History of special education
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Updated: 12 Aug 2019
With a special focus on the United states. Top are significant events, bottom pieces of relevant legislation. All content comes from Margret A. Winzer's book: From integration to Inclusion, a History of Special Education in the 20th Century
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Events
The New York House of Refuge opens.The Boston Disciplinary Day School is established.The New York Institution for the Blind is established.New England Asylum for the Blind is founded, which later becomes the Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind, then the Perkins Institution for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts.The Pennsylvania Institution for the Blind is organized.The Massachusetts Normal School is established.The Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane is formed (now the American Psychiatric Association).Heinrich Hoffman describes childhood hyperactivity.An experimental school for teaching children with mental retardation is established with an appropriation of $2,500 from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; an institution for the feeble minded opens in Barre, Massachusetts.Horace Mann establishes tax-supported common schools in Massachusetts.The term feeble minded is widely adopted throughout North America.The Convention of American Instructors of the Deaf and Dumb is formed.Massachusetts passes the first compulsory school law.The Pennsylvania Training School for Feebie--Minded Children opens in Georgetown. In 1859, the school moves to Media, Pennsykrantay and gradually assumes the name of the school's founder, physician Alfred L. Elwy,. In 1927, the name changes to The EIwyn Training School; in 1960, the Elwyn Institute.The first formal meeting of teachers of the 'blind takes place.The New York Asylum for Idiots at Syracuse opens; Columbus, Ohio, opens an institution for feeble-minded people.The National Education Association (NEA) is formed,The American Printing House for the Blind is formally established after quite a time of preparation and agitation.Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of the Species.National Deaf Mute College is established to train teachers of deaf students.Francis Galton publishes Hereditary Talent and Character.Edouard Seguin publishes Idiocy and its Treatment by the Physiological Method, which confirms a public attitude of hope and belief in the potential of people with disabilities.The Clarke Institution for Deaf-Mutes opens.A class for deaf children is started in the public school system of Boston.The Conference of Superintendents and Principals of American Schools for the Deaf and Dumb is founded at the urging of Edward Miner Gallaudet.The Horace Mania Day School for the Deaf in Boston opens.Francis Galion publishes Hereditary Genius.An ungraded class is formed in New Haven, Connecticut; Alexander Graham Bell arrives in Boston.The American Association of Instructors of the Blind is formally established.Alexander Graham Bell begins to teach Visible Speech and vocal physiology in Boston.The first class for truant boys is formed in. New York City.William Wundt begins mental testing.The first day class for incorrigibles is founded in Cleveland.The Association of Medical Officers of American Institutions for Idiots and Feeble-Minded Persons is formed (which late; in 1933, becomes the American Association on Mental Deficiency, then the American Association on Mental Retardation in 1987). In 2006, it becomes the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.An "asylum branch" is added at the Pennsylvania Training School for Feeble-Minded Children.The National Conference of Charities and Corrections is established by members of state boards of charities dedicated to scientific charity, which includes institutions for deaf, blind, and mentally retarded students.Isaac Kerlin uses the term moral imbecility.The Second International Congress for the Amelioration of the Condition of Deaf-Mutes takes place in Milan.The National Association for the Deaf is founded.Detroit establishes an ungraded class for unruly students.Galton coins the word eugenics.Alexander Graham Bell presents his Memoir Upon the Formation of a Deaf Variety of the Human Race.Alexander Graham Bell coins the term special education.Formal training for teachers of the blind begins at Columbia University.The first class for the gifted is established in Elizabeth, New Jersey, followed by an acceleration class in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1891.The terms deaf and dumb and deaf mute are formally discarded.The New Jersey Home for the Education and Care of Feeble-Minded Children opens. In 1893, the name changes to the New Jersey Training School for Feeble-Minded Boys and Girls at Vineland. (Other variations are found in the literature.)The American Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf (AAPTSD) is founded.Galton addresses the Seventh International Congress of Hygiene and Demography and calls for new means of checking fertility.Chicago establishes a special class for delinquents.G. Stanley Hall founds the American Psychological