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History of special education in the United States.

By Rhahn

  • Rhode Island opened the first public special education class.

    Rhode Island opened the first public special education class.
    Rhode Island opened the first public special education class in the U.S. in 1896. By 1923, almost 34,000 students were in special education classes.

  • The first International Special Olympics Games.

    The first International Special Olympics Games.
    The first International Special Olympics Games were held in Chicago in 1968.
    Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ju8HFHD-cs

  • Congressional Investigation of 1972.

    Congressional Investigation of 1972.
    Congressional Investigation of 1972: In the wave of the PARC and Mills ruling, [AR1] Congress set out to uncover how many children with special education needs were being underserved. The Bureau of Education for the Handicapped found that there were 8 million children requiring special education services. Of this total, 3.9 million students adequately had their educational needs met, 2.5 million were receiving a substandard education and 1.75 million weren’t in school.

  • All Handicapped Children Act.

    All Handicapped Children Act.
    November 29, 1975: President Gerald Ford signed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, otherwise known as Public Law 94-142. This law required all states that accepted money from the federal government were required to provide equal access to education for children with disabilities.

  • Public Law 99-457

    Public Law 99-457
    October 8, 1976: Public Law 99-457 was an amendment to the All Handicapped Children Act, which mandated that individual states provide services to families of children born with disabilities from the time they are born. Previously, these services were not available until a child reached the age of three.

  • Braddock, 1987

    Braddock, 1987
    In 1798, the Fifth Congress passed the first federal law concerned with the care of persons with disabilities (Braddock, 1987). This law authorized a Marine Hospital Service to provide medical services to sick and disabled seamen.
    https://mn.gov/mnddc/parallels/four/4d/10.html

  • Handicapped Children’s Protection Act.

    Handicapped Children’s Protection Act.
    August 6, 1986: President Reagan signed the 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, or IEP.

  • Public Law 101-476.

    Public Law 101-476.
    January 1, 1990: Public Law 101-476 called for significant changes to Public Law 94-142, or the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. Traumatic brain injury and autism were added as new disability categories.

  • IDEA

    IDEA
    June 4, 1997: The Education for all Handicapped Children’s Act became the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. President Clinton reauthorized IDEA with several key amendments that emphasized providing all students with access to the same curriculum, additionally, states were given the authority to expand the “developmental delay” definition from birth through five years of age to also include students between the ages of six and nine.

  • The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA 2004).

    The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA 2004).
    December 3, 2004: Congress amended IDEA by calling for early intervention for students, greater accountability and improved educational outcomes, and raised the standards for instructors who teach special education classes. http://idea.ed.gov/