Kathryn Underwood
Biographic Data
| ID | 287700 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Kathryn Underwood |
| GIVEN NAMES | Kathryn |
| FAMILY NAME | Underwood |
| SIGNATURE | UNDERWOOD K |
| AFFILIATIONS | Toronto Metropolitan University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4880-270X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 27 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 16 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Mothering Disabled Children in Early Childhood
This paper considers Smith's 'standard North American family' (SNAF; 2005; 1999; 1993) to understand how early childhood systems uphold and reproduce gendered spaces of care for disabled children that also reify ableist, racist, and classist constructions of family and mothering. We present findings from an analysis of 25 mother and caregiver interviews over a 6-9 year time period, through which we have mapped the interactions that families have …
Understanding Speech-Language Pathology from the Standpoint of Families
The Inclusive Early Childhood Service System (IECSS) project is a longitudinal institutional ethnography that studies disability services in early childhood, and the interactions between these services and other systems, from the standpoint of families. In this paper, we examine speech-language services as part of a system of services and a site of participation for disabled children. We use longitudinal data from annual interviews with 117 infor…
Children of Bill 82
Through an analysis of personal histories, we reflect on changes in disability discourses in educational contexts since the 1970s. We argue that educational systems are deeply resistant to critical discourse of disability even while espousing social justice principles. We simultaneously recognize the disconnection between disability, education, and the lived experiences of disabled children, and the way in which their experiences are framed. We c…
Re‐Imagining Inclusion Through the Lens of Disabled Childhoods
The purpose of this article is to contribute new insights to critical disability and disabled children’s childhood studies that center on the valuing of disabled children’s lives—a guiding purpose in the disability justice movement. We use published findings from the Inclusive Early Childhood Service System project, a longitudinal, institutional ethnography of the ways that families and children are organized around categories of disability, whic…
Pandemic Effects
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed social organizations and altered children’s worlds. As part of an ongoing longitudinal study of the institutional organization of disabled children’s lives, since March 2020 we have conducted interviews with families in rural and urban communities across Canada (65 families at the time of writing). The narrow focus of governments on the economy, childcare, and schooling does not reflect the scope of experiences o…
Systemic knowledge at school entry
This article presents practical interpretation of an institutional ethnography, which examines the organization of young disabled children and their families. The article begins with an understanding that the experiences of young disabled children can teach us about the ways in which we organize around ability, and the power that is held by the institutions that claim to ‘support', ‘help' and ‘care for’ children. The authors present recommendatio…
Role of Child Care in Creating Inclusive Communities and Access for All
To inform the development of an inclusive national child care system for all families and children, we examine the institutional interactions of 127 Canadian families with disabled children. Our analysis demonstrates that families participated in numerous early-years services, but 79.5% experienced exclusion. Using an institutional ethnography lens, we illustrate that exclusion occurs through policy and regulations families confront to gain entry…
Tensions of Trans-institutionalization in Disabled Childhoods
This article describes how researchers from a longitudinal study of early childhood service systems generated a visual representation of transinstitutionalization that could facilitate dialogue for change with a variety of audiences. Comprised of seven portable banners, the photo essay that we constructed features snapshots of documents and/or material objects brought forward by mothers, grandmothers, fathers and foster parents in the course of r…
An International Conversation on Disabled Children’s Childhoods
This article brings together members of the International Advisory Committee for the Inclusive Early Childhood Service System (IECSS) project, a longitudinal study of interactions with institutional processes when families have a young child with disabilities. The article introduces international discourses on early childhood development (both individual and community) and raises questions about the ethics of these discourses in the context of hi…
Institutional mapping as a tool for resource consultation
This article explores how mapping is currently being used in social services research as well as practice, and discusses the potential for mapping to be a useful tool for resource consultants in the field. This article will review different mapping techniques, including community mapping, eco-mapping, journey mapping and institutional mapping, and discuss their purpose within research and professional practice. Using examples from the Inclusive E…
Intersectional inclusion for deaf learners
This paper discusses the meaning of inclusive education for deaf learners in a way that acknowledges the diversity of learner identities, and outlines problems with normative definitions of inclusive education as advanced by recent interpretations of Article 24 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). This discussion calls on us to reconsider how the concepts of inclusion and segregation are understood i…
Deaf time in the twenty-first century
