TITLE:
Bridging the Gap between Theory and Practice: Ecological Risk/Resilience Model Contributions to Special Education
AUTHORS:
Guadalupe Acle-Tomasini, Laura María Martínez-Basurto, Rosalinda Lozada-García
KEYWORDS:
Ecological Risk/Resilience Model, Special Education, Students at Risk, Early Intervention, Social Validity
JOURNAL NAME:
Creative Education,
Vol.7 No.7,
May
31,
2016
ABSTRACT: The purpose of educational resilience is to understand why some students from adverse environmental backgrounds and communities succeed while others from equally adverse conditions do not. Resilience must not be regarded as an exclusive attribute of students but as the intertwined relationship between children’s abilities and the abilities of individuals within their family, school and social contexts. This proposal of an ecological risk/resilience model in special education is derived from the resilience perspective and is based on Bronfenbrenner’s (1994) ecological model of development, and contributions in the study of resilience (Rutter, 1993). This proposed model lays the foundation for specific assessment/intervention program development focused on altering the way special education students interact with different people and within different contexts, in order to promote resilient behaviors in the actors involved in their academic achievement and adaptation, and educational inclusion. A special emphasis is made on early intervention, when children start schooling and may face academic risks due to their special educational needs. The basis for this model, the dynamics of implementation and the main results are described.