Special Education

Special Education

Introduction

The article “Education for all Handicapped Children Act” by the 38th President of the United States, Gerald R. Ford has been referred. It discusses the education of emotionally, mentally, and physically handicapped children in the United States; and the way education was provided by state-run schools, private schooling, private tutoring, and institutionalization.

Summary of the Article

Several schools for the deaf and blind opened in the 19th century throughout the United States, and the first such school formed especially for the blind was Perkins School, founded in 1829. During this time, one major issue was that students with conditions such as genetic conditions, developmental disabilities, and anything that hampered or prevented walking were wither kept at home, institutionalized, or ignored. It was Maria Montessori who started to cater to the needs of such students in 1907 by opening up a school to teach mentally retarded students. Her ability to teach such students was admired by many several people who then began opening up their own institute to provide education to special students (Ford, 1975).

As time passes, people started to understand the importance of providing education to special children and the term 'handicapped' was replaced by 'special'. In this way, the importance of such children increased. However, there was no policy which gave special attention to such students. Subsequently, in 1996, as part of Title VI of ESEA (Elementary and Secondary Schools Act), the US government established the Bureau of Education of the Handicapped. As a result Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) started to be provided by the government to special students requiring attention. This policy also led several states to pass laws which required states to remove barriers to students with processing and emotional disabilities, and those in wheelchairs.

The understanding of learning disabilities such as neurological and behavioral disorders, language and speech disorders, auditory processing disorder, attention deficit disorder, and dyslexia improved. This improvement in understanding gave student's access to FAPE as well as treatment and diagnosis. Students with classical mental and physical disabilities were also given special attention.

The policy of 1966 was not definite, as a result of which state and local governments, smaller appropriations, and government agencies passed a mixture of measures. Due to the details of the legislation not being clear, it was often challenged in the court; however, due to continuous changes in the policies it was difficult to approach the issues. The ...