A History of Special Education

By amyterlizzi

  • Formal Deaf Education Began in the United States.

  • Louis Braille invents the raised point alphabet.

  • Perkins Institution for the Blind opens

  • Identified Cerebral Palsy

  • Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone for the deaf

  • Council for Exceptional Children Founded

  • Signing of Social Security Act

    President Roosevelt signs the Social Security Act that would establish a permanent program in assisting adults with disabilities

  • The classification of Autism was introduced by Dr. Leo Lanner of John Hopkins University.

  • The National Association for Retarded Citizens founded

  • Brown vs Board of Education

    Laid the foundation for the 1975 federal law IDEA, requiring access to a free appropriate public education for all children with disabilities

  • First Accessibility Standard Published

    The Americans Standards Association ( ANSI) published its first accessibility title "Making Buildings Accessible to an Usable by the Physically Handicapped." In return 49 states adapt accessibility by 1973

  • President J.F. Kennedy created panel on Mental Retardation

  • Elementary and Secondary Education Act

    The ESEA did not make it law to educate students with disabilities but it did give grants to state school sand institutions that put into place programs to educate students with disabilities.

  • Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act

    Allows protection from discrimination of special needs and disabilities. Tis law is considered the first law giving protection to students with special needs. This law includes FAPE and LRE. Students are eligible when they have either a physical or mental disability that inhibits their learning experience.

  • Education for All Handicapped Children Act

    made sure that all students with disabilities are educated in public schools

  • IDEA & Least Restrictive Environment

    Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) means that with a student’s IEP they must also be in as many regular education classes as possible

  • Handicapped Children’s Protection Act

    a law that gave parents of children with disabilities more say in the development of their child’s Individual Education Plan (IEP)

  • The Fair Housing Amendments Act

    Requires that a certain number of accessible housing units be created in all new multi-family housing.

  • NCLB

    No Child Left Behind supported standards-based education reform based on the premise that setting high standards and establishing measurable goals could improve individual outcomes in education.

  • ESSA

    Every Student Succeeds Act law replaced NCLB and modified provisions relating to the standardized tests given to students