History of Special Education
Introduction
Special education has faced many changes during the last century. During this time there have been many opinions on the way students with differences should be taught and treated. This paper will discuss the history of special education during the twentieth century. We will also discuss the laws associated with Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Finally we will discuss the current and future challenges that the laws have on special education.
History of Special Education
For most of our nation's history, children with special needs or disabilities were shunted aside. In spite of mandated education laws that had been in place since 1918, many students were denied education and forced to learn at home or be institutionalized. For the few mild or moderate disabilities students who were allowed to enroll in special programs in public school, they were often placed in classrooms separated from other students and denied a proper education. William (2008), points out, “Rarely was there anything 'special' about these programs. American society largely continued to view many people with disabilities as being crippled, feeble-minded, mentally defective, or diseased, under a medical model of disability.” These views and ideas often led many students with disabilities to drop out before graduating from high school.One of the first movements of special education in the United States started after World War ll, when several parents organized advocacy groups surfaced in the states. The American Association on Mental Deficiency was one of the first groups to form and held its first conference in 1947 to address the needs of Special Education in the U.S.Several landmark cases also ha...
... middle of paper ...
...ualized to the students’ needs, in an environment which best service the child. However, more is still needed to ensure that all students are being identified and served earlier, and that these service are more widely available to the students and their parents. As educators we should take steps to ensure that we are prepared to teach all students, and to help those students make a smooth transition into adulthood.
Works Cited
Heward, W. L. (2009). Exceptional children: An introduction to special education (9thed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill
Myhill, W. (2008). The First One Hundred Years of Special Education in America? 1817 to 1925. Retrieved December 9, 2010 from http://knol.google.com/k/william-myhill/
Pardini, P. (2002), The History of Special Education. Retrieved December 9, 2010 from http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/16_03/Hist163.shtml
In “Special Education Standards: Supreme Court Raises Level of Benefit” author Joshua Dunn outlines a recent victor for special education standards in America. Dunn begins by describing how, in the Endrew F. v. Douglas County School Districts case, the Supreme Court ruled that students, in public school, with disabilities should have more benefits than some courts had previously ruled. The author then describes how Endrew (Drew) was a child in the Douglas County School District, and as he grew older he began needing special need because of some behavioral problems that began arising. Drew parents were dissatisfied with what his school provided, and they decided to enroll Drew in a private school. Drew’s parents believe that they are entitled
During the twentieth century, drastic changes were made to vastly improve the special education system to ensure that all students, regardless of their ability, were given equal rights according to the Constitution of the United States.
The treatment of individuals with disabilities has changed dramatically since the 1800’s. Reynolds 1988, describes, Progressive inclusion, the evolution of services provided to those with various disabilities. In the early 1800’s residential institutions, or asylums were seem as common place accommodations for individuals with hearing, visual, mental or emotional impairments. Institutions remained the primary educational support until a century later in the early 1900’s. The parents of students with disabilities brought upon a legislation change. During the 1950’s and 1960’s, these parents pressured courts and legislatures to introduce a change in educational services. Reynolds (1988), discussed the birth of The Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975. This act mandated that all children, regardless of disability, had the right to a free, appropriate education in the least restrictive environment. As a result, resource and self-contained classrooms expanded in public schools. In 1991 the Individuals with Disabilities Act was inducted. As a result professionals in the field of special education are giving more consideration to placing students in the least restrictive environment.
On January 1st, 1975 public law number 94-142 was The Education for All Handicapped Children Act. This law secured the fundamental ideals, rights and responsibilities to ascertain equal access to public education for all children who are crippled. What education has done in the years it has been around is that it simply makes life one sizably extensive, perplexed system of steps and processes. Our schools don’t accommodate the goal of a true education, but it makes it appear that they are. It would seem that the goal for a true education is for someone to absorb attention, but it is not always right to fill adolescent minds with careless facts or the ways of the world that is decided by a committee. The way that attention is gained for students is to give their own perception on things and have their own notion. From Report of the Massachusetts Board of Education, Horace Mann states that, “education, then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of men, – the balance wheel of the social machinery.” It explicates that the consequentiality of kinds of education, including political, moral, religious, perceptive, and physical are paramount to people and to education.
