Bilingual Special Education for the 21st Century: Reimagining the Future

Session Type: Invited Speaker Session

Abstract

Multilingual students with disabilities have an established right to be educated in their most proficient language and in English. However, many culturally and linguistically diverse students still do not receive the quality of education that they are promised, by law and policy, and deserve in practice. Multilingual learners with disabilities must be acknowledged for the assets they bring and engage in classroom learning that is rigorous and relevant. This panel, Bilingual Special Education for the 21st Century: Reimagining the Future, addresses the complex intersection of bilingual education and special education with the overlay of culturally and linguistically sustaining practices. Presenters will tease out the often overlooked nexus of bilingual education and special education, while also providing practical solutions to current dilemmas and challenges today’s educators of multilingual learners with disabilities face in the classroom.
The intersection of bilingual education and special education is a topic worthy of discussion at this year’s annual conference. Multilingual learners with disabilities are the lowest performing of all student subgroups, and many scholars in the field would argue are the most marginalized.
This is evidenced by the most recent data from the US Department of Education (OSEP, 2020). Disproportionality in special education for multilingual learners not only still exists but has actually increased over the past decade. This increase is especially exacerbated in Hispanic/Latinx and African American student groups, where racial identity and language practices coalesce.

Throughout its history, bilingual education in the U.S. has faced the threat of ethnocentric, exclusionary policies and practices, which have been promoted by various political groups to make English the official language, and/or which have prohibited bilingual education in some states. While in more recent years some of the English-only pressure has waned, possibly due to the recognition that knowing a language other than English has social and economic benefits, there has instead been what is being termed the “gentrification” of bilingual education (Gándara, 2021).
We hope that researchers, practitioners, policymakers and other participants will find that this panel provides a comprehensive introduction to bilingual special education in today’s educational landscape. Our discussion is organized around the following questions:
1. What research is needed to address the needs of minoritized, multilingual learners with and at-risk for disabilities?
2. What can/should be done in practice to ensure minoritized, multilingual learners with and at-risk for disabilities receive access to a quality education?
3. What type of advocacy is needed to impact educational reform for all minoritized, multilingual learners?
In alignment with this year’s conference theme, Dismantling Racial Injustice and Constructing Educational Possibilities: A Call to Action, the panel will begin with describing the past and current status of the field, specifically naming the racial and linguistic discrimination that impact our multilingual students. We then continue the conversation by taking a critical look at access to dual language education for students with disabilities and culturally and linguistically responsive practices in dual language inclusive classrooms. Next, lessons learned from perceptions of disability and diagnosis in the Dominican Republic are examined and implications for Dominican and other multilingual learners in a global society are discussed. Finally, the challenges and injustices presented will be redressed by proposing a new framework that considers the intersection of bilingual education and special education. The panel will conclude by advancing new frameworks and practices that contribute to reimagining educational possibilities and outcomes for minoritized, multilingual students with and at-risk for disabilities.

Sub Unit

• AERA Presidential Session

Chair

• Gliset C. Morales, Buffalo State University - SUNY

Papers

• Bilingual Special Education: Then and Now - Tamara O. Alsace, Independent Scholar; Gliset C. Morales, Buffalo State University - SUNY

• Dual Language Immersion for Whom? Interrogating Practice Through DisCrit Lenses and Envisioning Model Inclusiveness Potentialities - Eduardo Rafael Munoz-Munoz, San José State University; Marcella Cardoza McCollum, San Jose State University; Matthew L. Love, San Jose State University

• Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Teaching in Bilingual Inclusive Classrooms - Elizabeth Silva Diaz, Bank Street College of Education; Vanessa Santiago Schwarz, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Navigating Global Definitions of Disability Within U.S. Special Education: Lessons Learned From Perceptions of Disability and Diagnosis in the Dominican Republic - Lilly Padia, Erikson Institute

• Bilingual Special Education: Looking Toward the Future - Gliset C. Morales, Buffalo State University - SUNY; Tamara O. Alsace, Independent Scholar

Discussant

• Alba A. Ortiz, University of Texas at Austin