Association, and the association holds its first annual meeting in Philadelphia. (Later, John Dewey would be elected president for one year at the association's eighth annual meeting).The Children's Aid Society is formed in Toronto.Alfred Binet begins publishing on mental measurement.Clarke Institution for Deaf-Mutes changes its name to the Clarke School for the Deaf.Lightner Witmer establishes the Pennsylvania Psychological Clinic at the University of Pennsylvania, the first psychological clinic designed to help children with learning and behavior problems.Kraepelin describes dementia praecox (later referred to as schizophrenia).The Department of Deaf, Blind and Feeble Minded is formed as part of the National Education Association.The first class for children with mental retardation in Boston is established.College-based training for teachers of students with mental retardation begins.The first public school Department of Child Study opens in Chicago,The Snellen chart is introduced.The first public school orthopedic classes for crippled children begin in Chicago.First US. juvenile courts are established,Wisconsin and Michigan establish laws that allow for the formation of day classes for deaf children.The National Committee for Mental Hygiene is established.The first electronic hearing aid device invented by Ferdinand Alt.The first state inspector of classes for the deaf is appointed by the Wisconsin State Department of Public Instruction.The New Jersey Training School at Vineland begins to train teachers of the mentally retarded.G. Stanley Hall publishes Adolescence, a major event in the early child study movement.M. P. Groszmann, founder and director of the National Association for the Study and Education of Exceptional Children, first uses the word exceptional.Binet and Simon publish the first test of mental ability.The first trained visiting teachers begin working in Boston, Hartford, and New York; the first college program for the preparation of special educators is established at New York University.The Eugenics Section (later the Committee on Eugenics), part of the American Breeders Association, is formed in the United States; the New Jersey Training School for Feeble-Minded Boys and Girls at Vineland establishes a laboratory with Henry Goddard as director of research.Cleveland sets up its first public school classes for epileptic children; New York sets up its first classes for "cardiopathics."Eugene Blueler identifies autistic behaviors.Indiana passes the world's first compulsory sterilization law.Sante de Sanctis identifies schizophrenia in children.The New York Committee for the Prevention of Blindness is founded, which later becomes the National Society for the Prevention of Blindness.The Binet scale is revised for the first time.New York City begins a program for children with defective speech.The first child guidance bureau opens in a public school in Boston; an open-air class opens in Boston.The first compulsory school laws for children with exceptionalities are passed in the United States.William Healy establishes the Juvenile Psychopathic Institute in Chicago.Chicago, New York, and Buttalo establish their first public school open air classes.Henry Goddard translates the Binet scale for use in North America; the Dillingham Commission concludes that immigrants from southern and eastern Europe are biologically inferior to other immigrants.Classes for stammerers and other children with speech defects begin in Detroit and Chicago.Edward B. Nitchie founds the New York League for the Hard of Hearing.Jersey City begins its first speech therapy classes; New Jersey passes the first state law in special education; Arnold Gesell founds the Child Development clinic at Yale University.The second revision of the Binet scale is completed by Binet and Simon; William Stern coins the term intelligence quotient.First International Eugenics Congress is held at the University of London.The American Association of Social Workers is founded; the first public school guidance bureau is founded in Pittsburgh.The United Kingdom adopts the term mental subnormality.Roxbury (Massachusetts), Boston, and Cleveland establish the first sight-saving classes for partially sighted children.The earliest university-based program for teachers of the deaf is founded at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.J. E. W. Wallin coins the term special class.Braille is officially adopted in schools in the United States.Braille is accepted in American schools for the blind.James Hinshelwood writes Congenital Word-Blindness.Goddard publishes Ellis Island data; the US. Army formulates and uses the Alpha and Beta tests.The American Association of Clinical Psychologists is organized by J. E. W. Wallin and others.The Canadian National Institute for the 'Blind is established.The Canadian National Committee for Mental Hygiene, an association of physicians, social workers, and wealthy patrons, is formed.The American Society for the Hard of Hearing is established.The term gifted appears in the literature.The first classes for hard of hearing children are formed in Lynn, Massachusetts, and Rochester, New York; the term mentally retarded is introduced.Americans begin to