Module 1 – History of Special Education 1

Module 1 – History of Special Education
Sandra A. Roland
Grand Canyon University
SPE – 526 Educating Learners With Diverse Needs
Dr. Gary McDaniel
January 6, 2011

Module 1 – History of Special Education 2

Abstract The history of Special Education began and surfaced in the U.S., after World War II, by a number of parent organized advocacy groups. One of the first organizations formed was the “American Association on Mental Deficiency,” which held its first convention in 1947. There was a number of other parent organizations formed, which was fueled by the” Civil Rights Movement” in the early 1950s, including the “United Cerebral Palsy Association”, the “Muscular Dystrophy Association,” and the “John F. Kennedy’s Panel on Mental Retardation,” which was established by President John F. Kennedy in 1961. This panel recommended federal aid to states. The “Elementary and Secondary Act” was signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965, providing funding for primary education. The advocacy groups believed this expanded access and public education for children with disabilities. The Federal government in (1950s and 1960s), worked with the support of the advocacy of family associations, such as “The ARC,” which began to develop and validate practices for children with disabilities and their families. These practices laid the foundation for implementing effective programs and services of early intervention and special education in states and localities across the country.
The Training of Professional Personnel Act of 1959 (PL 86-158), helped to train leaders to educate children with mental retardation; the Captioned Films Act of 1958 (PL-905), the training provisions for teachers of students with mental retardation (PL 85-926), and the Teachers of the Deaf Act of 1961(PL 87-276), which trained instructional personnel for children
Module 1 – History of Special Education 3 who were deaf or hard of hearing were notable examples of early Federal legislation that supported improved programs and services. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (PL 89-10) and the State Schools Act (PL 89-313) in 1965, provided states with direct grant assistance to help educate children with disabilities. The Handicapped Children’s Early Education Assistance Act of 1968 (PL 90-538) and the Economic Opportunities Amendments of 1972 (PL 92-424) finally authorized support for exemplary early childhood programs and increased Head Start enrollment for young children with disabilities. Other critical Federal laws began to open doors of opportunities for children with disabilities and their families. In America, the history of Special Education was led by a grassroot advocacy, which commenced with Congressional approval of the “Education for All Handicapped Children Act” (Public Law 94-142) on November 29, 1975. This law was introduced to support states and localities in “protecting the rights of meeting the individual needs of and improving the results for infants, toddlers, children and youths with disabilities and their families.” PL 94-142 became effective in October 1977, after the adoption of enabling regulations, and it was the legislative for federal funding of special education. In 1986 EHA was reauthorized as PL 00-457, giving additional coverage for infants and toddlers below age 2 with disabilities, and provided for associated “Individual Family Services” (IFSP), which prepared documents to ensure individualized special service delivery to families of respective families and toddlers. The PL 94-142 was the cornerstone for special education, and it required that public schools provide “free appropriate public education,” to students with a wide range of disabilities, which included “physical handicaps, mental retardation, speech, vision and language problems, emotional and behavioral problems, and other learning disorders.” School districts provided
Module 1 – History of Special Education 4 schooling in the “least restricted environment” possible, which was mandated. However, this was done through inclusion, mainstreaming, segregation and exclusion. Over 25 years since the passage of the Public Law 94-142, significant progress was made, meeting major national goals for developing and implementing effective programs and services for early intervention, special education, and related services. Before IDEA, U.S. schools educated only one in five children, who were deaf, blind, emotionally disturbed or mentally retarded. During that time many individuals lived in state institutions for persons with mental retardation or mental illness. These state institutions also provided only minimal food, clothing and shelter. The law that included parent training and information centers at the state level was extended in 1983. Early intervention programs for infants and education services for pre-schoolers were added in 1986. Services and eligibility were expanded again in 1990, and the law was renamed the “Individuals with Disabilities Education Act” (IDEA). Every since then the IDEA has been reauthorized and expanded. The (IDEA) law marks its’ 25th Anniversary this year.
Regarding the disability education law, there was a change with the introduction of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The Statutory focus in EHA, prior to that time was to provide access to education for disabled students who had been marginalized in the public school system. In 1997, Congress enacted IDEA, after being satisfied that the goal of “access” had been reached with the express purpose of addressing implementation problems resulting from “low expectations and an insufficient focus on applying replicable research on proven methods of teaching and learning for children with disabilities.” Our national policy is to
Module 1 – History of Special Education 5 ensure equality opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency for individuals with disabilities, statue clearly states its commitment.
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 ( ADA) barred discrimination in employment (Title 4), public services and Transportation (Title 2), public accommodations (Title 3), telecommunications (Title 4) and miscellaneous provisions (Title 5), was provided with similar protections from discriminations as those granted by Civil Rights Act of 1964. This was a great step in normalizing the lives of the disabled. With full and equal employment of the goods, services, facilities, or accommodations, Title 3 prohibited disability based discrimination in any place of public accommodations.
There was further advanced increase in educational opportunities for children with disabilities which was a landmark court decision. For example, the “Pennsylvania Association for Retarded,” “Citizens v. Commonwealth,” (1971) and “Mills v. Board of Education” of the District of Columbia (1972) established the responsibility of states and localities to educate children with disabilities. This allowed the right of every child with a disability to be educated and it was grounded in the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Today, almost 200,000 eligible infants and toddlers and their families, receives services and early intervention programs, and nearly 6 million children and youth receives special education and related services to meet their individual needs. IDEA other accomplishments of attribution included education for more children in neighborhood schools, rather than in separate schools and institutions, and contributed to improvements in the rate of high school graduation
Module 1 – History of Special Education 6 post-secondary school enrollment, and post-school employment for youth with disabilities who have benefited from IDEA.
The No Child Left Behind Act, which was the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 2001, required accountability for the academic performance of all school children, including those with disabilities in all public schools in the country. By the year 2012, it will call for 100% proficiency in reading and in math. Reauthorization (PL 108-446), the 2004 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act changed learning disability identification procedures, requiring high qualification standards for special education teachers, stipulating that all students with disabilities participate in annual state or district testing or documented alternate assessments, and allowed in response to activities related to weapons, drugs or violence that a student could be placed in an interim alternative educational setting. Due to broader definitions of what constitutes a disability, some student disability protections not covered by IDEA may not be covered under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of (1973) or ADA (1990), as of today.
Not all students with disabilities may qualifies under IDEA 2004 as a child with a disability because, in spite of having a disability, the student does not need special education. Rather, the student needs reasonable accommodations within general (regular) education and nothing more. The two Acts that provide these accommodations are Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of (1973) and ADA (1990), but they will not be classified as eligible under IDEA 2004.

Module 1 – History of Special Education 7

References
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA).
Archived: 25 Years History of the IDEA – U.S. Department o Education.
The Captioned Film Act of 1958 (PL -905).
Economic Opportunities Amendments of 1972 (PL 92-424).
Education for All Handicapped Children Act (PL 94-142) in 1975.
EHA (PL-457) Reauthorized.
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (PL 89-10).
The Handicapped Children’s Early Education Association Act of 1968 (PL 90-538).
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 1990.
Learning Rx: History of Special Education (2011); Learning Rx Franchise Corp.
No Child Left Behind Act (2004) (NCLB). Reauthorization (PL 108-446).
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (1973) in 1973,
State Schools Act (PL 89-313) in 1965.
Teachers of the Deaf Act (PL 87-276) in 1961.
The Training of Professional Personnel Act (PL 86-158) in 1959.
The Training Provisions for teachers of students with Mental Retardation (PL 85-926).