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The American Asylum, At Hartford, For The Education And Instruction Of The Deaf, is located in West Hartford, Connecticut. It is the first school in the United States to open for disabled children that are deaf and hard-of-hearing. There were a total of seven students enrolled in the first year. The school was founded by Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, Dr Mason Cogswell, and Laurent Clerc and it focused on providing traditional academic instruction to the children. -
The Council for Exceptional Children is one of the largest organizations that advocates for the needs of children with disabilities. CEC main goal is to help children with disabilities to be successful and reach their full potential . CEC is dedicated to help children with disabilities through advocacy, standards, and professional development. The link to CEC website is attached down below. There they provide further information about their organization.
https://exceptionalchildren.org -
Five mothers of children who had mental retardation went to Cuyahoga, Ohio to advocate and protest for their children who were being excluded from public schools. This resulted in their children being able to be included in public schools and an opening of special education classes for their children to attend to. -
Brown V. Board of Education was a historical case. The U.S Supreme Court declared that racial segregation in public schools was injust and violated the U.S 14th amendment. This created a new beginning where white and colored children were seen as equal and able to attend the same school. -
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act is the first national law that was passed to protect individuals with disabilities. Section 504 prevents individuals with disabilities to be discriminated in schools or in the workforce. Additionally, section 504 authorizes individuals with disabilities to be able to receive equal program benefits and services as others. -
The Education for All Handicapped Children Act allowed all children with disabilities to receive a FAPE education in the public school system. Due to this act, public schools that were receiving funding had to make sure they covered the needs of children with disabilities. Children with disabilities attending public schools were required to have equal access to education and one free meal a day. -
Least Restrictive Environment became a part of the federal special education law in 1975. LRE allows children with IEP's to be included into regular classes to gain more social experiences and develop the appropriate social skills. In LRE classes students are usually accompanied and monitored by paraprofessionals and/or classroom assistants. -
The Handicapped Children's Protection Act law was signed by Ronald Regan and established in 1986. This law allowed parents to have more involvement and a say in the decision making process of their children's Individual Education Plan (IEP) -
In 1990, president George Bush signed the first civil rights law for individuals with disabilities. ADA prevents individuals with disabilities to be discriminated in different areas such as, in the workforce, transportation, communications, schools, access to state and local government services, and etc. This law allows individuals with disabilities to have the same rights as everyone else.
Here is a video that provides a further explanation of ADA:
https://youtu.be/UDXlO0QmI1o -
George W. Bush signed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in which, replaced the Education of the Handicapped Act law. IDEA's purpose is to provide children with disabilities FAPE and to provide an equal access to education as everyone else while including a LRE; and proving additional services such as, an IEP and ITP to meet their needs.The reauthorization of this law included autism and traumatic brain injury as approved disabilities into the categories.