Early-Childhood
I am looking for references to quantitative surveys of disability issues and
images in syllabus and curricular study materials for use with early years
children, (either fiction, materials to support reading acquisition or to
support factual learning). The figures I'm looking for are of picture books
and other early years materials for children to use, not for adults as an
assistance to medical diagnosis, nor specific teaching methods of early
years children.
I am particularly focused on pre-school, but am also looking for analyses of
material for children up to eight years old. I am interested mainly in
materials used in UK setting, but would be interested in similar studies
elsewhere.
I am trying to discover what proportion of books available for early years
readers have disability images of any sort as a percentage of those which do
not. Ideally, an analysis would include details such as the nature of
medical conditions (both visible and invisible), whether the disabled
character was an adult (e.g. Captain Hook), 'teenager' (e.g. the Little
Mermaid), child ( e.g. Seal Surfer), or animal (e.g. Giraffes Can't Dance).
There might be clear symbols of environmental barriers, e.g.buildings with
stepped/sloped entrances or role models e.g. images of disabled people
working or playing inclusively, and a judgement of whether those images
might engender positive or negative attitudes towards disability in early
years readers.
This info might be in someone's thesis, perhaps as an analysis of books
available in a specified setting such as a playgroup, and it need not refer
to all medical conditions, but any supporting suggestions would be welcome!
There was a study in the early 1990's, but do not know the author and cannot
find a reference to it. I would like to know if there are more recent
similar analyses.
Can anyone point me in the right direction?
TIA,
Kathy Saunders.
Consultant for Disability Awareness in Children's Books
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Happy Ever Afters - a storybook guide to teaching children about disability
Trentham ISBN 1 85856 213 9
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/happyeverafters
Disability Culture in Children's Literature edition of Disability Studies
Quarterly is now online at www.dsq-sds.org under "current issue" link.
Disability Studies Quarterly: Winter 2004 (February) Volume 24 No. 1
ISSN 1041-5718
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