To intertwine: to twist or connect together. Intertwinement can be two or more elements, physical or metaphysical, that interlace and fuse with one another. Architecture that is designed for people and the human experience, as all architecture should be, must be intertwined in many ways at a variety of scales. As said by Steven Holl in his book titled "Intertwining", "By weaving form, space, and light, architecture can elevate the experience of daily life through the various phenomena that emerge from specific sites, programs, and architectures." Architecture that intertwines with its surroundings and encourages entwinements within is what impacts and builds the human experience. Throughout this year long exploration, ideas of intertwinements have been a reoccurring theme that's been studied under three main concepts: •Relationships – Perceptual and physical relationships, the relationship of the building to the site, and how the architecture impacts human relationships and interactions. •Ideas of pushing and pulling as a condition of intertwinement •Ideas of unrestrictive, loose, ambiguous boundaries These three main concepts were analyzed at a variety of scales including site scale, building scale, and spatial or room scale. Each example of these ideas at varying scales is in the form of a duality, exploring how two or more opposing ideas intersect and entwine with one another. These dualities include: •nature/campus •movement/node •stone/glass •social/recreational/study •together/separate •in/out •table/object •active/quiet •large group/small group/individual Examples of these dualities of intertwinements were studied through the design of a residence hall on Virginia Tech's campus to explore how the architecture of a residence hall can also contribute to building community and fostering an inclusive environment. / Master of Architecture / Through the design of a residence hall, ideas of intertwinements are explored and studied. To intertwine means to be twisted or connected together. The thesis explores how the architecture of a residence hall can also contribute to building community and fostering an inclusive environment. In order to do this, ideas and conditions of intertwinements were studied under three main concepts: •Relationships – Perceptual and physical relationships, the relationship of the building to the site, and how the architecture impacts human relationships and interactions. •Ideas of pushing and pulling as a condition of intertwinement •Ideas of unrestrictive, loose, ambiguous boundaries

This narrative inquiry examined how a small group of general educators constructed three essential understandings of themselves as teachers within the context of inclusive education: (a) To move past their fear of disabilities and negative perceptions of students with disabilities, they had to learn to see children with disabilities in new ways, identify what it was about their differences that mattered, and respond to them as valued members of their classrooms; (b) To move past feelings of inadequacy and incompetence, they had to figure out how to negotiate those learning differences that mattered the most; and (c) To keep from being overwhelmed with the additional demands inclusion placed on them as teachers, they needed to garner support through a variety of relationships, and work through conflicts that arose from trying on new roles and patterns of interaction. These understandings were constructed through two interrelated processes: Learning through experience, and learning through narrative, specifically, informal talk, structured dialogue, and stories. The representation of this inquiry was a polyvocal text which privileged what the teachers had to say, and which featured their voices in solo and in dialogue with others. This alternative format was used to convey the evolving nature of the teachers' practice, as well as the contradictions and complexities that expand our understanding of teacher learning and development in inclusive educational settings. / Ph. D.

