1. A Historical Background of
Special Education
Jeff McNair
California Baptist University,
Riverside, California

2. Who are people with
disabilities?
“Mentally handicapped people are still hidden from
history as they are from the rest of life. What history
they do have is not so much theirs as the history of
others either acting on their behalf or against them”
Ryan and Thomas (1987)

3. Ancient Perspective Angel vs.
Devil
Angels . . .
Mutterings revelations
Benefit through alms
“Children of Great
Spirit”
Angels from heaven
Devils
Changelings
Martin Luther
Punishment for sins
Intercourse with devil

4. Progress being made, however
1500s organic basis to disability
1600s too little progress, too much time devoted to the
mind
1800s things start happening

5. Wild boy of Aveyron
Captured by hunters, taken to Abbe Bonaterre

6. Description of Wild Boy
“. . . He is unusual to our food, selecting his nourishment by
smell but at the same time indifferent to fragrant or foul odors;
lying flat on the ground to drink; tearing garments placed upon
him and trying constantly to escape; walking often on all fours;
fighting with his teeth; giving few marks of intelligence; having
no articulate language even devoid of the faculty of speech. It
was later discovered that the boy’s hearing was insensitive to
loud noises and to music; yet he readily heard the fall of a nut.
His sense of touch was likewise deficient. As to sight, his eyes
constantly wandered and could not be fixed on objects”
Bonaterre (1798)

7. Bonaterre’s conclusions (1798)
“a phenomenon like this would furnish to philosophy
and natural history important notions on the original
constitution of man and on the development of his
primitive facilities; provided the state of imbecility we have
noticed in this child does not offer an obstacle to his
instruction.”

8. Jean Itard and the wild boy
“solve the metaphysical problem of determining what
might be the degree of intelligence, and the nature of
ideas in the lad, who deprived from birth of all
education should have lived entirely separated from the
individuals if his kind” Itard (1789)

9. Itard’s educational program
Endear him to social life by making it more genial than the
one he was living
To awaken nervous sensibility by stimulants
To extend the sphere of ideas by creating new wants
Lead him to the use of speech
To exercise the operations of his mind upon his physical
wants

10. Itard’s results
Sleeping and eating habits and personal hygiene more
regular and controlled
Senses of touch and taste became more acute
Circle of wants increased
Learned some monosyllabic words
Learned to sequence objects

11. Edouard Seguin
Student of Itard
Developed the physiological method
Sensory training
Focused on touch
Motor training
Age appropriate activities
Functional activities
Work

12. Meanwhile in the USA . . .
1842 Horace Mann
1843 Hervey Wilbur
1846 Samuel Gridley Howe
1848 First state institution for “training of idiots”
1851 First school built exclusively for “education of idiots”
Seguin gives speech . . .

13. Excerpt from Seguin’s speech
“God has scattered among us-rare as the possessors of genius-the
idiot, the blind, the deaf-mute, in order to bind the rich to the
needy, the talented to the incapable, all men to each other, by a
tie of indissoluble solidarity. The old bonds are dissolving;
man is already unwilling to continue to contribute money or
palaces for the support of the indolent nobility; but he is every
day more ready to build palaces and give annuities for the
indigent or infirm, the chosen friends of our Lord Jesus. See
that cornerstone-the token of a new alliance between humanity
and a class hitherto neglected-that, ladies and gentlemen, is
your pride; it is the greatest joy of my life; for I, too, have
labored for the poor idiot.”

14. Institutions
1890- 14 states have institution for“idiots”
1904- 21
1910- 26
1923- 40
1958- 47

15. Seguin Contributions
Contributed to the “humanity of idiots”
Spearheaded the education of persons with
intellectual disabilities in Europe and the United
States
Develop new educational methods
Frequent changes in activities
Analysis of tasks into their components
Differentiation of senses from intellect
Physical education
Sensory stimulation
Employment as an outcome of education

16. Soon it was realized . . .
Severe mental
disabilities not curable
or even greatly
improvable
Only a small number of
individuals returned to
the community
Institutions not
planned with indefinite
care in mind
Institutions inundated on
2 sides
Parents wanted students
retained
Greater demand for
admission of new cases

17. The ugly “idiot’
Increases seen as real increase in numbers
With urbanization more cases
Idiot blamed for societal problems
Idiocy result of social evil, not personal misfortune

18. Dr. Anne Moore (1910)
“My study of the situation in New York convinces me (1) that
the horrors attendant upon feeblemindedness have in no way
been exaggerated; (2) that the condition is neither
circumscribed or local: . . . (3) that there is a crying need for
concerted action toward control of the situation.
“ . . . Realize that the feebleminded are a menace to our
present day civilization and that the problem of caring for
them can no longer be safely ignored. They agree that the
defect is often hereditary and incurable, that it leads to
poverty, degeneracy, crime and disease.”

19. Other developments
1865 Sir Francis Galton
Eugenics movement
1877 Jukes’study
1912 Kallikak’s study
Feeblemindedness is hereditary

20. Dr. Charles B. Davenport
(1911)
“There are laws of inheritance of general mental ability that can
be sharply expressed. Low mentality is due to the absence of
some factor, and if this factor determines normal development
is lacking in both parents, it will be lacking in their offspring.
Two mentally defective parents will produce only mentally
defective offspring. This is the first law of inheritance of mental
ability . . .the second law of heredity is that, aside from
“Mongolians,” probably no imbecile is born except of parents
who, if not mentally defective themselves, both carry mental
defect in their germ plasm.”

