Special Education Timeline

By parkse
  • School!

    The first special education institution/school in the U.S. opened. It was in Hartford, Connecticut and it used to be called "American Asylum for the Education and Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb." It is now called the "American School for the Deaf."
  • Law!

    Rhode Island passes a law deeming it mandatory for every child to receive compulsory education (gov't must provide for every single child). This was not required in all states until 1918 (38 years later).
  • College!

    The Columbia Institution for the Deaf and Dumb and Blind was the first to provide college degrees for those with disabilities.
  • Beattie v. Board of Education

    Courts act in favor to uphold the ruling that students can be expelled from school simply for having a disability.
  • Cuyahoga County Ohio Council for the Retarded Child

    The first advocacy group for children with disabilities. Started with a group of 5 mothers.
  • Autism Classification

    Leo Kanner defined Autism as a psychiatric condition. A little while later (1952), he published Autism in the DSMII.
  • Brown v. Board of Education

    While this case focused on the divide between black and white students, it also brought up issues in the divide between "normal" students and "special education" students.
  • PARC v. Penn

    Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ruled that children with disabilities needed to be placed in public school settings that met their needs through evaluation.
  • Mills v. Board of Education (District of Columbia)

    Students with disabilities were classified as "exceptional" and were no longer able to be denied education because of their disability.
  • LRE

    Students must be placed in the Least Restrictive Environment. All students with disabilities may not be comfortable in a regular classroom or even in a classroom only with students with disabilities.
  • EAHCA

    The Education for all Handicapped Children Act provided funding to states to develop programs for students with disabilities. Each school receiving funding had to submit plans to prove what they were doing.
  • Board of Education of HCCD v. Rowley

    A case that helped design a test to determine whether FAPE and IEP are being met or not.
  • IDEA

    Individuals with Disabilities Act added protections to students with a variety of disabilities. In 1997, IEPs were added as a requirement.
  • ADA

    Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law by President Bush in 1990. It promises everyone the same rights, regardless of ability.
  • No Child Left Behind

    All students should be proficient in math and language arts/reading, regardless of ability- they should receive that core education.
  • Nicholas

    Close friend throughout elementary school who had extreme OCD. I remember being the only person who would play and eat lunch with him. We even had playdates.
  • "special class"

    I realized some of my classmates were pulled out of lessons at "random" times to go to a special class.
  • R Word

    I learned in mid-late elementary school that the "R word" was derogatory. I learned this because I used it after hearing my dad using it.
  • Phil

    One of my close friends in jr. high (and on) had ADHD and I helped him manage it
  • Maria

    Became friends with someone who is deaf and she helped me learn ASL and I helped her out in our theatre class