officially use the term mental retardation.Second International Eugenics Congress is held in New York; the United States passes the Emergency Quota Act of 1921 that temporarily restricts immigration.The American Foundation for the Blind is established.Lewis Terman begins his longitudinal study on the gifted.The Council for Exceptional Children is founded.Harry Laughlin publishes Eugenical Sterilization, the first book published in America on the topic of sterilization.The US. Congress passes the Johnson Act (Immigration Restriction Act).The American Orthopsychiatric Association is formed to encourage the dissemination of information on therapeutic and educational work with emotionally disturbed children.Audiometric testing begins in the United States; Great Britain initiates testing in 1928.Samuel Orton begins to publish on strephosymbolia ("twisted symbols").The American Association of Psychiatric Social Workers, aligned with psychiatry and medical practice, is formed.Seeing-eye dogs for the blind are introduced into the United States.National Committee on Nursery Education (later the National Association for the Education of Young Children) holds its first national conference in Washington, DC.The Conference of Superintendents and Principals of American Schools for the Deaf changes its name to Conference of Executives of American Schools for the Deaf.Third International Eugenics Congress is held in New York at the Museum of Natural History.The Cuyahoga County Ohio Council for the Retarded Child is established.Detroit public schools opens classes for epileptics.Blind people are included under the Social Security Act of 1935.The Seventh International Conference of Geneticists meets in Edinburgh and issues widely publicized condemnations of eugenics, racism, and Nazi doctrines.Eugenics Records Office at Cold Springs Harbor, New York, is closed.The White House Conference on Children in a Democracy is held.The John Tracy Clinic is founded to meet the needs of the parents of young deaf children.Council for Exceptional Children becomes a department of the National Education Association.The Industrial Rehabilitation Act of 1920 is amended to create the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, intended to serve both mentally and physically disabled people.Leo Kanner describes the autistic syndrome.Bruno Bettelheim starts the orthogenic school in Chicago.The American Association for Gifted Children is established.The National Association for Retarded Children is formed.The National Association for Gifted Children is established.Brown v. Board of Education comes before the Supreme Court.Leonard Kornberg publishes A Class for Disturbed Children, the first book to describe classroom teaching of disturbed children.The American Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf becomes the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf.Public Law 85—926 provides grants for training special education personnel.The President's Panel on Mental Retardation is convened under the J. F. Kennedy administration.Samuel A. Kirk introduces the term learning disabilities.President Kennedy signs Public Law 88—164, which provides federal funds for teacher training in the area of emotionally disturbed children and which broadens earlier legislation (Pub. L 85—926) to include most children with severe disabilities; Kennedy announces the formation of the Division of Handicapped Children and Youth (of which Samuel Kirk becomes director in 1964).The federal Economic Opportunity Act includes plans for Head Start as a demonstration program.The first annual conference on the education of emotionally disturbed children is held at Syracuse University,President Johnson appoints the President's Committee on Mental Retardation.The Bureau of Education for the Handicapped is created in the US. Office of Education with James Gallagher as director and Edwin Martin as assistant director.The Declaration of General and Special Riglltsfor the Mentally Retarded international document is issued by the International League of Societies for The Mentally Handicapped.The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association offers the first description of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).The Special Projects Act establishes an advocacy office titled the Office of The Gifted and Talented.Public Law 94—142 (Education for All Handicapped Children Act) is enacted.A Nation at Risk, a report by the National Commission on Excellence in Education is published.The term inclusion appears in the special education literature.The Regular Education Initiative is proposed by the U.S. Department of Education; Congress passes Public Law 99—457/ the first amendment of Public Law 94—142; which stresses infant and preschool programs.Congress passes the Individuals With Disabilities Act (Pub. L. 101—336) and the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (Pub. L 101—476).The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act is amended.The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act is reauthorized.Congress passes the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (Pube L 107—110).The Human Genome Project is completed.The Individuals