Special Education Timeline

By melsct
  • Early Pioneers -1800-1900

    Early Pioneers -1800-1900
    Jean-Marc-Gaspard Itard - Early advocate for "insane" people, worked with "the wild boy of Aveyron". Seguin - Physician and educator working with with "intellectual disabilities". Pinel - Itard's mentor who was an early advocate for humane treatment of "insane" people. Howe - physician, educator, advocate for social reform - founded residential school for the blind and deaf. Gallaudet - minister, opened first residential school for the deaf.
  • Council for Exceptional Children

    Council for Exceptional Children
    Founded by Ferrell
    Special education made a profession.
  • Parent groups become organized

    Parent groups become organized
    Parent organizations that focus on the issues of children with disabilities, providing information, support and structure.
  • Brown v Board of Education

    Brown v Board of Education
    Courts rule separate but equal unconstitutional, providing important precedent for integrated education for special education students.
  • Elementary and Secondary Education Act

    Elementary and Secondary Education Act
    Created Title I, distributing federal funding to schools with a high percentage of low income students.
  • Creation of Special Olympics

    Creation of Special Olympics
    Eunice Kennedy Shriver, worldwide advocate for rights of disabled, creates first Special Olympics.
  • The Education for All Handicapped Children Act

    The Education for All Handicapped Children Act
    Mandated that all children with disabilities receive a free public education.
  • Board of Education of Hendrick Hudson v. Rowley

    Board of Education of Hendrick Hudson v. Rowley
    Courts held that appropriate education does not necessarily mean education that will produce the maximum possible achievement.
  • Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA)

    Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA)
    Update to The Education for All Handicapped Children Act, ensuring the rights of all children to a free, appropriate, public education.
  • Americans with Disabilities Act

    Americans with Disabilities Act
    Created to guarantee the rights of disabled to receive fair treatment in all aspects of life (guarantees civil rights). The law was amended in 1997.
  • No Child Left Behind Act

    No Child Left Behind Act
    Attempt to hold schools accountable. Schools lose federal Title 1 money if students did not pass standardized testing, including children with disabilities.
  • Every Student Succeeds Act

    Every Student Succeeds Act
    Shifted responsibility for standardized testing from the Federal leval to the State level.