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First public school class for children with hearing impairments open in Boston
Established in 1869, the Horace Mann School for the Deaf was one of the first public day schools for the deaf in the United States. With support from the city of Boston and the state of Massachusetts, and the dedication of its faculty and school administrators, the school has continuously sought to provide a quality education to deaf students. -
Cooperative Research Act, Public Law No. 83-531
In recognition of the special educational needs of children of low-income families and the impact of local educational agencies to
support adequate educational programs, the Congress declares it to be the policy of the United States to provide financial assistance to local educational agencies serving areas of children from low-income families to expand/improve their educational programs by various means which contribute to meet the special educational needs of educationally deprived children. -
Teachers of the Deaf Act
This act establishes a 2-year program to assist in training additional teachers for the deaf. It authorizes appropriations of $1.5 million annually to higher education institutions which are approved as training centers for teachers of the deaf. -
Mills v. Board of Education of the District of Columbia
In the Mills v. Board of Education of the District of Columbia case, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia students classified as “exceptional” – including those with mental and learning disabilities and behavioral issues. This ruling made it unlawful for the D.C. Board of Education to deny these individuals access to publicly funded educational opportunities. -
The Education for All Handicapped Children Act
In 1975, the United States voted to ensure that all children, regardless of their differences, should have access to free public school education. This law was called the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. This act helped bring federal funds into schools to help them create special education for children who did not learn the same way as general education students.
https://degree.astate.edu/articles/k-12-education/the-history-of-special-education-in-the-u-s.aspx -
Education of the Handicapped Act Amendments
Education of the Handicapped Act Amendments of 1986 (PL 99-457) is enacted; mandates a special education for pre-schoolers with disabilities and incentives for providing early intervention services to infants and toddlers -
Education of the Handicapped Act (EHA) Reformulated
The EHA was reformulated as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). IDEA elaborated on the inclusion of children with disabilities into regular classes (mainstream) and also focused on the rights of parents to be involved in the educational decisions affecting their children. Autism was added into the category. -
No Child Left Behind Act
In 2001 and 2004, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) provided further accountability to schools and added technology assistance and loan programs to help schools acquire needed special education resources. In being able to see how special-needs students’ test scores stack up against those of all their peers, teachers and parents can get an idea of how well or poorly special-education students are performing or being integrated into the general-education classroom.
https://youtu.be/0--2nhsDorg -
Reauthorization of IDEA
The reauthorization of IDEA in 2004 Congress reiterated that special education and related services should be designed to meet students’ unique needs.The use of “scientific, research-based interventions,” known as Response to Intervention (RTI) also began because of the changes in the 2004 law. RTI was presented within regulatory notes as a method to help identify students with specific learning disabilities. -
Mainstream
In 2008, IDEA reported data indicate that 5,660,491 students with disabilities were educated in general education classrooms for at least part of the day, depending on their individual secondary programs. Mainstreaming means that a school is putting children with special needs into classrooms with their peers who have no disabilities.
