SPECIAL EDUCATION

Special Education



History of Special Education

Introduction

The birth of special education is marked only in the last 50 years. Understanding the history about special education in the United States will facilitate people in understanding where the industry of special education stood in the past and where it stood now. Special Education is “specially “designed instruction to meet the unique needs and abilities of exceptional students. The field of Special Education is quite new because in past people who had any form of disabilities were usually sent to asylums, hospitals, or some other institution which offered insignificant amount of education, if any (www.alleducationschools.com).

History of Special Education

Regardless of plenty of available special education programs and resources and programs in this modern era, it will be astonishing to know that most of the developments coming in the field of special education are not older than 50 years (Beyer, 1989).

But in 1776, the time when United States was not established, not much work was done to bring advancements in the rights of students who were disabled. An example of this can be witnessed by the fact that nearly; 4.5 million children were deprived of adequate schooling till the time proper legislation was announced to ascertain that special children receive the same level of education as any normal child did. These legislations were announced in 1770s marking that era as the dark period in the history of special education. However, since the time the legislation for special children was announced, a stable flow of commands, laws and resolutions brought such opportunities for special children which were not available prior to the announcement. Of the outcomes of these legislations, the foundation of an individualized and quality education in an acknowledging yet a limitless environment enabled the disabled students to live independently. All of these results were obtained with years of hard work, advocacy and devotion, which provided a helping hand in building a rich selection of programs and resources for special in the United States (www.learningrx.com).

Discussion

The Commencement of Special Education

The grass root level of the beginning of special education is marked in 1933. A group of parents whose children were disregarded for education started an advocacy campaign in 1933. Most of these family associations started to raise their voice in 1950s, which led to the formulation of laws, as a result of lobbying of these parents associations. These laws encouraged the training for those teachers who did efforts with hard-of-hearing, deaf, or mentally disabled students. A number of laws were approved in 1960s, which also provided funds for educating children with disabilities (Eigenbrood, 2004).

The Authority of States in Special Education

During the period of early 1970s, a number of milestone court decisions which made it mandatory for states to offer resources for special education and schooling to children regardless of their disabilities. These decisions changed the entire history of special education of the United Sates. Recently, local and state institutions make approximately 91 percent of the funding required for special education; whereas, the federal government looks after the ...