influenced the way educational research is conducted. Students need to become aware of the critical legal and ethical responsibilities that arise from investigation in this new and expanding area. Written from the standpoint of inclusive education, rather than 'special education', this ca...

The historical development of special education has left a legacy of beliefs regarding special procedures and teaching approaches for specific groups of children. These practices would appear to contribute to the continued growth of pedagogical practices that do not acknowledge the issue of inclusion. This paper considers the notions of inclusive p...

Inclusion is generally recognised as an ongoing, active process which reflects shifts in policies, practice and values as well as political choices made over long periods of time. Drawing upon research visits set 10 years apart, this study aims to examine how two schools with clear inclusive aspirations and intentions have weathered the last decade...

Little is known about how specific iPad applications affect parent–child story-sharing interactions. This study utilises a case-study approach to provide an insight into the patterns of interaction, which emerge when a mother and her 33-month-old daughter share a self-created, audio-visual ‘iPad story’. Multimodal analysis allowed us to gain insigh...

This project aimed to create a descriptive map of international research which explores the notion of the continuum of educational provision for children with special educational needs. It also aimed to determine and examine the nature of how the continuum of provision is conceptualised, operationalised and enacted in a sample of selected countries...

p>Bringing together an exemplary collection of key articles, this Reader provides ways of thinking about inclusive curricula and pedagogy as starting points for possible action, as wel as: • illustrating how teachers can get education right or wrong for diverse learners depending on the pedagogical decisions they make; • discussing the role of the...

Research over the years has identified a number of stresses and anxiety periods for children during compulsory education (5-16 years). The current study focuses on infants (5-6 year olds) entering the education system. It explores children's perceptions of 'relaxation' and learning, and it evaluates the use of biofeedback technology in helping youn...

Purpose The paper aims to explore young people's experiences of having access to personal advisors (PAs), from Connexions, a support and guidance service. Design/methodology/approach Semi‐structured interviews were conducted, in two phases, with young people in a large new town. Thematic analysis highlighted significant issues and suggested factor...

Despite a succession of inclusive education policies, the proportion of pupils within segregated provision remains relatively unchanged within the United Kingdom. During the same period of time, communications technologies have created new avenues for social interactions and removed barriers to communication between young people. Mitra (2009) propo...

This chapter focuses on the views of teenaged learners-a perspective that should not be controversial at all, and yet it is. Millions of young people engage in social and play activities within virtual worlds every day. We have, for the first time in history, a large population of learners who are well versed in immersive technologies and who choos...

This chapter argues that virtual technologies offer the potential to include a diverse range of learners in personally worthwhile and engaging learning experiences. It also argues that some recent educational developments are inherently more inclusive than traditional learning spaces. This is a controversial point, as it is often assumed that chang...

p>What are the experiences of children and young people? How can we think about the challenges they face? What systems and practices can support them? How can we develop greater equality, participation and inclusion across diverse settings? This second edition of Equality, Participation and Inclusion 2: Diverse Contexts is the second of two Readers...

In this cross-sectional study, we explore the relationship between prosodic sensitivity (suprasegmental phonology) and phonological awareness (segmental phonology) and investigate whether a group of poor readers display significant suprasegmental phonological deficits in comparison to chronological age-matched controls and younger, reading age-matc...

What are the experiences of children and young people? How can we think about the challenges they face? What systems and practices can support them? How can we develop greater equality, participation and inclusion across diverse settings? This second edition of Equality, Participation and Inclusion 1: Diverse Perspectives is the first of two Reader...

There is a growing literature demonstrating that speech rhythm sensitivity is related to children’s reading development, independent of phonological awareness. However, the precise nature of this relationship is less well understood, and further research is warranted to investigate whether speech rhythm sensitivity predicts the different components...

Both sensitivity to speech rhythm and non-speech rhythm have been associated with successful phonological awareness and reading development in separate studies. However, the extent to which speech rhythm, non-speech rhythm and literacy skills are interrelated has not been examined. As a result, five- to seven-year-old English-speaking children were...

This chapter argues that virtual environments offer new research areas for those concerned with inclusive education. Further, it proposes that they also present opportunities for developing increasingly inclusive research processes. This chapter considers how researchers might approach researching some of these affordances. It discusses the relatio...

The book deals with the challenges that arise when virtual worlds are used for learning and teaching. The ideas and practices emerging from this field are relevant to all educators, and offers insights into the development of a pedagogy that is authentic, inclusive and enjoyable. Each chapter addresses a particular issue and is illustrated with exa...

This chapter sets a context for the book and consequently for the subsequent chapters. It highlights the rapid rise of interest in virtual worlds from educationalists and researchers and the immense scale of these new frontiers of social interaction. The chapter presents a definition of a virtual world and proposes four categories that may be used...

