Arts Integration and Special Education

Arts Integration and Special Education contributes to research, policy, and practice by providing a theory of action for studying how linguistic, cognitive, and affective student engagement relates to arts integrated learning contexts and how these dimensions of engagement influence content area and literacy learning. Arts Integration and Special Education connects the interdisciplinary framework in human development and linguistics, special education, and urban education with primary action research by special educators trained in arts integration, working in an inclusive urban charter school with middle school age students. Upper elementary to middle-grade level student learning is relatively understudied and this work contributes across fields of special education and urban education, as well as arts education. Moreover, the classrooms in which the action research occurs are comprised of students with a diverse range of abilities and needs. The book’s interdisciplinary model, which draws on developmental and educational psychology, special education, and speech/language pathology research and practice, is the first to posit explanations for how and why AI contexts facilitate learning in students with language and sensory processing disorders, and those at-risk for school failure due to low socioeconomic status conditions.

"Alida Anderson’s book takes us on a journey that begins with a history of arts integration, followed by demonstrations of AI teaching practices and ways forward. The book is an important one that creates a space for us to imagine arts integration as a transformative way of knowing, learning, and thinking across the curriculum, for all children, and not just those in special education settings."Dr. Vivian Vasquez, Professor, American University, Washington, DC, USA"This work champions arts integration as powerful, transformative, and necessary for learners with and without disabilities, an unavoidable teaching approach to which every student is entitled."Sean Layne, Director, Focus 5 Inc., USA

Alida Anderson is Associate Professor in the School of Education, Teaching and Health in the College of Arts & Sciences at American University. She was formerly an artist and special education K-12 teacher.