Children with specific learning disabilities (SLDs) are often placed in a separate and unequal learning environment in public schools. Although federal legislation governing children with SLDs requires they receive their education in the least restrictive environment (LRE), which is the general education setting, many are placed in other settings, including Special Day Class (SDC) and the Resource Specialist Program (RSP). Leaders are critical to the process of designing and implementing a school culture inclusive of students with SLDs, yet few are prepared for the responsibility. A school that affords students the opportunity to learn about and practice respect, diversity, and the democratic process is made possible through a leader who makes decisions based on what is best for the children, knowing that separate educational systems for children with is unjust. Based on a review of literature of (a) leading based on the characteristics of transformational leadership, (b) managing change, (c) having an awareness and understanding of the regulations governing special education, and (d) designing and implementing new structures, the following three questions gave purpose to this study: .What organizational processes are essential for the design and implementation of an inclusive Small School? .What leadership knowledge and beliefs are essential for the design and implementation of an inclusive Small School? .What leadership practices and behaviors are essential for the design and implementation of an inclusive Small School? Qualitative methodology, including interviews, observations, and document review, were used to gather information to respond to the questions. The premise of this case study is that a leader who embodies the characteristics of a transformational leader can design and implement an inclusive Small School, as it has the capacity to provide the structure for the inclusion of children with SLDs and their non-disabled peers. A triangulation of qualitative data was conducted, which included (a) interviews with the school leader and small groups of additional stakeholders; (b) observations of the leader in various settings with multiple stakeholders; and (c) document review of public and personal records. The data yielded six primary findings in response to the three questions that flamed this case study. In response to the first question, which addressed the organizational processes essential for the design and implementation of an inclusive Small School, restructuring provided an opportunity for creativity and was the essential finding of the organizational processes. The second question, which explored the leadership knowledge and beliefs essential for the design and implementation of an inclusive Small School, yielded several findings, including (1) knowledge of the characteristics of an inclusive school culture, (2) belief in the value of building and maintaining relationships, (3) belief in shared decision making, and (4) knowledge of how to create a safe learning environment. The final question, which examined the leadership practices and behaviors essential for the design and implementation of an inclusive Small School, provided one primary finding, to maintain the focus on students and their needs. The information gathered from this study contributes to the limited literature on the role of the leader in designing and implementing an inclusive Small School at the middle school level.

No / Wellbeing is a growing concern for educators and students alike and is especially significant in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has brought the importance of wellbeing into sharp focus. Elsewhere, the authors (Cobb and Croucher) have written about a new pedagogic approach they have developed, specifically related to archaeology, although applicable across higher education. In this approach, they draw on relational theories and archaeology's “material turn” to focus on “Inclusive Learning Assemblages”. They explore the material and social assemblages that students encounter, both in different learning contexts and outwith learning, arguing that if we foreground learning assemblages, then student diversity and the student learning experience will be enhanced. In this paper, the authors take a step further by exploring the value of this approach for student wellbeing. They argue that taking an assemblage approach to teaching and learning in archaeology, and foregrounding diversity, actively improves student wellbeing too. This paper brings into dialogue mental health issues, with the diversity of student experiences, and the broad material engagements of an archaeology degree, in order to suggest a series of concrete steps that practitioners can implement to enhance student wellbeing.

This study aims to explore the experiences of women students with non-European background of inclusiveness of teaching practices in higher education (HE) in Sweden, and the potential relationship with sense of belonging and mattering. This may inform how the unique challenges and needs of this group can be better met, subsequently facilitating related positive outcomes. This was achieved by conducting qualitative individual interviews with six woman student participants with non-European backgrounds. Their experiences were reviewed and depicted aligned with Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to gain insight to each authentic individual account separately. This was followed by both individual as well as collective analysis, using Thematic Analysis, to go beyond personal experience, to additionally explore overarching patterns, similarities, and differences across cases, placing them in the specific context and factors that were of interest. Collective themes emerged, and findings from this inductive approach were consistent with the application of Critical Race Feminism as a theoretical framework to evaluate and interpret the meaning of the results. Common themes and factors were identified that may affect the inclusiveness of teaching practices, as well as affect sense of belonging and mattering. The themes and subthemes were; relationships (classmates, HE- and private-life separation), cultural differences (social differences, teaching practices differences), belonging and mattering, discrimination (language, microaggressions, reaction and coping), and inclusive teaching practices. Positive experiences of inclusive teaching practices seemed to be positively related to sense of belonging mainly, while mattering seemed to be dependent on specific situational factors, or meaningful relationships. Experiences of implicit racial and gendered discrimination in form of microaggressions were prevalent, and may influence experiences and perceptions of teaching practices. Additionally, participants may have adopted passive reactions and coping mechanisms that ignore, trivialise, or normalise this, which may create barriers from achieving equality, diversity, and inclusion as it allows implicit discrimination to remain concealed. Thus, this may potentially give the impression to majority groups that there is no apparent need to improve and implement inclusive teaching practices further. While in reality, the findings indicated that more active and conscious efforts to design and implement inclusive teaching practices that are underpinned by student-centred and relational pedagogies with additional aspects of culturally responsive, transformational, and anti-racist feminist pedagogies, are necessary to improve experiences of inclusion, sense of belonging, and mattering, while mitigating implicit forms of discrimination. Implications of the findings include that they may inform design and implementation of effective inclusive teaching practices that address the unique challenges and needs of this group in the Swedish HE context, and ultimately reduce the negative effects of discrimination. It was concluded that while most participants described overall positive experiences of inclusive teaching practices in Swedish HE, there were simply more implicit and concealed forms of discrimination, emphasising the importance of the institutions and teachers to take responsibility and actively design and implement inclusive teaching practices that also address implicit discrimination, since they have mainly been concerned with explicit forms so far. This may help remove barriers from improving sense of belonging and mattering further.

