A Brief History of Special Education

 

The link of special education and general education is perhaps the most important and prevalent topic in special education, as well as in my own educational experience. History has demonstrated that the two have never had an easy, simple connection. When it comes to educational policy, educational practices, and special education services done by human educators on both sides of the isle, such as myself, there has been a lot of giving and taking, or perhaps I should say pulling and pushing.

Students with disabilities have lived in every era and in every community, despite the fact that required special education is relatively recent in the United States.

Development of the Field of Special Education

Leaders of social change pushed out to fix many of society's flaws when it began in the early nineteenth century. Itard, Edouard O. Seguin (1812–1880), Samuel Gridley Howe (1801–1876), and Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet (1787–1851) were among the physicians and clergy who desired to improve the neglected, often brutal treatment of people with disabilities. Individuals with disabilities were frequently held in jails and almshouses without adequate food, clothing, personal cleanliness, or exercise in the 1800s, according to a large body of literature.

Professionals felt that individuals with disabilities were best treated in residential facilities in rural settings for much of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century. Environmental factors such as urban poverty and vices, according to proponents of these organisations, cause behavioural disorders. Dorothea Dix (1802–1887), for example, persuaded state governments to support larger, more specialised institutes.State governments developed juvenile courts and social welfare programmes for children and adolescents, including foster homes, at the end of the nineteenth century. In the early twentieth century, the child study movement got popular. Researchers endeavoured to investigate child development scientifically in relation to education, using the technique pioneered by G.

The History of Special Education in Schools and Institutions

Although Itard was unable to normalise Victor, Averyon's wild boy, he was able to influence Victor's conduct dramatically via education. Itard's work marks the beginning of extensive attempts to educate pupils with disabilities, and his work can be traced back to him. Gallaudet created the American Asylum for the Education and Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb (now known as the American School for the Deaf) in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1817, as the country's first special education school. Special educational programmes were available in several asylums by the middle of the nineteenth century.

Moral counselling included a significant amount of education. Special classes within ordinary public schools had been established in major cities by the end of the nineteenth century. These special programmes were created to help immigrant children who didn't speak English well and students with slight mental retardation or behavioural issues. Steamer children, backw

The History of Legislation in Special Education

Although many people believe that special education began in 1975 with the passage of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EAHCA), it is obvious that special educators were responding to the needs of disabled children in public schools nearly a century before. It's also evident that EAHCA didn't appear out of nowhere. This historic statute arose naturally from events in both special education and society, and was made possible in large part by the efforts of grassroots organisations made up of both parents and experts. The American Association of Instructors of the Blind and the American Association on Mental Deficiency (formerly the American Association on Mental Deficiency) were founded in the 1870s.Advocacy groups pushed to get local ordinances that would protect and support people with disabilities in their communities during the first half of the twentieth century. In Peoria, Illinois, for example, the first white cane ordinance guaranteed blind people the right-of-way when crossing the street in 1930. By the mid-century, every state had passed legislation allowing students with impairments to attend school. Legislation was, however, still optional. In the late 1950s, government funds were set aside for the education of disabled children and the training of special educators.

Trends in Special Education

The history of special education has been structured in stages to emphasise the numerous trends that have occurred in the profession. Although some of these conceptualizations are concerned with adjustments in instructional interventions for students with abilities, others are concerned with the location of interventions. The emphasis on placement reflects the dispute that has dogged the field of special education throughout its history. In the eighteenth century, Samuel G. Howe was one of the first to suggest that instructional venues had inherent traits that alone guaranteed effective interventions. The late-nineteenth-century fight for bigger and better institutions, as well as the mid-twentieth-century push for deinstitutionalization, were both fueled by a belief in the intrinsic therapeutic qualities of place.Many professionals were sidetracked by a singular focus on the value of location, preventing them from understanding that the push for deinstitutionalization was accompanied by significant philosophical shifts.

Controversial Issues in Special Education

Throughout history, special education has been a source of criticism. Some of the criticism was justified, and others were not. Some complaints exposed ineffective methods, such as the ineffectiveness and inhumanity of confining all people with disabilities in facilities. Other complaints included a sole focus on the importance of place while ignoring other unsuitable practices, which had terrible consequences. New criticisms of special education were made at the turn of the twenty-first century. Some argue that using diagnostic labels can be stigmatising to students, while others argue that minority students are overrepresented in some disability categories, and still others argue that educating students with disabilities in special classes and schools, including pulling students out for resource classes, is akin to segregation.Some of these criticisms may draw attention to ineffective practises, while others may simply divert educators' attention away from the task of identifying and implementing successful instructional strategies.