Sumer - schools by 3500 B.C.   Evolution of writing and the creation of schools

Sumer, Egypt, Hwang Ho Valley in China 4000 – 3000 BC- Schooling supplemented the learning gained in the family, taught the technical skills necessary for particular vocations, reinforced social control, and sometimes provided for social renewal.

Ancient Greece - The term “idiot” was coined to refer to all people who were peculiar or different. Girls and deformed children could be exposed to die up to 8^th day after birth.

Middle Ages:  Two views – spiritual blessing/demonic curse

People with disabilities played the roles of court jesters and were used to symbolize sensuality and the relaxation of inhibitions during some religious festivals.

Mental and physical differences seen as possession by the devil and treated with exorcisms and flogging.

Asylums and monasteries cared for the mentally handicapped.

1578 - Spanish Monk - First recorded indication that a school educated people with disabilities – Pablo Ponce de Leon tutored deaf children in reading, writing, arithmetic, history, spoken and foreign languages.

1592 – Moravian Comenius pioneered the belief that education should be based on principles of child growth and development.

1745 - ParisValentin Hauy founded the first school for the blind. 

1746 – Switzerland - Pestalozzi developed lessons around children’s concrete experiences and was particularly dedicated to working with poor, hungry, and emotionally and psychologically disabled children.

1798 – Itard - First record of attempt to EDUCATE a person who was mentally handicapped. Mental “retardation” viewed as a condition that could be cured. Attempt failed but Edward Sequin founded a school for “idiots” in Paris in 1837 and later opened a training school for the retarded in the US.

Evolution from early Nation to Common Schools (1837) Education viewed as a way to meet the needs of a self-governing polity, reflect the needs of a nation with a frontier, be useful rather than classical, integrate immigrant populations

1817 – American Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb in Conn.  Deaf were among the first groups of “handicapped” children to receive special ed in the US. The first school for the deaf established in the United States.  Schools for deaf in England, France, Germany, and Scotland established in the 1700’s.

1830 - Schools for the blind were started in the United States.  Continued as residential until well into the 20^th century.  Braille developed between 1809-1852

1848 – Started by Samuel Howe who argued for the rights of the mentally retarded in a democratic society.  Given $2500 to start an institution.  First training school for the “retarded” opened in the United States.  As the institutions became over-crowded and because of a growing belief that mentally handicapped individuals were menaces (hereditarian theory of IQ popularized by Terman and Goddard, the institutions became custodial as opposed to educational.

1886 - Plessy decision supported “separate but equal” doctrine of schooling.  Based on aversion to mingling of diverse ethnicities.

1896 – Started in Providence, RI. First public school class for the mentally handicapped created.  This started the special class movement.

1900 – Chicago. First public school class for physically disabled children in the United States.

1954 - Brown vs. Board of Education argued, “education is indispensable to success in life . . . separate but equal has no place in education.”  Established right of all children to an equal opportunity to education.

1958 – PL 85-926 – National Defense Education Act - provided funds for training professionals to train teachers of the mentally retarded.

1961 – PL 87-276 – Special Education Act.  Provided funds for training professionals to train teachers of the deaf.

1963 – PL 88-164 – Mental Retarded Facility Act – provided support to train teachers of other handicapped categories .

Elementary and Secondary Act of 1965 – Principles of this act seemed to imply that the instruction of “deprived” students required unusual concessions to their academic deficits rather than the creation of educational settings based on the concept of equality.  Provided money to states and local districts for developing programs for economically disadvantaged and handicapped.

1968 – Hobson vs Hansen – Declared the tracking system which used standardized tests for placement decisions unconstitutional because discriminated against black and poor children.

1969 - PL 91-320 The Learning Disabilities Act.  Defined learning disabilities and provided funds for state-level programs for learning disabilities.  First recognition of “learning disability” as a category of exceptionality.

1970 – Diana vs. State Board of Education (California) Declared children could not be placed in special education on the basis of culturally biased tests or tests given in languages other than the child’s native language.

1971 – Mills vs Board of Education the District of Columbia established the right of every child to an equal opportunity for education; lack of funds not an acceptable excuse for lack of educational opportunity.

1971 – Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Citizens vs the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania established the right to free public education for all retarded children.

1973 - Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.  Declared that handicapped people cannot be excluded from any program or activity receiving federal funds based on the handicap alone.

1975 - 1.75 million children were entirely excluded from public education in the United States based solely on their “handicaps”.

1975 - Public Law 94-142 – The Education of All Handicapped Children Act.  Mandated free, appropriate public education for all handicapped children regardless of degree of severity of handicap. Protected rights of children and their parents in educational decision making.

IDEA