Evolution of Special Education: Pre-1950s to Present
Special Education Evolutions
Special reduction has made tremendous evolutions since its inception. To effectively understand the current state of special education in public education, it is necessary to consider the full trajectory and how the perspectives on special education have developed over the years. The first special education programs were target at "at risk" children who primarily resided in urban slums and ghettos after a public education was made compulsory in the United States. They taught manual skills such as carpentry or metal work while other programs focused on teaching moral lessons to minorities. Later, special education began to focus more on children with disabilities. Although there were students that had physical and mental disabilities in the nineteenth century, making specific provisions for the inherent challenges that these students faced did not became a common educational priority until the 1940s. Since this time, the understanding of the needs of children with physical and mental disabilities has gone through rapid evolutions as the effectiveness of special education has improved relative to these needs. This analysis will look at the state of special education before the 1950s to the present to point out some of the achievements that this field of education has made.
Special Education Evolutions
The early development of special education can be traced back to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The focus of special education was not so much on education however; instead it considered more of an effort to make social provisions for "defective" children as they were perceived at the time. There was an effort to remove these students from the emerging public schooling systems so that so-called "normal" children could focus on their studies. There was also the notion present that disabled children could best be helped by the emerging specialist class that could better accommodate their specific weaknesses better than the traditional classroom.
"The development of special education in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was linked to a number of complex factors, not least of which was the emergent and sometimes competing professionalism of teachers and doctors and psychologists and a growth of official interest in the health...
It is also worth noting that the evolving nature of special education can be attributed to the cultural changes, family values, and civilizations taking place. Research attitudes towards people with special educational needs exhibit considerable variation as one move from one culture to the other. Findings show that people of different culture may perceive the similar conditions differently. For instance, Yoruba perceived that albinism as a punishment from God (Wilson,
S. Office of Education (Osgood 1999). Each federal act preceding the Education for All Handicapped Children Act freed up funds for special education training programs and for special education programs themselves. Moreover, the legislation raised awareness about the breadth and diversity of the disabled community and helped to reduce stigma. President Johnson followed well in the footsteps of his predecessor by establishing the Committee on Mental Retardation and helping to pass
Special EducationPart 1I have chosen Kate from among the students described in the case to complete this part. Kate is an 11th grader with moderate bilateral hearing loss (i.e., asymmetrical or symmetrical loss of hearing in both her ears). She barely scrapes through exams and has ceased to use personal amplification at school. She had already ceased using her FM system during her middle school days when she started cycling
country's public schools are experiencing dwindling state education budgets and increased unfunded mandates from the federal government, the search for optimal approaches to providing high quality educational services for students with learning disabilities has assumed new importance and relevance. In an attempt to satisfy the mandates of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, a growing number of special educators agree that full inclusion is the optimal approach
African-American Children in Special Education Programs The large amount of minority children, specifically African-American children, who have ended up in special education programs for students who have learning disabilities, behavioral disabilities, emotional disabilities, or mental disabilities, has remained a very strong reality even though it has been recognized for more than 20 years (Townsend, Thomas, Witty, & Lee, 1996). After looking at many of these patterns and how often they
Pedagogic Model for Teaching of Technology to Special Education Students Almost thirty years ago, the American federal government passed an act mandating the availability of a free and appropriate public education for all handicapped children. In 1990, this act was updated and reformed as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which itself was reformed in 1997. At each step, the goal was to make education more equitable and more accessible to
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