History of Special Education Essay

There have also been landmark court cases like Brown v Board of Education and Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children v. Pennsylvania (PARC) which as a result set the wheels in motion for special education reform. The Education for Handicapped Children Act of 1975 was amended and renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education ACT (IDEA) in 1990, has had the greatest impact on special education in public schools. When the law was originally passed in 1975 it required all school districts that accepted federal funds to provide disabled students, ages 5-21, equal access to an education in the least restrictive (LRE) setting possible. Schools were to also disperse funds equally among all students and provide free of charge, the necessary

Now a days all children can get an education, it doesn’t matter if you were black, white, special, or normal. When did the school system start proving educational services for special children? Special education came about within the last 50 years.The history of special education began after World War II. In the early 20th century parents formed groups to bring special education to the public. In 1961 President Kennedy created a panel on federal aid on Mental Retardation. Several court decisions giving states the responsibility to provide special education resources and schooling to special children, in the early 1970. One of the first acts was the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which guaranteed civil rights to all disabled people and required

The IDEA or the Individuals with Education Improvement Act of 2004 was instituted by the Senate and House of Representatives in the United States Congress. This act is a precedent for persons with disabilities. Before this act, the needs of children with disabilities were being under met. In order to improve the state of where the educational system and related services were for children with disabilities, the federal government along with the local and state agencies has coordinated in order to provide appropriate education for children with special needs. A student with a disability has a federally protected right to a free and appropriate education and related services in a least restrictive environment. As a result of this act, each state is federally mandated to abide by the IDEA. Each state

Special education is a relatively new concept in education. The question is why? Although, the Federal Government required all children to attend school since 1918, this did not apply to students with disabilities. Many state laws gave school districts the ability to deny access to individuals they deem “uneducable.” The term “uneducable” varied from state to state, school to school, and even individual to individual. If students were accepted into the school, they were placed in regular classrooms with their peers with no support or in classrooms that were not appropriate to meet their needs. This started to change with the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s. The lawsuit Brown vs the Board of Education sued to end segregation of public schools laid the ground work for Individuals with Disabilities Act. The next major impact in education was the enactment of Elementary and Secondary Act signed into effect by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965. The purpose of this law was to provide fair and equal access to education for all, established higher standards, and mandated funds for professional development, resources for support education programs, and parent involvement. Under this law, programs like Head Start were created and celebrated their 50th anniversary this year. Despite additional federal funds and mandatory laws, children with disabilities were unserved or underserved by public school due to loop holes with in the law. Many more lawsuit followed Brown vs

It was revised and renamed in the 90’s. It was now named the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA in 1997. This act afforded many more rights and regulations to those with special needs and those that provided these services. While the basic premise of the original act was included, IDEA expanded, improved and outlined more specifically the duties of the service providers. Parents gained many new rights as well. They now were to attend all meetings pertaining to their child’s education and were allowed any and all documentation rather than only the relevant documents (ERIC, 1998). Students were to have measurable goals and participate in standardized testing. Not only are the needs of the student through to the age of twenty one within the educational system considered, but now, there are transition plans required to help students move from school to their adult life or college and beyond. Schools now have a specific plan for each student called the Individual Education Plan or IEP. And IEP often takes the talents of many service providers and thus a team is assembled (ERIC, 1998). Another really amazing part of IDEA is in the area of discipline. Students are not to be denied ongoing services due to behavior (ERIC, 1998). However, if the behavior was not determined to be related to their disability, the school is allowed to discipline the student in the same manner as a student without a disability. IDEA

The Public Law 94-142 is the landmark legislation that affected special education. Public Law 94-142 changed its legislative title which resulted from the enactment of Public 101-476 on October 30, 1990, to The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). IDEA is also known as the "Bill of Rights" for children with exceptionalities and their families. This law is the most important pieces of the federal legislation ever passed on behalf of children with special needs.

