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Jan 1, 1000
Ancient History
2500 BC ~ Ancient Cultures believed that it was a punishment from God if someone had a mental disability.
384-322BC ~ Aristotle declared a law in which all people with mental retardation should be killed. -
Jan 1, 1377
Bedlum
The first Institution was build in Europe for people with mental illnesses. Bedlum was build because theold house that housed them before was too close to the palace.
People would visit Bedlum, not to see the people, but to laugh at their behavior until the 1770's. -
Jean Marc Gaspard Itard
Jean Marc Gaspard Itard took care of a lost boy, who he found in the woods. He documented his teachings with the boy, who was thought to be unable to be eduacted. Itard proved society wrong, and is now thought of as the father of special education. -
Institutions
For many years in America, the treatment of people with mental disabilites was cruel. They were placed in intitutions. Places in which people were ignored, neglected, and treated as though they were not really people. -
First School for People with ID
Edouard Seguin helped open the first school in Pennsylvania for people with mental retardation. -
First Public School Classroom for Children with ID
The opening of a classroom for children with MR/ID began the movement for the special education in Providence, RI. -
National Association for Retarded Children
Parents of children with MR/ID formed the National Association for Retarded Children, which is now known as ARC to insure the rights for children with MR/ID. -
Closing of Instituitions
In the 1970's, institutions began closing and releasing the people due to the horrible living conditions. The civil rights movement for people with disabilities began. -
AAMR Definition
American Association on Mental Retardation stated that the definition of metal retardation is "significantly subaverage general intellectual fundtioning existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during that developmental period that adversely affects a child's educational performace" (Heward, 2009. pg. 132). -
Education in the past
People with MR are classified into different levels based on their IQ scores.
Mild ~ 50-70 IQ
Moderate ~ 35-50 IQ
Severe ~ 20 - 35 IQ
Profound ~ below 20 IQ
In the past, schools would label children with MR as either "educable metally retarded" or "trainable mentally retarded" (Heward, 2009. pg. 133). Children who were labeled in the servere or profound MR capabilities were not educated in the public school system. (Heward, 2009. pg. 133). -
AAMR definition
AAMR stated a revised definition of MR. Stating that IQ scores were important in justifying if someone has MR and the importance of social interaction. -
AAMR name change
AAMR changed its name to American Association on Intellectual Disabilities (AAID). The thoughts on the change from MR to ID were that it sounds less offensive.
