Screen shot 2019 09 13 at 12.14.00 pm

History of Special Education

  • Jean Marc Itard and Edouard Sequin

    two doctors considered the first individuals to attempt to teach individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities
  • The Council for Exceptional Children

    founded to organize teachers working with exceptional children
  • Beginnings of Special Education classrooms

    Certain states like California and Illinois begin creating specific classrooms for students with disabilities
  • Public Law 88-164

    Authorized funds for training professionals to work with children with special needs and for research purposes.
  • Handicapped Children’s Early Education Assistance Act

    Set up federally funded, early intervention programs, the most well known being Headstart.
  • The Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children (PARC) v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

    Judicial president for "ALL children have the right to a free and public education"
  • Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act

    Legislative precedent for handicapped children act of 1975. This act prevents discrimination on the basis of disability in federally funded programs.
  • Public Law 94-142

    Education for All Handicapped Children Act passed. This piece of legislation ensured free and appropriate public education for all children.
  • Larry P. v. Riles

    Children should not be labeled “handicapped” or placed into special education without adequate diagnosis that takes into account different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. This would aid in the confusion between ESL and students with learning or intellectual disabilities.
  • Board of Education v. Rowley

    "A child with disabilities is entitled to an appropriate, not an optimum, education." This interpretation shows a major setback in terms of judicial activism for students with disabilities.
  • Public Law 99-457

    Education of the Handicapped Act Amendments of 1986, extension of previous laws to give resources from birth onward
  • Americans with Disabilities Act (1990)

    Extension of Civil Rights to include persons with disabilities
  • Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)

  • No Child Left Behind (NCLB)

  • Individuals with Disabilities Act (2004)

  • American Reinvestment and Recovery Act

    In an attempt to restimulate the economy and federal programs, this act was passed to provide funds to the states under IDEA on a one time basis to improve the delivery of quality of early intervention services.
  • Every Student Succeeds Act

    ESSA demands that states improve student performance and prepare ALL students for college and careers, meaning content should be altered but no diminished for students with disabilities.
  • Javits Act- PL 100-297

    small funds given towards researching students who were academically gifted and economically disadvantaged, from culturally or linguistically different backgrounds, and those labeled twice exceptional.