With Disabilities Improvement Act (Pub. L 108—446) amends earlier versions of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act.Pub. L. 65-178—The Smith-Sears Veterans Rehabilitation Act provided physical and vocational rehabilitation for veterans of World War I.Pub. L 66-236—The Smith-Fess Act (also known as the Civilian Vocational Rehabilitation Act) authorized vocational rehabilitation services for civilians; initiated translation services for blind individuals.Pub. L 74-732——Authorized blind people to operate vending stands in federal buildings.Pub. L 78-113—The Barden-La Follette Act amended the Smith-Fess Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1920. It allowed state commissions and other agencies to receive federal funding to provide services to people who were blind/ and it provided services for those who were mentally retarded and mentally ill.Maternal and Child Welfare Act (which added to the Social Security Act) included services for crippled children.Pub. L. 81-597—National Science Foundations Act passed with the goal of improving the basic curriculum and encouraging gifted and talented students to pursue careers in mathematics and physical sciences.Pub. L. 83-531—The Cooperative Research Program allowed limited funding for cooperative educational research by the U.S. Office of Education and colleges, universities, and departments of education. Mental retardation was targeted.Pub. L. 83-565—Research and training promoted for the vocational rehabilitation of the disabled.Pub. L 85-926—The National Defense Education Act provided for an appropriation of $1 million for federal grants to state governments and institutions of higher learning to encourage the education of college instructors who would in turn train teachers of the mentally retarded.Pub. L. 87-276-The Special Education Act signed by President Kennedy in September 1961 funded university-level programs designed to encourage and facilitate the training of more teachers of the deaf. It increased the number of teacher preparation programs and more than doubled the annual preparation of teachers in this field.Pub. L. B7-715-Provisions were made for the production and distribution of captioned films for the deaf.Pub. L. 88-164-The Mentally Retarded Facilities and Community Health Centers Act (Comprehensive Community Mental Health Centers Construction Act) signed by President Kennedy in October 1963 broadened Pub. L. 85-926 to include children with severe disabilities. It provided funding for teachers of handicapped children (mental retardation, deafness and hearing impairments, visual impairment, serious emotional disturbance, and physical and health impairments). It also provided funds for research into disabilityPub. L. 89-10--The Elementary and Secondary Education Act was the first broad-scale education act enabled by Congress. It was an umbrella act affecting almost all aspects of education. The many facets included provisions relating to children with disabilities, low-income families, and teachers' salaries. It provided $1.3 billion in grants to states and localities in the first year alone to attack the problems of educationally disadvantaged and handicapped children.Pub. L. 89-36-Established the National Technical Institute for the Deaf.Pub. L. 89-313-Elementary and Secondary Education Act amendments (Title I) granted federal funds to state agencies for educating handicapped children and youth birth through age 20 in state-operated programs. It also provided support to assist handicapped children in state institutions.Pub. L. 89-522-Expanded talking-book services for the visually impaire to include those physically handicapped people who were unable to handle print material.Pub. L. 89-750-Under Elementary and Secondary Education Act amendments (Title IV), authorization was provided to establish the Bureau of Education for the Handicapped and a National Advisory Committee on the Handicapped as well as assistance to state and local agencies for the education of the handicapped.Pub. L. 90-35-The Education Professionals Development Act provided funds to be used to increase general educators' awareness of and sensitivity to the needs of students with disabilities.Pub. L. 90-170-The Mental Retardation Amendments, which amended the Mental Retardation Facilities and Community Mental Health Centers Construction Act of 1963 (Pub. L. 88-164), provided physical and recreational programs and professional training, including the training or leadership personnel, supervisors, and researchers.Pub. L. 90-247-Elementary and Secondary Education Act amendments created regional resource centers for the evaluation of the handicapped services for deaf-blind children and youth, resource centers, and the expansion of media services for the handicapped; also established bilingual education.Pub. L. 90-576len percent of vocational educational funds were earmarked for the handicapped population. It also provided for grants to other agencies in addition to colleges and universities as well as states.Pub. L. 90-538-Handicapped Children's Early Education Assistance Act (also known as the First Chance Program) covered children from birth to age 6 years effectively increasing the number