This study explores Saudi educators’ (teachers’ and administrators’) perceptions of and attitudes to Deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) inclusion in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in two phases. Data were collected in sequential quantitative and qualitative phases. A questionnaire was first administered to 120 teachers and administrators in direct contact with DHH students, giving a broad picture of the themes under investigation in phase 1. Attitudes were examined in terms of three components: their beliefs, emotions and behaviour. This phase investigated the influence on educators’ beliefs and attitudes of these factors: type of D/deafness, length of experience, teachers’ qualifications, stage/grade of education, type of school and in-service training. In phase 2, understanding of educators’ attitudes was deepened by conducting semi-structured interviews with a purposeful sample of five teachers and six administrators of diverse experience, covering five themes: the DHH concept, the inclusion concept, the inclusion process and requirements, barriers to DHH inclusion and changes needed to promote it. The first phase revealed positive attitudes towards hard of hearing inclusion but not with regard to Deaf students, a distinction confirmed by the qualitative findings. The Al-Amal Institute for the Deaf was considered the best educational alternative for Deaf students. Relatively negative attitudes towards Deaf inclusion were related to various factors, especially lack of professional training and expertise in cued sign language, inadequate resources in mainstream schools and poor preparation for receiving DHH students. Participants considered integration to be a matter of equal (part-time) access to the nearest possible local school, but not inclusion as an issue of school restructuring, full participation and active social and academic engagement. Regarding barriers and change, participants were more concerned about the lack of professional training, overreliance on individual donations rather than the local authority to fund and support teaching aids, the absence of strict procedures regarding student referral and teacher transfer from general to DHH education. It was felt that there should be more rigorous diagnosis and differentiation of the national curriculum in order for mainstream schools to be more DHH-friendly. I have discussed the contributions, implications, strengths and limitations of the study. It was concluded that the progressive perspective of inclusion in terms of school restructuring, respect, welcoming, participation and belonging is a far-reaching objective in the Saudi context.

This qualitative research inquiry explores the perspectives of a diverse range of participants, namely head teachers, teachers and mothers, towards inclusion of "slow learners" in two primary mainstream schools in the State of Kuwait. The concept of inclusion, through a review of major issues and limitations in the current practice of inclusion is highlighted by this case study. A multi-method data collection approach, using semi-structured interviews and critical discourse analysis of the policy document for inclusion in Kuwait, has led to identifying what has been done, so far in practice, for inclusion, as well as identifying the potential changes that need to be made. Kuwait is a signatory to the UNESCO Salamanca Statement, set out in 1994, which requires states to move towards systems "enabling schools to serve all children". However, to date, "inclusion" in Kuwaiti mainstream schools is limited to two groups of children: those with Down's Syndrome and those referred to as "slow learners", a term used to describe certain children with low IQ. All other children with special educational needs are educated in segregated settings. This study examines policy and explores participants' perspectives towards the inclusion of children identified as "slow learners" in primary mainstream schools in Kuwait, in order to arrive at insights which might further the policy and practice of supporting inclusion of children with special educational needs. This study found that the dominant conceptual model underpinning policy and practice in Kuwait is the "medical model" of disability, as the current understanding and practice of inclusion, teachers' and mothers' perspectives towards inclusion and articulation of the inclusion policy in Kuwait is informed, conceptualized and affected by this model. This understanding lends itself to practices of integration rather than inclusion, However, "the term 'inclusion' replaced 'integration' and is often contrasted with 'exclusion' " (Topping & Maloney, 2005, p.42). Inclusion means equal access and increasing the participation of students with special needs in mainstream school as promoted by the Salamanca Statement (UNESCO,1994), while integration means limited access and less participation of students with special needs in mainstream school, thus integration is "largely a 'disability' or SEN issue" (Topping & Maloney, 2005, p.42). This study also found that perspectives of inclusion are influenced by the social, cultural and religious context of the country. Finally, this study concludes that in the context of Kuwait, there is a clear effect of the cultural understanding of disability on the way that the current policy of inclusive education is represented. Such cultural influence not only affects the policymakers of the region and the way inclusion is implemented, but also it effects "slow learners" in the light of how disability and inclusion are constructed by the head teachers, teachers and mothers in this study. Such cultural and social values and beliefs of Kuwaiti culture pose obstacles to the existence of inclusion in Kuwait, as promoted by the Salamanca Statement. As a signatory to the Salamanca Statement, this study suggests that in order to adequately accommodate "slow learners" and other students with disability in mainstream schools in Kuwait, policy needs to be reconceptualised.

