Language, Learning, and Disability in the Education of Young Bilingual Children - (Cal Language Education) by Dina C Castro & Alfredo J Artiles

About the Book

Book Synopsis

Using an interdisciplinary perspective to discuss the intersection of language development and learning processes, this book summarizes current knowledge and represents the most critical issues regarding early childhood research, policy, and practice related to young bilingual children with disabilities.

Review Quotes

The authors provide up-to-date information and critical perspectives in an integrative approach which lays the foundation for comprehensive, responsive interventions. Each chapter reflects an asset-based approach which contrasts with the long history of deficit-based views. Highly recommended for those who work with this population, but an important resource for all educators.

This book would be particularly useful to students studying Early Childhood or teaching qualifications intending to work with children aged 0-8 years old. It would provide them with a detailed knowledge in the field of language, special educational needs and bilingualism to apply to situations that they will inevitably face within their working lives. It would also be useful to academics, teachers and scholars teaching within this area.
Overall, this is an extremely informative text that will help many to give children the attention and encouragement they need.

This critically important volume is highly overdue! Castro and Artiles have produced a rich body of work on the intersection of special education, bilingual education, and early childhood education. Theoretically and programmatically integrative, this text is essential reading for designing equitable educational approaches that consider emergent bilinguals' unique assets and skills. Readers will appreciate learning about the developmental characteristics of an increasingly diverse population in early intervention and special education as they gain cultural and linguistic efficacy.

About the Author

Dina C. Castro is Professor and Velma E. Schmidt Endowed Chair in Early Childhood Education, University of North Texas. Her scholarship focuses on equity in the early care and education of bilingual children in immigrant, transnational, and indigenous communities. She examines how bilingual development and bilinguals' sociocultural contexts are addressed in early education research, policies, and practices, including accountability systems, and teacher preparation.

Alfredo J. Artiles is Lee L. Jacks Professor of Education at Stanford University and Director of the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education. His interdisciplinary scholarship examines the dual nature of disability as an object of protection and a tool of stratification. He aims to understand how responses to disability intersections with race, language, gender, and social class advance or hinder educational opportunities for disparate groups of students.