This document traces the history of special education in the United States from its origins in the early 1800s to modern day. It discusses how attitudes have gradually shifted from seeing those with disabilities as in need of institutionalization or sterilization to a more inclusive perspective. Key events and laws that advanced rights and inclusion are highlighted, such as the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The document also notes how terminology has changed to reflect more humanizing views of those with disabilities. Overall, it summarizes how far society and education have come in properly supporting students with special needs.

1. GavinChamberlain
SPE/514CA
4/20/14
Professor: Regina Maldonado

2. Parents,
In todays classroom, students with
exceptionalities routinely attend the same
classroom as children without
exceptionalities. America has not always
treated children with exceptionalities, such
as: cognitive, emotional, deafness, blindness
or other impairments, in a fair and
progressive way. As society has warmed
gradually to a more humanizing attitude
towards persons with exceptionalities, so
have the policies and practices of education.
This trend has led to shifts in: terminology,
inclusion, societal perspective, and socio-
political advancement that have taken on
favorable advancements in schooling through
out history. Let’s take a look at how history
has shaped special education.

3.  Special education was established formally and
permanently in the United States in 1818. These
first institutions, like the American School for the
Deaf, founded in Hartford Connecticut, pioneered
teaching practice and showed how children with
exceptionalities, such as being deaf, can learn and
lead productive lives (Fleischer & Zames, 2001)

4.  Dorthea Dix calls attention to diplorable conditions ofAmerican asylums
 1860 PT Barnum’s American Museum displayed people with disabilities for
amusement.
 1883 Eugenics, a movement to bar people with disabilities from society.
 1912The Kalikak Family by Henry H. Goddard, alleged immorality was tied to
genetics.
 1924The Commonwealth ofVirginia passed a state law that allowed for the
sterilization of individuals found to be “feebleminded, insane, depressed,
mentally handicapped…”
 Hitler and Gerald Ford call for sterilization and segregation laws of the “unfit”
Despite advancements in specialized schooling for children
with disabilities, some parts of main stream society
regressed into a valley of darkness.
 Examples:

5. 1954-The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Brown v.
Board of Education ofTopeka ruled that separate
schools for black and white children are unequal
and unconstitutional. This is a pivotal moment in
history, which started the civil rights movement,
and a push for equality for all under the law

6.  In 1961, President John F. Kennedy created
the President’s Panel on Mental Retardation.
The panel’s recommendations included
federal aid to states and new physical access
laws.

7.  1964 The Civil Rights Act, signed by President
Johnson, prohibited discrimination on the basis of
race, religion, ethnicity, national origin and creed
(gender was added later). This Act outlawed
discrimination on the basis of race in public
accommodations and employment as well as in
federally assisted programs.

8.  In 1965, Lyndon B. Johnson signed the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act,
which provided funding for primary
education, and is seen by advocacy groups
as expanding access to public education for
children with disabilities (Estcheidt, 2006).

9. in 1975, two federal laws cement the rights of the
children with exceptionalities:
The Education for All Handicapped Children Act
(EHA)
The Individuals with Disabilities Education ACT
(IDEA) .

10. IDEA
 This law defines a “child
with a disability”
 Children with a disability
are covered under 504 of
the 1973Americans with
Disabilities Act, providing
them with federal funding.
 Access to related services,
for example: pathology,
audiology, speech-
language, etc…
EHA
 To guarantee free and
appropriate public
education (FAPE)
 Appropriate education
provisions designed to
meet students needs
 Individualized Education
programs (IEP)
 Least restrictive
environment (

11.  1973 The Rehabilitation act was passed, namely
Sections 501, 503 and 504, which prohibited
discrimination in federal programs and services and
all other programs or services receiving federal
funds:
 Key language: No otherwise qualified handicapped
individual in the United States, shall, solely by reason
of his handicap, be excluded from the participation in,
be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to
discrimination under any program or activity receiving
federal financial assistance” (Rehabilitation Act, 1973)

12.  Terminology has shifted to reflect the influences from
societies three main sources: social, political, and advocacy
groups. These influences have moved society to view
children with disabilities with a more humanistic lens
(Vergason & Andregg, 1997).
 For example, the once commonly used term “mongoloid”
to describe someone with trisomy 21, has changed to
children with down syndrome. Other terms like idiot,
imbecile, and feebleminded, once broadly and
indiscriminately used to describe learning disabled
children, now have been changed to tent, limited,
extensive, and pervasive retardation to denote levels of
retardation (Robidas, 2012).

13. Federal government
commits 6 billion in
aid to state schools
 2001- No Child Left Behind
(NCLB) law becomes enacted
calling for all students to
become proficient in reading
and math by the year 2014.

14. Public PL 108-446 The individuals with Disabilities Act of 2004
helps define terminology and categorize individuals based on need:
 Autism
 Deaf-blindness
 Developmental delay
 Emotional disturbance
 Hearing impairments including deafness
 Mental retardation
 Multiple disabilities
 Orthopedic impairments
 Other health impairments
 Specific learning disabilities
 Speech or language impairments
 Traumatic brain injury
 Visual impairments including blindness (Garguilo, 2012)

15.  Educational leadership is now able to use
response to intervention (RTI) process for
specific learning disabilities (as seen on the
previous slide).
 Individual education plans (IEP) to help
reading remediation.
 IEP designed to achieve the goals of No Child
left Behind.

16.  Expands statutory
interpretations of a
disability while giving
individuals with
exceptionalities
greater protections
under the law
(Garguilo, 2012)

17.  From the first schools for the deaf, to the
classrooms of today, our society has progressed,
seeing each child as exceptional. While the
major steps made for in inclusion and equality
have been rather recent, each change has
influenced the lives of children; each step
unlocked and drew attention to the
contributions children with exceptionalities
could make to society if allowed equal access
and inclusion in the classroom.

18.  Campbell, P. H., & Halbert, J. (2002). Between research and practice: Provider perspective on early intervention. Topics
in Early Childhood Special Education, 22, 213-226.
 Etscheidt, S. (2006). Least restrictive and natural environments for young children with disabilities: A legal analysis of
issues.Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 26(3), 167-178. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/233600797?accountid=35812
 Gargiulo, R.M. (2012). Special Education in Contemporary Society: An Introduction to Exceptionlity (4th ed.). Sage
Publications.
 Fleischer, D.Z., & Zames, F. (2001) The disabilitiy rights movement: from charity to confrontation. Philadelphia: Temple
University Press.
 Robidas, M.T. (2013). Responses to intervention: Considerations for school leaders concerning specific learning disability
determination (Order o. 3612229, Alvernia University). Proquest dissertation and Theses, 169.
 Vergason, G. A., & Anderegg, M. L. (1997). The ins and outs of special education terminology. Teaching Exceptional
Children,29(5), 35. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/201154513?accountid=35812