Sped history

History of Special Education

  • 1817

    1817
    Hartford CT is becomes home to the first Special Education School : American Asylum for the Education and Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb currently known as the American School of the Deaf
  • 1840

    1840
    Rhode Island passes a law mandating that the government must provide and all children must recieve an education.
  • 1870

    1870
    School for The Deaf and the School for the Blind are established to provide hearing and vision impaired students with a suitable education. Every disabled child is entitled to an appropriate education that "will meet each child's unique needs and prepare each child for further education, employment, and independent living." (20 U.S. Code 1400(d)(1)(A)
  • 1886

    1886
    American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Dissabilities is formed
  • 1918

    1918
    All states have been led by Rhode Island as it was the first to establish the compulsory education law.
  • 1939

    1939
    Cuyahoga County Court of Appeals of Ohio rules that complusory education give the state department authority to exclude certain students.
  • 1943

    1943
    Autism is introducedby Dr. Leo Kanner at John Hopkins
  • 1954

    1954
    Brown v. Board of Education rules that "separate but equal" has no place in education.
  • 1960

    1960
    States begin establishing Special Education programs
  • 1967

    1967
    Hobson V Hansen
    Students were placed into "special tracks" due to race and IQ testing.
    The court ruled against the "special tracks" according to intelligence and test scores. At the time, it was the criteria to decide whether a student would be in a general education class or a special education one.
  • 1970

    1970
    Diana v. California State Board of Education
    Nine Mexican- American students were given an IQ test in English, the only criteria which led the 9 to be placed in a classroom for students with mild cognitive dissabilities
  • 1971

    1971
    P.A.R.C. V Pennsylvania
    PARC wins against state and FAPE for every child with mental retardation from ages 6-21 is established in Pennsylvania
    PARC-Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children
    FAPE-Free and Appropriate Education
  • 1972

    1972
    Mills v District of Columbia Board of Education
    Mills files a class action suit on behalf of 18,000 disabled children stating that the children were being denied an education without due proceess.
  • 1973

    1973
    Rehabiliatation Act prohibits the exclusion of people based on disrsabilities and programs conducted and employed by Federal Govnment.
  • 1975

    1975
    Specific learning dissabilities added as category on the Education for All Handicap Children Act of 1975
  • 1979

    1979
    Larry P. v Riles -California Court rules that IQ tests could not be used as the sole basis for placing children in Special Education classes.
  • 1982

    1982
    Board of Education of the Henrick Hudson School System v Rowley
    As long as services are appropriate for the student and are provided to meet the student's needs, the schools are not required to maximize a student's potential by providing superior services.
  • 1984

    1984
    Irving Independant School District Court rules that catherization is a need that could be fulfilled by someone other than a physician and must be done for children to attend school. This decision was made after parents of a child with spina-bifida wanted to add catherizatiin to her individualized educational plan (IEP).
  • 1988

    1988
    Honig v Doe
    School administrators wanted to expell emotionally distrubed students from their district indifinitely do to repeated misbehavior.
    Court ruled that children with dissabilities could not be excluded from school for any misbehavior related to the dissability, although educational services can cease if the misbehavior is not related to the dissability
  • 1989

    1989
    Danny R.R. v State Board of Education Daniel's parents stated that the school districts failed to place him a class of non-handicapped students was a violation of the Education of the Handicapped Act (EHA) Courts ruled that the Board of Education was providing a free and appropriate education for Daniel with non-handicapped students to the maximum extent and no violation of the EHA was taking place.
  • 2001

    2001
    No Child Left Behind is established