This study investigated how educators support students with significant disabilities to access the grade-level literacy curriculum within inclusive classrooms. Examination of multiple data sources across four classroom contexts revealed a comprehensive understanding of the educators' beliefs and practices in implementing inclusive education. The educators fulfilled specific roles and collaborated to support the focus students. The findings also illustrated an alignment between the class instruction and how the focus student was supported to participate in the whole and small group activities. The focus students received individualized instruction that was aligned with the class instruction, and they received additional, individualized supports to meet their unique learning needs. Specific implications for future research and practice are discussed from the perspective of advancing inclusive education and supporting students with significant disabilities to access complex and meaningful literacy instruction.

Thailand has been extremely successful in promoting itself as a cultural country, with tourism being the country's primary source of income. However, cultural tourism for Thai people is considered to be a niche market, and little attention has been paid to the topic, compared to mass tourism. Moreover, Thai visitors have little motivation to visit actual historical sites and read the story displayed as part of exhibitions. This research aims to create, detail and evaluate a framework for inclusive digital storytelling to increase diversity and motivation for cultural tourism in Thailand. To broaden and increase the potential tourism market, this PhD research applies inclusive design principles as 'understanding and designing for diversity' by identifying potential Thai customers into five diverse groups (youth, older adults, disabled people, non-cultural tourists, and cultural tourists), and presents reports regarding the barriers and drivers for achieving this. To increase the motivation of Thai tourists, this PhD research adopts digital storytelling as 'the guideline for creating storytelling' to increase motivation among the five diverse groups, and illustrates how this was done in the second study. However, an issue arises if Thai people (particularly older adults and disabled people) cannot access or understand how to use this type of digital technology. These problems can in turn create opportunities for applying inclusive designs to digital technology in an effort to understand users' behavioural needs; this is presented in the third study. Finally, the fourth study evaluates the framework detailed from the previous three studies in order to answer the primary research question: "How could inclusive design and digital storytelling principles be applied to facilitate cultural tourism in Thailand?" This PhD research can suggest and establish links between three key areas and devise and detail a new framework to increase diversity and motivation for cultural tourism for Thai visitors in Thailand which is original and interdisciplinary.

Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo geral compreender como ocorre o processo de comunicação de pessoas com surdocegueira congênita a partir da produção e do uso de recursos de comunicação alternativa. Foram utilizados como referencial teórico os estudos de Maia (2004, 2011), Galvão (2010), Keller (2008), Cormedi (2011, 2012), Cambruzzi (2007) e Silva (2012). Para conhecimento do campo teórico, foram realizadas buscas nas plataformas: Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa em Educação (ANPEd), Banco de Teses e Dissertações da CAPES e SciELO. Essas buscas ocorreram em tessitura com a prospecção de dados sobre a matrícula de alunos com surdocegueira em escolas do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, a partir das informações constantes no site do Instituto Nacional de Estudos e Pesquisas Educacionais Anísio Teixeira (INEP) e do contato com a Secretaria de Educação Especial do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul (SEDUC), com a Fundação de Articulação e Desenvolvimento de Políticas Públicas para Pessoas com Deficiência e com Altas Habilidades no Rio Grande do Sul (FADERS) e com gestores de municípios. A partir das informações obtidas dos dados do INEP, foram selecionadas duas crianças com surdocegueira congênita. Em consequência, suas famílias e professoras também foram envolvidas na pesquisa. Os critérios de seleção foram ser uma criança com surdocegueira e estar matriculada nos anos iniciais do Ensino Fundamental de alguma escola do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul. A metodologia de pesquisa constituiu-se por 10 encontros com os alunos na escola. A fim de identificar estratégias e recursos utilizados em situações comunicativas, foram utilizados quatro instrumentos: construção de mapas, visitas realizadas nas casas das crianças, entrevistas com as professoras e observações. Os resultados das observações evidenciaram que os mediadores: família e professoras tinham formas de se comunicar com as crianças, algumas ações e reações eram percebidas com sentido e significado, mas não havia reconhecimento disso. Essas formas de comunicação expressiva e receptiva precisavam ser reconhecidas como tal pelos interlocutores. As crianças estavam em momentos diferentes do processo comunicacional. A menina se valia da baixa visão para a comunicação, e o menino, dos demais sentidos (principalmente, tato e olfato). Esta pesquisa proporcionou diversos aprendizados, entre eles: compreender que a comunicação muitas vezes precisa ser descoberta pelo mediador, pois as crianças oferecem indícios e possibilidades comunicacionais a serem reconhecidas e nomeadas; existem diferentes recursos que podem ser utilizados pelas e com as crianças; as famílias dispõem de formas de comunicação e informações sobre as crianças que podem auxiliar no processo de comunicação. A pesquisa também indica a importância do uso da comunicação alternativa por meio de objetos de referência e fotografias no sistema de calendários, organizando a rotina e proporcionando a antecipação das atividades e das ações das crianças. / This research aimed to understand how the communication process happens between people with congenital deafblindness, as of the production and use of alternative communication resources. The utilized theoretical references were the studies of Maia (2004, 2011), Galvão (2010), Keller (2008), Cormedi (2011, 2012), Cambruzzi (2007) and Silva (2012). For the theoretical field knowledge, the following searches were performed on the platforms: National Association of Graduate Studies and Research in Education (Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa em Educação - ANPEd), Theses and Dissertations Bank of CAPES (Banco de Teses e Dissertações da CAPES) and SciELO. Those searches were intervened with the data collection on the enrollment of students with deafblindness in schools in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, from the information contained in INEP's (Instituto Nacional de Estudos e Pesquisas Educacionais Anísio Teixeira) website and from the contacts with the Department of Special Education of the State of Rio Grande do Sul (SEDUC), the Foundation for Articulation and Development of Public Policies for People with Disabilities and with High Abilities in Rio Grande do Sul (FADERS) and with public managers of municipalities. From the information obtained from INEP data, two children with congenital deafblindness were selected. As a result, their families and teachers were also involved in the research. The selection criteria were to be a child with deafblindness and to be enrolled in the initial years of the Elementary School of any school in the State of Rio Grande do Sul. The methodology consisted of 10 meetings with the students at school. In order to identify strategies and resources used in communicative situations, we used four instruments: map construction, visits in the children's homes, interviews with teachers and observations. The results of the observations showed that the mediators family and teachers have their own ways of communicating with children; some actions and reactions were perceived with meaning and significance, but there was no recognition of it. These forms of expressive and receptive communication needed to be recognized as such by the interlocutors. The children were at different times of the communicational process. The girl took advantage of the low vision for communication, and the boy used the other senses (mainly touch and smell). This research has provided several lessons, such as: understanding that communication often needs to be discovered by the mediator, because children provide evidence and communicational possibilities to be recognized and named; there are different features that can be used by and with the children; the families have forms of communication and information about the children which can assist in the communication process. The research also indicates the importance of using the alternative communication by means of reference objects and pictures in the calendar system, which organizes the children's routine and enables their anticipation of activities and actions.