Following the early 1980s, litigation and court decisions had set the stage for additional special education laws to the Education of All Handicapped Children Act (EAHCA) which was subsequently reauthorized as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This assisted the primary confirmation of Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) to every student by covering educational costs before to after children reach school age such as the needs of children with disabilities birth from early intervention services to lessen the potential for delays. It continued to extend for most students with disabilities that had formerly been, “provided services within small classroom setting, and taught by specially trained teachers who focused on adapting instruction to each student’s needs…Students receiving special education services [and a multidisciplinary] were increasingly being mainstreamed (taught, to the fullest extent possible, in a regular classroom setting)” (Dunlap, 2009, p. 9). Two rulings (Roncker v Walter and Daniel R. R. v. State Board of Education) were comparable by addressing the issue of carrying educational services to the kid set against the opposite manner by the principle of portability,

In 1975, congress enacted the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (Kritzer, 2012, p. 53), which was later renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is a federal law that mandates special education for children with disabilities. IDEA requires public schools to provide students with disabilities a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment (LRE). LRE requires school districts to educate students with disabilities in the regular classroom with appropriate supports to the maximum extent possible. The adoption and implementation of IDEA was a huge step towards educating all children with disabilities in the United States.

“Disability is a natural part of the human experience and in no way diminishes the right of individuals to participate in or contribute to society. Improving education results for children with disabilities is an essential element of our national policy of ensuring equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency for individuals with disabilities.” (Department of Education, nd.).

Special Education is a topic of controversy with many advocates fighting for the justice children and adults with special needs so rightfully deserve. With laws being passed and modified so frequently, it is important that the educators being brought into the world have an extensive knowledge of the developmental needs of many different types of children. With this knowledge and their constant measures to keep up to date with the fast-moving world of education, they will be able to deliver an appropriate atmosphere that is in accordance with the law that ensures ethical practices and guidelines are always being followed.

On December 3, 2004, President Bush signed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004. This Act is also known as Public Law 108-446. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is the law that secures special education services for children with disabilities from the time they are born until they graduate from high school. The law was re-authorized by Congress in 2004. This re-authorization has driven a series of changes in the way special education services are executed. These changes are continuing today and they affect special education and related services across the United States.

Special education is a fairly new part of the public school system. Promotion for it started in the early 1900’s; parents came together to form groups to show the public that children with disabilities have educational needs too. Eventually these groups became noticed. “In 1961, John F. Kennedy

“In 2011 according to the National Center for Education Statistics 13 percent of the total number of enrollment in the public school were receiving federally supported special education programs”. (National Center for Education Statistics) The goal of special education is for all students with or without a disability to be educated in the least restrictive environment. It is the common belief that special needs students should be placed in the general education classroom with their non-disabled peers a term called inclusion. Inclusion hasn’t come easy! There has been several court cases fought that have provided special needs students access to a free appropriate education in the least restrictive environment.

The importance of education for all children, especially for those with disability and with limited social and economic opportunities, is indisputable. Indeed, the special education system allowed children with disability increased access to public education. Apart from that, the special education system has provided for them an effective framework for their education, and for the institutions involved to identify children with disability sooner. In turn, this promotes greater inclusion of children with disability alongside their nondisabled peers. In spite of these advances however, many obstacles remain, including delays in providing services for children with disability, as well as regulatory and

There are some significant laws that influenced the development of special education in China. Special education schools emerged in the late 19th century with special schools that served those who were blind and deaf (Deng, Poon-McBrayer & Farnsworth, 2001, p. 289-290). “Education for individual with mental retardation or other disabilities was nonexistent” (Deng et al., p. 289-290). The foundation of the People’s Republic of China established in 1949 is often considered the actual start of special education services in China. From the 1950’s to 1980’s, the Chinese modeled their special schools after the Soviet Union’s (Deng et al., p. 290). In 1959, “the first school for students with mental retardation was established” however, the school was forced to close four years later and did not resume until 1979 (Deng et al., p. 290).