“A Type of Student They Actually Want”: Narratives from and about a Sixth-Grade Student with a Specific Learning Disability

Case Study of Experiences with Transmediation for a Student with Learning Disabilities

“…With this in mind, two explanations can be given for how Theo and his multimodal practices were perceived by the classroom community. One, social capital plays a role in class power structures (Brodeur, 2020). In the context of this paper, social capital is understood as the "structure of relations" between the students, which includes the ability for the students to trust each other (which was brought up by Cate throughout the study), behaving within societal norms or expectations of the classroom community, and the building of social networks (or the lack of) within the classroom or the school (Coleman, 1988, p. S98;Dika & Singh, 2002).…”

“…Open-ended interview questions allowed for Cate and Theo's perspectives about literacy to emerge (Flick, 2014). It was especially vital that Theo's voice was included because students with LD are traditionally marginalized, and their literacy experiences need to be examined to extend beyond "able" and "disabled" literacy practices (Brodeur, 2020;Kliewer et al, 2006). Initial interview questions were developed to establish rapport with Cate and Theo and to gather narratives about their literacy experiences as a teacher and as a student.…”