Based on research, and grounded in experience, this book offers a view into the minds and hearts of people who draw. With technology at our fingertips that allows us to record and share what we see within moments, drawing seems a remarkably slow and difficult way to make an image. And yet, drawing from observation continues to be practiced by professional and amateur artists, a situation that invites the question: What does observation drawing mean in the lives of those who practice it?

The central chapters of the book explicate the structures of the lived experience of drawing, weaving phenomenological reflections into a narrative about the author drawing her sister on a train. With lively accounts of drawing from hobbyists, art students, contemporary and historical artists, Montgomery-Whicher considers how the act of drawing shapes place, time, the body and relationships with the world and with others. She addresses many facets of drawing, including the connection between drawing and thinking, the range of emotions felt when drawing a person and the experience of digital drawing. Montgomery-Whicher concludes that observation drawing warrants a place in general education as well as in the education of artists. She argues that drawing will continue to thrive because it is a human practice that deepens and enriches our humanity by giving us access to keener perception, greater understanding, empathy and wonder. This book will be of interest to anyone who has ever wondered about the appeal of drawing, including professional and amateur artists, philosophers, and educators.

The Pedagogy of Special Needs Education: Phenomenology of Sameness and Difference outlines how to understand the inner and behavioral lives of children with intellectual disability through the psychology and phenomenology of "stories" derived from the experiences of living with these children.

The book inquires into the meaning of the experiences of children with intellectual developmental disability using a phenomenological method. It examines how the external behaviors of children with special needs may look different from children without these needs but actually do share many similarities at the phenomenological level of lived experience. Themes of difference and sameness are employed for exploring the significances of phenomena such as "finger play," "eating as selffeeding," "smiling and turn-taking," "self-talk," and "don’t touch me." Throughout the narrating and interpreting of the case studies within the book, the author shows the tensional dialectic between individual and collective difference in order to understand what is required to help children with intellectual disability become themselves and form their personal self-identity.

The Pedagogy of Special Needs Education can be used in schools, seminars, and courses related to special education programs and in special needs curricula for children with developmental disabilities. It can also support childcare professionals who carry orthopedagogical responsibilities and who are concerned about the wellbeing of children and their families experiencing special needs. Additionally, this book is valuable to students, researchers, teachers, and others interested in a hermeneutic phenomenological approach to human science, professional practice issues, and qualitative research methods.

Based on research, and grounded in experience, this book offers a view into the minds and hearts of people who draw. With technology at our fingertips that allows us to record and share what we see within moments, drawing seems a remarkably slow and difficult way to make an image. And yet, drawing from observation continues to be practiced by professional and amateur artists, a situation that invites the question: What does observation drawing mean in the lives of those who practice it?

The central chapters of the book explicate the structures of the lived experience of drawing, weaving phenomenological reflections into a narrative about the author drawing her sister on a train. With lively accounts of drawing from hobbyists, art students, contemporary and historical artists, Montgomery-Whicher considers how the act of drawing shapes place, time, the body and relationships with the world and with others. She addresses many facets of drawing, including the connection between drawing and thinking, the range of emotions felt when drawing a person and the experience of digital drawing. Montgomery-Whicher concludes that observation drawing warrants a place in general education as well as in the education of artists. She argues that drawing will continue to thrive because it is a human practice that deepens and enriches our humanity by giving us access to keener perception, greater understanding, empathy and wonder. This book will be of interest to anyone who has ever wondered about the appeal of drawing, including professional and amateur artists, philosophers, and educators.

The Pedagogy of Special Needs Education: Phenomenology of Sameness and Difference outlines how to understand the inner and behavioral lives of children with intellectual disability through the psychology and phenomenology of "stories" derived from the experiences of living with these children.

The book inquires into the meaning of the experiences of children with intellectual developmental disability using a phenomenological method. It examines how the external behaviors of children with special needs may look different from children without these needs but actually do share many similarities at the phenomenological level of lived experience. Themes of difference and sameness are employed for exploring the significances of phenomena such as "finger play," "eating as selffeeding," "smiling and turn-taking," "self-talk," and "don’t touch me." Throughout the narrating and interpreting of the case studies within the book, the author shows the tensional dialectic between individual and collective difference in order to understand what is required to help children with intellectual disability become themselves and form their personal self-identity.

The Pedagogy of Special Needs Education can be used in schools, seminars, and courses related to special education programs and in special needs curricula for children with developmental disabilities. It can also support childcare professionals who carry orthopedagogical responsibilities and who are concerned about the wellbeing of children and their families experiencing special needs. Additionally, this book is valuable to students, researchers, teachers, and others interested in a hermeneutic phenomenological approach to human science, professional practice issues, and qualitative research methods.