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First school
The first school for disabled children, the American School for the Deaf was opened. -
Gallaudet University
The Columbia Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind opened Gallaudet University, the only college of its kind. -
College classes
The Columbia Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind opened its doors in Washington, DC. They offered primary education and moral training to the students in the DC area who were afflicted with blindness, the inability to speak, and deafness. -
Parent Advocacy Group
Parent advocacy groups were sad about the state of special education. The cause got its first significant attention as the “Cuyahoga Council for Retarded Citizens” was founded. -
First public school teacher
Frank Wood leaves general education to become the first public school teacher for students classified as emotionally disturbed. -
Funds to support students with disabilities
An amendment to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act provided federal funds for public education for students with disabilities. -
Parents rights
Two class-action lawsuits successfully gained ground for parents. In Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Mills v. Board of Education of the District of Columbia, parents were granted the right to be involved in educational placement decisions concerning their special needs or disabled children and also the rights to be notified of pending evaluations, placement, suspensions, and when services end. -
Rehabilitation Act
The Rehabilitation Act made it clear that people with disabilities could not be denied benefits from any program receiving federal funds. -
Education for all
The Education for All Handicapped Children Act was signed into law. -
Individualized Instruction
The court ruling for Board of Education of Hendrick Hudson Central School District v. Rowley stated that students who qualify for special education programs must be provided with individualized instruction to meet their specific needs. -
Addition to education for all
Autism and traumatic brain injuries were added to eligible disability categories for the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. -
IDEA
Amendments were made to IDEA to ensure the availability of meaningful, measurable programs for students with special needs. It also improved parents’ involvement in the development of their child’s individualized education program (IEP). -
Olmstead v L.C.
Olmstead v. L.C., the Court made essentially the same point about the institutionalization of people with disabilities, ruling that this practice amounts to a discriminatory and unjust form of segregation, in violation of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. -
No Child Left Behind
The No Child Left Behind Act improved the quality of special education programs at the state level by requiring statewide assessments and highly qualified, specially trained professionals to teach students with disabilities. While this act had some controversial provisions. -
Every Student Succeeds
A new law called the “Every Student Succeeds Act” was enacted on December 10. It replaces NCLB and eliminates some of its most controversial provisions. -
First year of college
I have a family friend who is blind and my freshman year of college I had a class with him. I helped him a lot with talking him through things. However, our teacher was great and she took a lot of extra time with him to make sure. he fully understood the course. -
Senior year of high school
In my ECE class, I went to a school and observed at fourth grade class. In that class there was a student who had autism. He would come a couple times a week into class and sit in. He had a red and green flag to signify how he was feeling that day and there was an assistant who always sat with him. -
Fourth year of college
My first year at Sonoma I worked at the Children's school and we had a student who had a low level diagnoses of autism. We worked with him a lot on our own and only once a month or so someone else would come out and work with him. -
Fifth year of college
I work with a student that has been diagnosed with autism since she was 21 months old. We have people who come by frequently to work with her but she is in our care 5 days a week and we work with her a lot at my job. -
Fifth year of college
At my work we have another young student who is in the process of being diagnosed with autism. There will be workers coming out to monitor him and try to find out what is the best path for him.