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History of Special Education
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Jean-Marc Gaspard Itard
Jean-Marc Gaspard Itard (1774-1838) was a French physician and pioneer in the education of deaf persons. Between 1801 and 1805 Itard attempted to educate Victor, an 11-year-old boy found in a forest in Aveyron, south of Paris. Victor gained social, academic, and independent living skills, yet Itard felt his work with Victor was a failure because Victor was unable to learn to speak. -
Edouard Seguin
Edouard Seguin (1812-1880), a physician who studied under Itard, believed that individuals with intellectual disabilities could overcome limitations by training of the senses, via movement and sensory input. He established the world's first school for students with severe intellectual disabilities in 1839. -
Saumual Gridley Howe
Samual Gridley Howe (1801-1876) was an American physician and educator as well as the founding director of the New England Institution for the Education of the Blind, which is now known as the Perkins School for the Blind. Howe established the Massachusetts School for Idiotic and Feeble-Minded Youth in a wing at the Perkins School for the Blind. Howe is most recognized for his work with Laura Bridgeman in 1829. -
First Private School in America
Hervey B. Wilbur opened the first private school for individuals with disabilities in his home in Barre, Massachusettes. The school became the Elm Hill School. -
First Public Classes
The first public classes for the "feebleminded" began in Boston, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island. -
The Creation of Department of Special Education
In 1899 the National Education Association established a Department of Special Education, largely as a result of Alexander Grahan Bell's work of educating students who were deaf. -
Elizabeth Farrell
Elizabeth Farrell (1870-1932) is credited for teaching the first special education class in a public school. Farrell later became the Inspector of Ungraded Classes for the New York Public Schools. She became a proponent of using intelligence tests. In 1922 she began teaching at Columbia University's Teachers College and, along with her students, created the International Council for the Education of Exceptional Children (CEC). -
The National Association of Parents and Friends of Mentally Retarded Children
In 1950 groups of parents from across the country who were advocating for the rights of their children with disabilities established The National Association of Parents and Friends of Mentally Retarded Children. This Association exists today under the name of The Arc. -
Pulbic Law 86-158
The Training of Professional Personnel Act of 1959 (P.L. 85-158), provided training to teachers in order to educate students with intellectual disabilities. -
President's Panel on Mental Retardation
In 1960 President John F. Kennedy, whose sister Rosemary had an intellectual disability, established the President's Panel on Mental Retardation.
The President's Panel on Mental Retardation -
Education for All Handicapped Children Act
On November 29, 1975, Gerald Ford signed into law the Education for All Handicapped Children's Act, also known as Public Law 94-142. Among other things, P.L 94-142, provided Free Appropriate Education to students with disabilities. -
IDEA
P.L. 94-142 was renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA). It added traumatic brain injury and autism as new disability categories. It also mandated that Individual Transition Plans be developed to help students transition to post-secondary life. -
IDEA Reauthorized
IDEA was last reauthorized in 2004. The reauthorization added the definition "highly qualified" for any special education teacher meaning that teachers are required to be state-certified as a special education teacher.
