Ability Profiling and School Failure

KATHLEEN M. COLLINS is an Assistant Professor of Language, Culture and Society and Co-Director of the Center for Disability Studies at Pennsylvania State University, University Park, USA. Her program of research aims to identify and interrupt deficit discourses surrounding children who are positioned as struggling with traditional school literacies. Kathleen is the recipient of the 2012 Ellen Brantlinger Junior Scholar Award for outstanding work within Disability Studies in Education.

This new edition situates the book and its case study within current conversations about the contextualized nature of disability, exploring the role of situated literacies, classroom interactions, and social stereotypes in shaping students' identification as "disabled."

Preface Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter 1: Sociocultural Perspectives on dis/Ability and Positioning Chapter 2 The boy who had something to say Chapter 3 "He's what I would call out there." Chapter 4 "He was immediate. He was like immediate." Chapter 5 "Where's the evidence?" Chapter 6 "Jay just amazes me during this, he really does." Chapter 7 "It will be very, very difficult for him to learn how to function in the class." Chapter 8 "It's like a burst, a burst of fire." Chapter 9 "You got to hear this!" Chapter 10 "So who wrote it?" Chapter 11 "Jay, we gotta find you a group." Chapter 12 "I'm the boy who likes bugs." Chapter 13 "Do you think I'm proper?" Chapter 14 "This ain't easy!" Chapter 15 "Church is not a game!" Chapter 16 "I think that's why we became very good friends." Chapter 17 "If you stick out, you get squashed:" Ability profiling as response to difference Epilogue Appendix Approaches to Inquiry, Analysis and Representation