21. Other statements . . .
Feeblemindedness associated with great physical
strength
Breed rapidly
Natural selection keeps feeblemindedness down
Philanthropy and charity have favored multiplication
By 1900, estimated 12,000 with intellectual disabilities
in institutions
1915 with intelligence testing, est. 400,000 individuals

22. Solutions
Lifelong segregation during the reproductive period
Sterilization
“This remedy must in the opinion of this committee be the
principal agent used by society in cutting off the supply of
defectives” (Eugenics section of the American Breeders
Association, 1911)

23. Sterilization
1907 Indiana has first sterilization law
1909 California and Connecticut
1911 New Jersey and Iowa
1926 23 states have sterilization laws
By 1955, 29,512 sterilizations had been performed - the
most from California (503)
Why so few?

24. Mitigating factors in
sterilization
Attitudes of institution superintendents
# of surgeons down during war
Religious groups fought it
Violation of individual rights
1927 test case goes before the Supreme Court

25. Supreme Court Justice
Holmes, May 2, 1927
“We have seen more than once that the public welfare may call
upon the best citizens for their lives. It would be strange if it
could not call upon those who already sap the strength of the
State for these lesser sacrifices, often not felt to be such by
those
concerned, in order to prevent our being swamped with
incompetents. It is better for the world, if instead of waiting to
execute degenerate offspring for crime, or to let them starve for
their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly
unfit from continuing their kind. The principle that sustains
compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover the cutting of
Fallopian tubes . . . Three generations of imbeciles are enough.”

26. At the same time, new
evidence coming to light . . .
Part 1
“As a matter of fact, my own observations show that, in relation
to the total number of those who are the offspring of certifiably
defective parent or parents, is extremely small . . . It follows
that if every defective in existence a generation ago had been
sterilized, the number of defectives today would not have been
appreciably diminished. It also follows that if every defective
not existing were sterilized, the result a generation hence would
be insignificant. In short, in order to produce any marked
decrease in the total number of mental defectives a generation
hence, it would be necessary to sterilize or otherwise prevent
the propagation of, not merely those who are themselves . . .”

27. At the same time, new
evidence coming to light . . .
Part 2
defectives, but all those who are carriers; that is to say every
person suffering from germ vitiation. Obviously, this is not
merely impracticable, but impossible . . .We are compelled to
conclude, therefore, that from the point of view of prevention,
sterilization would not do what is claimed for it and its results
would be relatively slight.”
(Tredgold, 1920)

28. With increased scientific
knowledge
Perception changed from the intellectually disabled as
Widespread threat
To sick and useless
At birth, sent to the institution and forgotten

29. The horror comes to light
President Kennedy - sister
Geraldo Rivera
Burton Blatt
Wyatt v. Stickney, 1972
Lessard v. Schmidt, 1972
Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Citizens (PARC) v.
Commonwealth of Pensylvania, 1972
Welsch v. Likens, 1974
Halderman et al. V. Penhurst State School, 1978

30. Wyatt v. Stickney, 1972
-No borderline or mildly retarded persons shall be a resident of the
institution.
-No person shall be admitted to the institution unless a prior determination
shall have been made that residence in the institution is the least restrictive
habilitation setting.
-Residents shall have a right to the least restrictive conditions necessary to
achieve the purpose of habilitation. To this end, the institution shall make
every attempt to move residents from:
A) more to less structured living;
B) larger to smaller facilities;
C) larger to smaller living units;
D) group to individual residence;
E) segregated from the community to integrated living.

31. Halderman et al. v. Pennhurst
State School
Further, the court found that principles of equal protection prohibit
segregation of the retarded in an isolation of clearly separate and not equal
facilities such as Pennhurst where habilitation does not measure up to the
minimal adequate standards. Moreover the court found that under section
504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, unnecessarily separate services are
discriminatory and unlawful. Pennhurst, as an institution for the retarded,
is a monumental example of unconstitutionality with respect to the
habilitation of the retarded. As such it must be expeditiously replaced with
appropriate community-based mental retardation programs and facilities
designed to meet the individual needs of each class member.

32. Others . . .
No person shall be admitted unless he is “dangerous to himself or others.”
No person classified as borderline, mildly or moderately retarded
according to the standards of classification at Cambridge shall be admitted
unless that person suffers from psychiatric or emotional disorders in
addition to his retardation.
(Lessard v. Schmidt, 1972)
No mentally retarded person shall be admitted to Cambridge State
Hospital on civil commitment if services and programs are available in
the community.
(Welsch v. Likens, 1974)

33. The laws begin to change
Rehabilitation act of 1973
“No otherwise qualified handicapped individual . . .
shall solely by reason of his/her handicap be excluded
from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be
subject to benefits of, or be subject to discrimination
under any program or activity receiving federal financial
assistance.”

34. The laws begin to change
Public Law 94-142 (1975) Education for all
Handicapped Children Act
Free and appropriate public education
Individualized Education Plan
Least Restrictive Environment
Nondiscriminatory evaluation
Procedural safeguards
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and
others

35. The future?
End discrimination
Vocation
Health care
Service
Greater inclusion into all aspects of society