This paper considers Deaf time, or imagined futures of Deaf communities, as we question the efficacy of a rights framework to support the social relational model of Deaf childhood, which positions Deaf children within Deaf cultural discourses. We probe a disability rights discourse where the inclusion movement promotes the right of all children to high quality education and full participation in society. However, there is a gap between rhetoric a…
The innovation of Ontario full-day kindergarten educator teams
This study investigated the implementation of a full-day kindergarten programme in Ontario, Canada. Key to the implementation of this programme has been a new kind of educator team consisting of a certified teacher and a registered early childhood educator and a complementary partnership in which each team member contributes equally. Our research examined team members’ perceptions and practices related to their roles and responsibilities. Finding…
Toward a social relational model of Deaf childhood
This paper advances a social relational model of Deaf childhood as a guiding framework for working with Deaf children in a present-day universal neonatal hearing screening and early intervention context. The authors discuss how Deaf children are contextualized in a medical model discourse, in a social model of Deaf childhood, and in a Deaf culture discourse. A social relational model is then discussed in with reference to a capability approach an…
The reality of rurality
A case study of exclusion on the basis of behaviour (and experiences of migration and racialisation)
Dwayne is a Grade 6 student who came to Canada from Jamaica at the age of seven. Upon arrival in a new school Dwayne had to adapt to a new culture. In addition, Dwayne was identified as having severe behavioural problems and learning difficulties, and it was recommended within the first month of school that the boy be medicated in order for him to cope. His mother refused. Through interviewing Dwayne's mother and his teacher, a case study details…
Toward a social relational model of Deaf childhood
This paper advances a social relational model of Deaf childhood as a guiding framework for working with Deaf children in a present-day universal neonatal hearing screening and early intervention context. The authors discuss how Deaf children are contextualized in a medical model discourse, in a social model of Deaf childhood, and in a Deaf culture discourse. A social relational model is then discussed in with reference to a capability approach an…
Intersectional inclusion for deaf learners
This paper discusses the meaning of inclusive education for deaf learners in a way that acknowledges the diversity of learner identities, and outlines problems with normative definitions of inclusive education as advanced by recent interpretations of Article 24 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). This discussion calls on us to reconsider how the concepts of inclusion and segregation are understood i…
Deaf time in the twenty-first century
This paper considers Deaf time, or imagined futures of Deaf communities, as we question the efficacy of a rights framework to support the social relational model of Deaf childhood, which positions Deaf children within Deaf cultural discourses. We probe a disability rights discourse where the inclusion movement promotes the right of all children to high quality education and full participation in society. However, there is a gap between rhetoric a…
Role of Child Care in Creating Inclusive Communities and Access for All
To inform the development of an inclusive national child care system for all families and children, we examine the institutional interactions of 127 Canadian families with disabled children. Our analysis demonstrates that families participated in numerous early-years services, but 79.5% experienced exclusion. Using an institutional ethnography lens, we illustrate that exclusion occurs through policy and regulations families confront to gain entry…
Systemic knowledge at school entry
This article presents practical interpretation of an institutional ethnography, which examines the organization of young disabled children and their families. The article begins with an understanding that the experiences of young disabled children can teach us about the ways in which we organize around ability, and the power that is held by the institutions that claim to ‘support', ‘help' and ‘care for’ children. The authors present recommendatio…
A case study of exclusion on the basis of behaviour (and experiences of migration and racialisation)
Dwayne is a Grade 6 student who came to Canada from Jamaica at the age of seven. Upon arrival in a new school Dwayne had to adapt to a new culture. In addition, Dwayne was identified as having severe behavioural problems and learning difficulties, and it was recommended within the first month of school that the boy be medicated in order for him to cope. His mother refused. Through interviewing Dwayne's mother and his teacher, a case study details…
The reality of rurality
Toward a social relational model of Deaf childhood
This paper advances a social relational model of Deaf childhood as a guiding framework for working with Deaf children in a present-day universal neonatal hearing screening and early intervention context. The authors discuss how Deaf children are contextualized in a medical model discourse, in a social model of Deaf childhood, and in a Deaf culture discourse. A social relational model is then discussed in with reference to a capability approach an…
The innovation of Ontario full-day kindergarten educator teams
This study investigated the implementation of a full-day kindergarten programme in Ontario, Canada. Key to the implementation of this programme has been a new kind of educator team consisting of a certified teacher and a registered early childhood educator and a complementary partnership in which each team member contributes equally. Our research examined team members’ perceptions and practices related to their roles and responsibilities. Finding…
Deaf time in the twenty-first century
