Evolution of Special Education: Pre-1950s to Present

Introduction

Special education has undergone tremendous evolution since its inception. To effectively understand the current state of special education in public schools, it is necessary to consider the full trajectory of the field and how perspectives on it have developed over the years. The first special education programs targeted "at-risk" children who primarily resided in urban slums and ghettos after public education was made compulsory in the United States. These programs taught manual skills such as carpentry or metalwork, while others focused on teaching moral lessons to minorities. Later, special education began to focus more on children with disabilities.

Although students with physical and mental disabilities existed in the nineteenth century, making specific provisions for the inherent challenges these students faced did not become a common educational priority until the 1940s. Since that time, understanding of the needs of children with physical and mental disabilities has gone through rapid evolution as the effectiveness of special education improved relative to those needs. This analysis examines the state of special education from before the 1950s to the present, highlighting some of the most significant achievements the field has made.

Early Origins of Special Education

The early development of special education can be traced back to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The focus was not so much on education itself; rather, it was considered more of an effort to make social provisions for "defective" children, as they were perceived at the time. There was an effort to remove these students from the emerging public schooling systems so that so-called "normal" children could focus on their studies. There was also a prevailing notion that disabled children could best be helped by an emerging specialist class that could better accommodate their specific needs than the traditional classroom could.

As one scholar notes, "The development of special education in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was linked to a number of complex factors, not least of which was the emergent and sometimes competing professionalism of teachers and doctors and psychologists and a growth of official interest in the health of schoolchildren" (Armstrong, 2002). The first classrooms for disabled children in England, for example, were introduced with the opening of a special class for deaf children by the London School Board in 1874, followed by the 1893 Elementary Education (Blind and Deaf Children) Act (Armstrong, 2002).

The public education system in the United States emerged from reasoning that many people are unfamiliar with. It was driven less by egalitarian or liberal values and more by an opportunity to impose a degree of social control. However, the social control that was instituted was focused on teaching common values that included self-discipline and tolerance for other ethnic groups. Since the U.S. population was so heavily diversified by ethnic background, religious beliefs, and other differences, these groups needed to learn to live together in relative harmony, and teaching children to value tolerance was seen as an effective means of spreading these values throughout the population.

It was in this environment that the first special education programs specializing in certain disabilities appeared in the educational system. The first specialized programs targeted specific disabilities, such as blindness or deafness, and were generally private institutions. These programs were relatively rare and difficult for parents to both afford and access. It was not until the civil rights movement in the United States, originating in the mid-twentieth century, that advocates began demanding children with disabilities be provided a free and "appropriate" education (Aron & Loprest, 2012). Furthermore, provisions were also cited calling on students to be taught in the "least restrictive" setting.

Mid-Twentieth Century Reforms

The mid-twentieth century led to a period in which there were major evolutions in the quality and outcomes of special education programs. Researchers note that the three biggest changes to special education include (Lloyd & Lloyd, 2015):

1. Deinstitutionalization
2. Provisions of legal protections for individuals with disabilities
3. An emphasis on evidence-based practices

Before this revolution in special education, students were institutionalized in dormitory settings and separated from the rest of the student population. Through a series of reforms that largely grew out of the negative publicity associated with the living conditions in these facilities, the United States went through a period of deinstitutionalization in which special education students were placed into more normalized environments.

Conclusion

In the early days of compulsory education for the general population in the United States, there were little if any provisions for children with special needs. Even after schools began to focus on children with specific disabilities, these institutions were private schools that were typically expensive and difficult for most families to access. When special education first began to play a more mainstream role in society and became publicly funded, the early programs institutionalized these children in often less than desirable living conditions.

Three main evolutions were identified in special education. During the mid-twentieth century, largely because of exposure to the unsuitable living conditions in those institutions, special education began to deinstitutionalize. This was followed by court cases that established legal precedents for children with special needs, affording them significant legal rights to access public education. These two social phenomena set the stage for better practices to be developed, which significantly improved the quality of care and educational experiences these children received. Researchers have been able to identify evidence-based practices that have been subjected to rigorous testing and shown to be appropriate for children with special needs. Because of the efforts of many individuals and institutions over the past century, children with special needs now have greater opportunity and access to an appropriate education than ever before.

References

Armstrong, F. (2002). The historical development of special education: Humanitarian rationality or 'wild profusion of entangled events'? History of Education, 437–456.

Aron, L., & Loprest, P. (2012). Disability and the education system. Future of Children, 97–122.

Lloyd, J., & Lloyd, P. (2015). Reinforcing success: What special education could learn from its earlier accomplishments. Remedial and Special Education, 77–82.

Seave, P. (2011). Evidence-based practices reduce juvenile recidivism: Can state government effectively promote implementation among probation departments? American Journal of Community Psychology, 138–140.

Spaulding, L. (2009). Best practices and interventions in special education. Teaching Exceptional Children Plus, 1–13.