Special Needs Education

Early Reform Efforts

In Europe during the 1600s and 1700s, advances were made in educating individuals with disabilities (the term individuals refers to both students and adults with disabilities), including those who were deaf or blind or had intellectual disabilities such as mental retardation. These advances came to America during the 1800s and primarily in the provision of services to individuals with disabilities in institutional settings expressly designed for them. Even into the early 20th century, some educational and medical professionals continued to believe that intellectual disabilities in particular were the result of divine punishment for violating natural laws. These beliefs were based on studies (albeit scientifically flawed studies) indicating higher rates of poverty, alcoholism, criminality, and promiscuity among people with intellectual disabilities.

Ronald L. Taylor, Lydia R. Smiley, and Stephen B. Richards summarized historical trends in reform and dissent in special education pointing out that, fortunately, there were reform-minded professionals in early American history who sought to improve the quality of life of individuals with disabilities. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet cofounded the American School for the Deaf in 1816. His son, Edwin Miner Gallaudet, would become the first president of Gallaudet College (now Gallaudet University), the premier higher education institution in the United States that includes sign language in its curriculum and culture. Horace Mann was also instrumental in developing services for deaf individuals. Samuel Gridley Howe founded the New England Asylum for the Blind in 1832, which later became the Perkins School for the Blind, which is still in existence today. The Perkins School was also where Helen Keller received a portion of her education and where the Perkins Brailler was developed, still an important tool in reading and writing braille. Howe also was involved in the development of the Massachusetts School for Idiotic and Feebleminded Children in the mid-1850s. Similarly, Edouard Seguin worked at Howe's institution and developed methods of education focusing on the individual's intelligence, activity, and will. Seguin was also important in forming an association that would eventually evolve into today's American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, a professional and advocacy organization that is at the forefront of efforts to better understand and assist individuals with disabilities in obtaining a high quality of life in the mainstream of society.

While this discussion is by no means exhaustive, it illustrates that there were currents of reform in American society and culture led by professionals who believed that individuals with disabilities could and should be educated. Such educational efforts were intended to benefit both the individual and society in general.

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