-
Pre-1800s
Emotional or behavioral difficulties in children were considered
religious or moral flaws, or evidence of supernatural influence.
Children’s legal punishments were the same as adults.
Intensive medical treatment (e.g., bleeding and purging), and
harsh punishments were common. -
1800s
The belief that mental illness was religious in nature fell out of favor. Children continue to be treated as adults, with “madness” attributed to such things as studying too hard, inhaling tobacco fumes, masturbation, sleeping in a barn filled with new hay, or witnessing an epileptic seizure. New terms such as ‘incorrigible’, ‘delinquent’, and ‘defective’, began to be used. -
1900s
“Moral Treatment” became popular, was discarded, and became
popular again.
Asylums and residential schools became the norm. -
1950
Frameworks of understanding that we still use today began to
coalesce:
• Psychoanalytical Model
• Biological Model
• Behavioral Model
• Ecological Model -
1980
Category under IDEA -
Current
Behavioral/Ecological and Medical Models
(with exceptions specific to juvenile justice)
