CHAPTER 2: HISTORICAL, PHILOSOPHICAL, THEORETICAL, AND LEGAL FOUNDATIONS OF

SPECIAL AND INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

I. MODELS OF DISABILITY

A. The Moral/Religious Model

 Era of extermination
 Sees disability as either a blessing or a curse.
 Disability as a type of mystical narrative

B. The Biomedical/Individual Model

 Era of asylum
 Considers disability as a “glitch” the PWD is born into, which needs assessment
and fixing.

C. The Functional/Rehabilitation Model

 Sees the PWD as having deficits that justify the need to undergo rehabilitative
intervention such as therapies, counseling, and the like in the aim of reintegrating
the disabled into society.

D. The Social Model

 Era of ridicule
 Became society’s reaction to how the biomedical perspective viewed disability.
 Disability is a social construct, where standards and limitations that society
places on specific groups of people are what disable a person.
 Impairment is seen as “any loss or abnormality of psychological or anatomical
structure or function” while Disability refers to “any restriction or lack (resulting
from an impairment) of ability to perform an activity in the manner or within the
range considered normal for a human being”.

E. Rights-Based Model and Twin Track Approach

 Rights-Based Model “moves beyond explanation, offering a theoretical
framework for disability policy that emphasizes the human dignity of PWDs.”
 Four key actors directly involved in such a model:
1). the government as duty-bearers
2). the child as the rights-holder
3). the parents not only as duty-bearers but also as representatives of
the child
4). the teachers, both as rights-holders and duty-bearers
 Twin Track Approach “combines the social model and rights-based model”.

 Individuals who device ways to deliver educations to those with disabilities:

o Pedro Ponce de Leon (1578) – who provided education to deaf children from nobility.
o Abbe Charles Michel de l’Epee (1960) – who put up an institute for the deaf.
o Louis Braille (1829) – who invented the Braille script to allow the blind to read.

A Timeline of Events, Persons, and Ideas that Shaped the Early History of Special and Inclusive
Education

 Mid-1700s
- Joseph Pereire showed interest in a group of individuals called “deafmutes”.
- Jean Marc Itard was known for his work on intellectual disability.
 Early 1800s
- Samuel Gridley Howe was known for his work with blind individuals at the Perkins School for
the Blind in Boston.
- Thomas Gallaudet put up a school for the deaf in Hartford, Connecticut.
- Edouard Seguin, Itard’s student, focused on teaching individuals with intellectual disability.
 Early 20th Century
- Maria Montessori developed techniques and materials that can be used to teach learners with
intellectual disability.
- Grace Fernald developed techniques for providing remedial education in reading.
 1920s to 1940s
- Henry Goddard published a famous study on the Kallikak family (Feeblemindedness: Its
Causes and Consequences, (1914)).
- Alfred Strauss and Heinz Werner (1940s) became instrumental in special education,
especially in the field of learning disabilities through their research on the neurological basis
of learning disabilities.
 1950s to 1970s
- Head Start program.
- Samuel Kirk, who coined the term “learning disabilities”.
- Marianne Frostig, Newell Kephart, and William Cruickshank, who all contributed in the
progress of special education.
 1970s and beyond
- Special education started to be recognized as a formal and identifiable profession.