Despite the widespread concern regarding young people's wellbeing, the interaction between gender and mental health appears to be generally overlooked within education and is more commonly focused on concern about rising figures of female mental health. The absence of discussions around gender is surprising, given the ongoing debate regarding the…

In this two-year ethnographic case study, I critically examine educators' relationships with students considered to present challenging behaviours in one classroom located in a predominantly White, middle-class school district. Focusing on the language and practices used by one special education teacher and three teaching assistants, I explore how…

As the diagnosis of AD/HD becomes more frequent in our schools, and as many individuals across ages embrace an AD/HD identity, scholars need to account for the lived experience of the disorder to understand the meanings individuals give to it. This paper analyses the relationship between ethical practices of self-formation, power, and knowledge…

The texts of referrals written by workers in residential services for people with learning difficulties constitute sites where contemporary discourses of intellectual disabilities are being constructed. This paper uses Critical Discourse Analysis to examine referrals made to a Community Learning Disability Team (CLDT). The study finds referral…

Describing students with disabilities as presenting "challenging behavior" is common in US schools. The purpose of this paper is to reveal the discourse utilized by teachers in order to understand their beliefs and practices surrounding young students considered to present challenging behavior. This study examines teachers' language in…