(M)Othering Labeled Children - (Bilingual Education & Bilingualism) by María Cioè-Peña (Paperback)

About the Book

This book explores the experiences and identities of minoritized Latinx mothers who are raising a child who is labeled as both an emergent bilingual and dis/abled. It showcases relationships between families and schools and reveals the ways in which school-based decisions regarding disability, language and academic placement impact family dynamics.

Book Synopsis

This book takes a distinctive approach to exploring the experiences and identities of minoritized Latinx mothers who are raising a child who is labeled as both an emergent bilingual and dis/abled. It showcases relationships between families and schools and reveals the myriad of ways in which school-based decisions regarding disability, language and academic placement impact family dynamics. Treating the mothers as experts, this book uses testimonios to explore not only what mothers know but also how they develop funds of knowledge and how they apply them to their child's education. The stories shed light on how mothers perceive their child's disability, how they engage with their child and the value they place on bilingualism. The narratives reveal the complex lives mothers lead and the ways in which they strive to meet the academic and socioemotional needs of their children, regardless of the financial, physical and emotional costs to them. This book has significant implications for researchers and professionals working in bilingual education, special education, inclusive education and disability studies in education.

Winner of the AAAL First Book Award 2023.

Review Quotes

The book will undoubtedly be an asset to researchers, policy makers, and teachers interested in bilingual education, disability studies, and special education. Even so, it remains reader friendly since it is not excessively scientific and theoretical concepts are well explained [...] Cioè-Peña makes the reader feel as though we are with her as she interacts with and interviews the mothers, and their children. This is facilitated using some pictures, plenty of transcripts, and by personal accounts of her relationships with the mothers.

--Eric Alvarez, Sorbonne Nouvelle University, France "LINGUIST List 33.2040"

Cioè-Peña's work is situated in both refusal and expansion. She refuses a deficit perspective of mothers rooted in standards and norms of whiteness. The expansion is in her focus on those who have been largely neglected by education research - mothers of emergent bilingual children who were also labeled disabled. Her positioning of these mothers as knowledge generators is an essential contribution to conversations about education, language, disability, and race.-- "Subini Annamma, Stanford University, USA"

María Cioè-Peña provides a powerful analysis of Latina mothers advocating for their children at the intersection of language, race and disability that challenges deficit perspectives by pointing to the rich cultural and linguistic traditions that they build on as they navigate oppressive systems designed to marginalize them and their children.-- "Nelson Flores, University of Pennsylvania, USA"

This book offers a window into the lives and experiences of ten amazing immigrant women who have gone to great lengths to support their emerging bilingual children diagnosed with dis/abilities. These are voices our education system often ignores or overlooks, yet their testimonios are so powerful! They offer insights that we can leverage for a more just system for all emerging bilingual students, especially for those who have been diagnosed with a dis/ability.-- "Deborah K. Palmer, University of Colorado Boulder, USA"

About the Author

María Cioè-Peña is Assistant Professor at Montclair State University, USA. Her research interests are deeply rooted in political economy, raciolinguistic perspectives and critical dis/ability awareness within schools and families, and encompass bilingual children with dis/abilities, their families and their ability to access multilingual and inclusive learning spaces within public schools.