of children receiving services; Also provided grants to agencies, colleges, universities, and states to establish experimental preschool programs for handicapped children and to fund assessment devices, curricula materials, and parent training materials.Pub. L. 91-61-Authorized the National Center on Educational Media and Materials for the Handicapped.Pub. L. 91-230-Education Amendments of 1969 to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 consolidated other federal special education programs. n addition, it consolidated all existing legislation related to students with disabilities into one section, Title VI, called the Education of the Handicapped Act. States were provided direct financial support to serve children with disabilities ages 3 through 5. Section 806, "Provisions related to gifted and talented children," provided two sources of suppPub. L. 91-205-Required facilities constructed with federal funds to be accessible to those who were physically handicapped.Pub. L. 91-517-Developmental Disabilities and Facilities Construction Amendment of 1970; coined the term developmental disabilities to describe the population of individuals who had historically been placed in state institutions.Pub. L. 92-424-Amended the Economic Opportunity Act to extend Head Start services to children with disabilities; ten percent of enrollment opportunities in Head Start were to be available to handicapped children.Pub. L. 93-112-Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act was the first civil rights law to protect the rights of disabled people. The language was almost identical to that of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which applied to racial discrimination, and of Title IX of the Education Amendment of 1972, which dealt with discrimination in education on the basis of gender. Section 504 stated that "no otherwise qualified handicapped individual in the United States shall, solely by reason of his (or her) handicap, be Pub. L. 93-233-Social Security amendments of 1973 included a focus on child abuse and neglect programs.Pub. L. 93-380-Amendment to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act; assured education in the least restrictive environment, identified the gifted and talented as part of the Special Projects Act, and stipulated that states should set the goal of serving handicapped children from birth to 21. It provided for personnel preparation with an influx of funds to provide inservice training that would assist practicing educators to serve students with disabilities in their classrooms. The legislation guaranteed Pub. L. 94-142-The Education for All Handicapped Children Act spoke specifically to free and appropriate education and included concerns for the education of children who were culturally and linguistically different in their native languages.Pub. L. 94-482-Education Amendments of 1976.Pub. L. 95-49-Amendment to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act included the approved federal definition of learning disabilities.Pub. L. 95-207-Career Education Incentive Act, though not applying specifically to people who were disabled, increased federal attention on career development and transition programming and led to later initiatives.Pub. L. 95-561-The education amendments to the Gifted and Talented Children's Education Act of 1978 provided funding to states for planning as well as grants for personnel training, model programs, and research through the Gifted and Talented Children's Education Act. Migrant programs funded through section 143 of Pub. L. 95-561. It also included a provision for identifying native American gifted and talented students.Pub. L. 95-602-The Developmental Disabilities Assistance Act, which served preschoolers and children up to age 22 years. Removed some categorical terms such as cerebral palsy, epilepsy, autism, and dyslexia.Pub. L. 97-35-Education Consolidation and Improvement Act.Pub L97-300-The Job Training Partnership Act allowed 10% of the funds for disabled youth.Pub L. 98-199-The Secondary Education and Transition Services for Handicapped Youth amendments, which amended the Education of the Handicapped Act, revised Pub. L. 94-142 to provide a variety of discretionary grants to expand services for the birth-to-3 age group, encourage programs to better prepare school-aged students for transition out of public education, and improve personnel preparation.Pub. L. 98-511-The Elementary and Secondary Education Act amendments introduced new programs such as developmental bilingual education special alternative instructional programs; and preschool, gifted, and special education programs.Pub. L. 98-524-The Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act promoted high-quality vocational-technical education and included programs for people with disabilities as well as for those who were otherwise disadvantaged.Pub. L. 98-527-The Developmental Disabilities Act targeted supported employment and independent living as outcomes for those with severe disabilities.Pub. L. 99-372-The Handicapped Children's Protection Act clarified the original intent of Pub. L. 94-142 to other federal laws, especially Section 504, and amended Pub. L. 94-142 to allow