Virtual worlds are a 21st-century phenomenon. The appearance of increasingly affordable and ubiquitous computer technology means that, in one form or another, these worlds are becoming a part of the everyday experience of children growing up in many parts of the globe. This chapter sets a context for those that follow by introducing the elements th...

One of the greatest barriers faced by educators in developing virtual worlds as 'designated' learning spaces or as tools for learning is the tension between the affordances such worlds offer and the dangers, and perceived dangers, that such technology brings. Finding ways to respond sensibly and appropriately to this tension is vital if education i...

Assessment means different things in different contexts and it is carried out for different purposes. There is no simple answer to what it is or why we do it. Assessment is not a simple or innocent term. Assessing learning is not a neutral or value-free activity - it is always bound up with attitudes, values, beliefs and sometimes prejudices on the...

Background: Some children with severe learning difficulties fail to begin word recognition. For these children there is a need for an effective and appropriate pedagogy. However, conflicting advice can be found regarding this derived from teaching approaches that are not based on a shared understanding of how reading develops or the skills that the...

Adult sexuality contributes significantly to an individual's identity, self-esteem and relationships. Since occupational therapy is practised from the perspective of holistic care, sexual behaviour can be a legitimate area for therapists to consider when working with clients. For people with schizophrenia there are particular issues that may need t...

This article reports on a three-year systematic literature review funded by the UK Training and Development Agency for Schools. In order to begin to answer the question posed by the title of this article, the researchers systematically reviewed the literature with reported outcomes for the academic and social inclusion of pupils with special educat...

Schools across the world have responded to international and national initiatives designed to further the development of inclusive education. In England, there is a statutory requirement for all schools to provide effective learning opportunities for all pupils (QCA, 2000) and children with special educational needs (SEN) are positioned as having a...

The Makaton Vocabulary was developed in the 1970’s and became, and has remained, one of most pervasive and influential pedagogical approaches for children with severe learning difficulties. This article looks at attitudes towards Makaton and compares findings from two studies, carried out in a sample of special schools in the south west of England...

This study considered whether sensitivity to speech rhythm can predict concurrent variance in reading attainment after individual differences in age, vocabulary, and phonological awareness have been controlled. Five- to six-year-old English-speaking children completed a battery of phonological processing assessments and reading assessments, along w...

This research captured the views of young people regarding their views of ‘how learning should be in the future’. Four focus groups were run with different groups of school-age pupils. The ways in which technology was seen within these discussions were analysed. The findings noted that the explicit use of technological innovations, and predicted in...

IntroductionSpecific Learning DifficultiesThe Biological Bases of SpLDsAssessmentConsequencesInterventionConclusion

IntroductionUnderstanding Autism from the Inside OutUnderstanding Autism from the Outside InPsychological TheoriesPsychological Theories: A CritiqueIntegrating Insider and Outsider AccountsConclusions

Introduction: What is Health Psychology?Understanding Health-Related BehaviourThe Promotion and Maintenance of Health and Healthy BehaviourStress in ChildhoodThe Prevention of IllnessChildren's Understanding and Experiences of Illness and Medical TreatmentChildren's Adherence to TreatmentConclusion

What is Education? Notions of Teaching and LearningBehaviourism and EducationConstructivism and EducationSocio-Cultural ApproachesLearning Communities and Cultures of LearningConclusion

IntroductionChildren and the Legal SystemChildren's Competency as WitnessesChildren and Criminal ResponsibilityConclusion

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Developmental Psychology in Action looks at how psychologists contribute to the development and well-being of children in practical ways. The role of psychologists and psychological theory is considered with respect to specific topics which focus on child development in the context of social, educational and clinical issues. The chapters are author...

This paper examines ethical and social issues which have proved important when initiating and creating educational spaces within a virtual environment. It focuses on one project, identifying the key decisions made, the barriers to new practice encountered and the impact these had on the project. It demonstrates the importance of the 'backstage' eth...

The development of new technologies creates affordances with the potential to remove barriers to learning faced by young people. New technologies have therefore been seen as both a panacea for problems in developing inclusive education, and as a way of allowing a diverse range of learners to access and engage with the curriculum in its broadest sen...

From the introduction/background: The growing demand for inclusive practices within mainstream schools has resulted in classroom teachers having to take direct responsibility for the individual learning needs of all pupils within the setting, and reduced the expectation that support staff should be the primary practitioners for children with specia...

This article considers the emotional well-being of people with profound and multiple learning disabilities. It identifies the factors that have particularly affected this group of people: an historical failure to acknowledge their human status; deficit-based services, a lack of voice and communication barriers. Whilst these factors are of importanc...

Children with severe learning difficulties who fail to begin word recognition can learn to recognise pictures and symbols relatively easily. However, finding an effective means of using pictures to teach word recognition has proved problematic. This research explores the use of morphing software to support the transition from picture to word recogn...