Art and Disability The Social and Political Struggles Facing Education

by Wexler, Alice J.; Cardinal, Roger

• ISBN13: 9780230606296
• ISBN10: 0230606296
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-09-15
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

In the past few decades, making art has been used in special education classrooms as a way of offering psychic freedom, if not bodily freedom, by providing a partial antidote to the social problems generated in an impoverished environment. The art that has emerged has redeemed the inevitable isolation and loss and become its driving force. Wexler argues that the arts are most effective when they are in service of social growth, critical to identity formation. This book balances theory with practical knowledge and offers critical research that challenges the biases regarding the nature of art and education. It includes case studies, examples of the author's strategies with children and art students, as well as a chapter devoted to lesson plans.

Author Biography

Alice J. Wexler is Associate Professor in the Art Education Program at the State University of New York at New Paltz. Her expertise is in Special Education and graduate research. She has written several articles on the subject of disability for Art Education journals, such as Studies in Art Education. The social and political implications of disability and the crossing of boundaries among fields is often the subject of these articles. In 2007 she spent four months in Australia researching art of children from the Stolen Generation.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. ix
Foreword	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xvii
Introduction	p. 1
Overview	p. 7
Autistic Spectrum Disorders	p. 27
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder	p. 65
Learning Disabilities	p. 85
Emotional Disturbance and Behavioral Disorders	p. 107
The Blind and Visually Impaired	p. 133
Traumatic Brain Injury and the Northeast Center for Special Care	p. 153
Community Outreach and Alternative Settings	p. 173
Lesson Plans	p. 205
Notes	p. 233
References	p. 239
Index	p. 245
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