Special Education

Special education is an integral component of the public education system. It includes the collective means by which children and youth with disabilities are provided an appropriate public education. Though special education as a professional practice has existed over a century, only in the past 30 to 40 years has it assumed a position of prominence and relevance in our schools.

The history of service to persons with disabilities extends back to the eighteenth century. Early attempts at humane treatment were initiated by Philippe Pinel and his student Jean Itard in their work with the mentally ill. Their methods of treatment were widely known, accepted, and employed in both Europe and North America.

Dr. Benjamin Rush, the father of modern psychiatry, applied and extended the work of Pinel and Itard in the United States after the Revolutionary War. Rush developed the concept of moral therapy (based on Pinel's philosophy of “moral treatment”) and public education and support of children and youth with behavior problems. This was the initial suggestion that individuals with disabilities were due the same educational rights and privileges as other children.

Samuel Gridley Howe and Edward Seguin continued the growth and expansion of intervention programs for persons with disabilities in the nineteenth century. In 1832, Howe established Perkins School for the Blind in Boston and worked for the establishment by Massachusetts of the first state-supported school for persons with mental retardation in 1859. Upon the initiation of these two programs, the state of Massachusetts became the pioneer and leader in serving persons with disabilities. However, public school intervention programs became a reality only after the first compulsory attendance laws were passed in the late nineteenth century.

Seguin immigrated to the United States in 1850 to work with Howe at the Perkins School. He later worked as an administrator in state schools for the mentally retarded. Seguin's belief that persons with mental retardation were capable of meaningful learning led him to develop the first special education programs to focus on the development of self-help skills and vocational abilities.

While much of the history of special education has focused on the contributions of individual professionals, since 1950 (the date of the founding of the Association for Retarded Citizens), the field's history [Page 945]has revolved around legislation and litigation. In 1963, President John F. Kennedy signed the first federal legislation to solely address the needs of persons with disabilities: PL 88–164: The Mental Retardation Facilities and Community Mental Health Centers Construction Act. This law:

• Provided for the construction of community mental health centers
• Provided for the construction of research centers and facilities relating to mental and developmental disorders
• Provided for the training of teachers and other professionals to work with persons with disabilities
• Provided for research and demonstration projects related to the education of persons with disabilities

The prime result of this legislation was the establishment of University Affiliated Programs (UAP) at major research institutions across the nation. These UAPs conducted research and trained the professionals that significantly enhanced services to persons with disabilities.

A second legislative act that had a lasting impact on special education in the public schools was PL 93112 (Section 504): The Civil Rights Provision of the Vocational Rehabilitation Amendments of 1973. Basically, Section 504 declares that no individual can be denied access solely on the basis of a disability to any program or activity that receives federal funds. Section 504 opened the doors of vocational and trade schools for students with disabilities as well as setting the stage for mainstreaming and inclusion.

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