courts to reimburse parents for costs in cases where they prevailed.Pub. L. 99-457-The Education of the Handicapped Act amendments in this legislation gave full services for 3 year olds and dramatically increased funding for preschool programs. It divided the population into two groups infants and toddlers (birth to 3, Part H) and preschoolers (3 to 6, Part B). The section named Preschool Grants could be used by the states to plan, develop, or implement a comprehensive interagency system of services for infants and toddlers with developmental disabilities.Pub. L. 99-506-Rehabilitation Act Amendments.Pub. L. 100-297-The Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Education Act clarified that these students need special education services in the schools but do not require special services for gifted and talented children. It authorized funding for a National Research Center and demonstration programs. It also focused on students from traditionally underserved populations, with a special focus on high ability learmers in culturally and linguistically diverse and low socioeconomic groups. The Indian Education Act,Pub. L. 101-336-1The Individuals with Disabilities Act signed by President Bush in July 1990 to take effect in 1992 was based on the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973. It primarily affected adults but reflected a continuing concern with the rights of all people with disabilities. The law governed disability policy in higher education and extended nondiscriminatory participation in public schools and private employment settings, public service, public accommodations, and telecommunication services. It alPub. L. 101-393-Provided for vocational education for members of special populations.Pub. L. 101-476-The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act amendment abrogated state's immunity (under the 11th Amendment of the Constitution) from suits brought in federal courts for their violation of the act making it possible for parents and other advocates to sue the states more successfully for nonperformance. The law added autism and traumatic brain injury (TBI) as categories and included a transportation plan on Individual Education Plans. It retained all the basic provisions of the original lePub. L. 102-119-Amendment of Individuals With Disabilities Education Act included a title change to people-first terminology. It related particularly to early intervention services and provided for more early intervention services; stressed a family-centered approach; and identified the need to serve underrepresented populations such as minority, low income, inner city, and rural. It also added vision services, assistive technology, and transportation.Pub. L. 102-569-The Rehabilitation Act Amendments included programs to support people across the full range of types and extent of disability.Pub. L. 103-227-The Goals 2000: Educate America Act was a national framework for educational reform that included equity measures and initiatives for safe schools.Pub. L. 103-239-The School-to-Work Opportunities Act provided career awareness, career exploration, and counselling for all students.Pub. L. 103-382-The Improving America's Schools Act provided for greater targeting of students with high needs and provision to assist such students in reaching high standards.Pub. L. 105-17-Individuals With Disabilities Education Act Reauthorization. Although most of the general requirements of the 1997 Individuals With Disabilities Education Act had been in the law since 1975, the amendment refined the basics and addressed the issues of school discipline and the authority of school personnel to handle children who could be a danger to themselves and others. It put new discipline provisions in place, strengthened the role of parents, and added a new variable to the formula by chPub. L. 106-402-The Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act amended the developmental disabilities services legislation of 1970. It called for full community inclusion and self-determination for people with developmental disabilities.Pub. L. 107-110-No Child Left Behind Act, an amendment of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The legislation was designed to promote high standards in public education and to ensure that all youths receive high-quality services. In exchange for federal funding under the No Child Left Behind Act, states agreed to develop systems of account ability for schools and school districts.Pub. L. 108-446-The reauthorization of the Individuals With Disabilities Act as the Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act passed into law on June 19, 2004. It explicitly aligned the provisions with the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act.Charles Michel de l'Epee opens the first permanent school for deaf students in Paris.Valentin Haüy opens a school for blind children in Paris.American Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons opens; the Legislature of Connecticut appropriates the first funds from public money in America.Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet begins teacher training at the American Asylum.
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