Yell, M. L., Rogers, D., & Rogers, E.L. (1998). The legal history of special education what a
Various advocates have made changes towards Special Education over the past hundred years. These changes have made substantial improvements in Special Education, but could also be seen as challenges. As a preschool teacher in an inclusive classroom, I have personally seen the improvements and setbacks these changes have made for my students with disabilities and their families. In this essay, I will be discussing specifically the changes made in Early Childhood Special Education. There are three changes that I will discuss; changes made to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Least Restrictive Environments (LRE) in an early childhood setting, and Early Intervention Programs (EIP).
Winzer, M. A. & Mazurek, K. (2000) Special education in the 21st century issues of inclusion and reform. Washington D.C. Gallaudet University Press.
In the early 1800s people who had disabilities were sent to asylums and were treated horribly. The idea of adopting disabled individuals into schools was an idea that came about in the early 1900s. Then in the mid 1900s around 1950-1960, parents of disabled individuals began fighting for educational services to be available for their child. Not until “The Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975” were children, regardless of disabilities, were able to receive a free public education in what is considered to be the “least restrictive environment.” In 1986, Madeleine Will, then-Assistant Secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (under the U.S. Department of Education), thought of the idea of including mild to moderate disabled students to be part of a “pull out” program would be included in regular classrooms. By the time the mid 1990s rolled around, about 35% of disabled students were attending regular school classes (Historical Background). Since then, the ideas have expanded and pushed to make almost all of the classrooms be inclusion
“The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, religion, national origin, or gender, but people with disabilities were not included under such protection” (Department of Justice). It was not until 1973 when the Rehabilitation Act came to fruition that people were officially by law protected against discrimination on the basis of either mental or physical disability. The Architectural Barriers Act implemented in 1968 helped people with disabilities have access to buildings and facilities by companies, agencies complying with federal standards for physical accessibility. The Education for All Handicapped Children Act was renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA). This Act allows people with disabilities into public schools and also requires the school to develop (IEP’s) Individualized Education Programs to be developed and fit individualized needs for the student. Another very important piece of legislation is the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) in which “prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in employment, state and local government, public accommodations, commercial facilities, transportation and telecommunications services” (A Brief History, p.1).
The education system is arguably the most beneficial system in the world; however, it also contains many controversial practices. Proper funding, discrimination, and curriculum are just some of the problems in today’s education system. Everyone has a different opinion about what is best for our children and it is impossible to please everyone. As long as the educational system is in tact, then there will be confusion and debate within the system and its’ administrators. The only thing that can be done is attempting to make it so that everyone will benefit equally, but this is much more difficult than one would assume. I will focus on the aspect of discrimination on minorities within special education and more specifically the following questions: Does the special education system discriminate against minorities? If so, how? What can be done, if anything, to correct or improve this system?
Under the 1944 Education Act children with special educational needs were defined in medical terms and categorised according to their disabilities. Many of those children were considered as ‘uneducable’ and were labelled as ‘maladjusted’ or ‘educationally sub-normal’, and they were given ‘special educational treatment’ in special schools or institutions. In these special schools (institutions) the rights of the children were not considered, as children were socially alienated from family and the society from where they lived. Though the grouping of children with similar disabilities looked positive in the past, such children were deprived their right to association with their peer...
Mazurek, K. & Winzer, M.A. (Eds.). (1994). Comparative Studies in Special Education. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press.
What is special education? The common belief is that it a program only dedicated to helping students with disabilities, whether physical or mentally. This is not entirely accurate in regards of what special education is. While special education does provide assistance to students with disabilities ns meet their needs in quality education (Küpper 2009)—the program extends to all students facing difficulties keeping up with the pace of learning (Huerta 2009). This brings the next question onto the table: the importance of special education. Before 1970s, majority of students with disabilities were shun into isolation with little to no education in general classes (Bradley 2016). However, with the passage of Education for All Handicapped Children
The right to have access to education is a concern for people with disabilities. They were treated poorly and often desegregated from society. The response to the concerns of parents and educators over the exclusion of children with disabilities created the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The public law “guaranteed a free, appropriate public education to each child with a disability in every state and locality across the country”. In the 1970's children with disabilities entered schools and over the years, the number of students in special education has grown dramatically, from 4.3 million students in 1990 to 6.9 million students in 2003 (The Council of Chief State School Officers , 2007).
“in order for your child to qualify for the services the student must be found to have one of the 13 categories of special education and it must adversely affect their educational performance” (Hancock, 2016). So to get a better understanding of the special education process we have to view it from both sides of the situation, that is, a parent whose child was diagnosed with a disability, and a professional who works with special education for a living. Knowing both sides and their views we can get a better grasp of the whole system and the flaws and strengths that come with the whole process and