This paper considers Deaf time, or imagined futures of Deaf communities, as we question the efficacy of a rights framework to support the social relational model of Deaf childhood, which positions Deaf children within Deaf cultural discourses. We probe a disability rights discourse where the inclusion movement promotes the right of all children to high quality education and full participation in society. However, there is a gap between rhetoric a…
Institutional mapping as a tool for resource consultation
This article explores how mapping is currently being used in social services research as well as practice, and discusses the potential for mapping to be a useful tool for resource consultants in the field. This article will review different mapping techniques, including community mapping, eco-mapping, journey mapping and institutional mapping, and discuss their purpose within research and professional practice. Using examples from the Inclusive E…
Intersectional inclusion for deaf learners
This paper discusses the meaning of inclusive education for deaf learners in a way that acknowledges the diversity of learner identities, and outlines problems with normative definitions of inclusive education as advanced by recent interpretations of Article 24 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). This discussion calls on us to reconsider how the concepts of inclusion and segregation are understood i…
Tensions of Trans-institutionalization in Disabled Childhoods
This article describes how researchers from a longitudinal study of early childhood service systems generated a visual representation of transinstitutionalization that could facilitate dialogue for change with a variety of audiences. Comprised of seven portable banners, the photo essay that we constructed features snapshots of documents and/or material objects brought forward by mothers, grandmothers, fathers and foster parents in the course of r…
An International Conversation on Disabled Children’s Childhoods
This article brings together members of the International Advisory Committee for the Inclusive Early Childhood Service System (IECSS) project, a longitudinal study of interactions with institutional processes when families have a young child with disabilities. The article introduces international discourses on early childhood development (both individual and community) and raises questions about the ethics of these discourses in the context of hi…
Pandemic Effects
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed social organizations and altered children’s worlds. As part of an ongoing longitudinal study of the institutional organization of disabled children’s lives, since March 2020 we have conducted interviews with families in rural and urban communities across Canada (65 families at the time of writing). The narrow focus of governments on the economy, childcare, and schooling does not reflect the scope of experiences o…
Systemic knowledge at school entry
This article presents practical interpretation of an institutional ethnography, which examines the organization of young disabled children and their families. The article begins with an understanding that the experiences of young disabled children can teach us about the ways in which we organize around ability, and the power that is held by the institutions that claim to ‘support', ‘help' and ‘care for’ children. The authors present recommendatio…
Role of Child Care in Creating Inclusive Communities and Access for All
To inform the development of an inclusive national child care system for all families and children, we examine the institutional interactions of 127 Canadian families with disabled children. Our analysis demonstrates that families participated in numerous early-years services, but 79.5% experienced exclusion. Using an institutional ethnography lens, we illustrate that exclusion occurs through policy and regulations families confront to gain entry…
Re‐Imagining Inclusion Through the Lens of Disabled Childhoods
The purpose of this article is to contribute new insights to critical disability and disabled children’s childhood studies that center on the valuing of disabled children’s lives—a guiding purpose in the disability justice movement. We use published findings from the Inclusive Early Childhood Service System project, a longitudinal, institutional ethnography of the ways that families and children are organized around categories of disability, whic…
Understanding Speech-Language Pathology from the Standpoint of Families
The Inclusive Early Childhood Service System (IECSS) project is a longitudinal institutional ethnography that studies disability services in early childhood, and the interactions between these services and other systems, from the standpoint of families. In this paper, we examine speech-language services as part of a system of services and a site of participation for disabled children. We use longitudinal data from annual interviews with 117 infor…
Children of Bill 82
Through an analysis of personal histories, we reflect on changes in disability discourses in educational contexts since the 1970s. We argue that educational systems are deeply resistant to critical discourse of disability even while espousing social justice principles. We simultaneously recognize the disconnection between disability, education, and the lived experiences of disabled children, and the way in which their experiences are framed. We c…
Mothering Disabled Children in Early Childhood
This paper considers Smith's 'standard North American family' (SNAF; 2005; 1999; 1993) to understand how early childhood systems uphold and reproduce gendered spaces of care for disabled children that also reify ableist, racist, and classist constructions of family and mothering. We present findings from an analysis of 25 mother and caregiver interviews over a 6-9 year time period, through which we have mapped the interactions that families have …
Psychology (13 works) · Sociology (13 works) · Developmental psychology (9 works) · Political science (9 works) · Gender Studies (8 works) · Children's Rights and Participation (7 works) · Family and Disability Support Research (7 works) · Early Childhood Education and Development (5 works) · Gender Studies (5 works) · Inclusion (mineral (5 works)