Special Education

Brief History of Special Education in the United States

In the 19th century, the federal government created special schools for children who were mentally ill, blind, or deaf. Little progress in special education occurred until the 20th century when the return of disabled veterans from World Wars I and II brought the existence and needs of people with disabilities into the public eye. In 1954 the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education made racial segregation in schools illegal. This set the stage for the Civil Rights Movement and recognition of the need to protect the civil rights of other groups who had suffered discrimination, including individuals with disabilities. It is now estimated that at the time of the Brown case half of children with disabilities did not receive appropriate educational services, including those in general education programs whose disabilities were undetected. One million children with disabilities had been entirely excluded from the public school system because of their disabilities, including children with problem behavior, mental retardation, and severe multiple disabilities.

[Page 522]The rights of children with disabilities to an education in the public schools were initially recognized in federal legislation in 1966 and 1970 that was intended to spur the states to develop special education programs and train teachers. During the early 1970s, two important civil action court cases helped to define the scope of educational services for students with disabilities. These were Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children (PARC) v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Mills v. D.C. Board of Education. In these cases, the courts ruled that a free public education was the right of students with mental retardation and other disabilities. The schools involved in these decisions recognized that students with disabilities, including mental retardation, could be educated and trained to higher levels of self-sufficiency. They objected to the difficulty and cost of providing such an education.

In 1975, as a result of these court decisions and dissatisfaction with the progress made by the individual states, the United States Congress passed the previously mentioned IDEA (Public Law 94–142), which was the first comprehensive federal legislation to describe the procedures for identifying and educating students with disabilities. IDEA requires that a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) be made available to all children with disabilities from the ages of 3 to 21 years, including special education and related services such as transportation or counseling.

The IDEA, together with section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), provides a powerful set of guidelines and regulations to ensure that students with disabilities obtain access to and benefit from a public education. Section 504 and ADA are civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination and maintain access to businesses, public places, and job opportunities for all people with disabilities, including children and adolescents in schools. However, it is the IDEA that defines special education and related services throughout the United States. Because of this, the following discussion of special education will often refer directly to the definitions, guidelines, and regulations of the IDEA.

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