Provenzo Chapter 12

The
Education

of
Students
With
Special
Needs
If we are indeed a democracy in action and not just in name,
it is the obligation of the educational system to helpwithin reason
each and every student to become all he or she is capable of
becoming.
Education of Students

With Special Needs

Special Education
12to 15
percent of the
population:
within a
special
education
category.
 Diverse categories:
Blind and limited vision emotional disturbances
learning disabilities
Deaf and hard of developmentally
hearing disabilities
speech disabilities
physical disabilities
 The numbers:
More than 6 million U.S.
school-age children
(12%) have some type
of functional limitation.
5,237,000 (11%) have
a limitation in terms of
their ability to learn
2,743,000 (6%) have a
communication
limitation
650,000 children (1%)
limited mobility
 A right to be educated
If we are indeed a democracy in action and not
just in name, it is the obligation of the educational
system to helpwithin reasoneach and every
student to become all he or she is capable of
becoming.
Historically children with special educational needs
have been denied equal educational opportunities.
 Looking back
Middle Ages and the
Renaissance: people who
were mentally retarded or
psychologically disturbed
often considered either
divinely possessed or
controlled by demons.
Early 1600s: first
programs to teach the
deaf to communicate
using sign language.
1760: National Institute
for Deaf founded in Paris
Recognized as the first
publicly sponsored school
for the disabled.
 Victor

Jean-Marc Gaspard Itard worked with a

feral child brought to him in 1799.
Named the young man Victor.
First example of a systematic attempt
by an educator to meet the particular
needs of a special person and to help
him develop as fully and completely
as possible.
http://www.mncdd.org/parallels/three/4.html
 Pioneers
1800s: French educator Edouard Sequin
developed a system for treating mentally
retarded people that emphasized clinical
observation and the development of
sensory and motor skills.
Sequins work was influential on such
people as Maria Montessori.
Samuel G. Howe (1801-1876) started the
first school for the blind in the U.S.
Thomas H. Galludet (1787-1851)
organized the first school for the deaf in
the U.S.
Louis Braille (1809-1852) developed the
system of writing that enables the blind
to see by touch.
 Changes in attitudes
Significant changes in attitudes
toward special education began in
the early 1960s.
1961: President John F. Kennedy
appointed a special committee on
mental retardation.
As a result, laws were passed that
allocated funds for training experts
in special education.
1967: Bureau of the Handicapped
was established by the United
States Office of Education to
administer research, education, and
training programs in special
education.
 Legislation
The Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973
Only half of the children identified as disabled in the early 1970s
had access to educational programs appropriate to their needs.
Congress made major provisions to guarantee and protect the
rights of disabled people.
No otherwise qualified handicapped individual in the U.S. shall
solely by reason of his handicap, be excluded from the
participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to
discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal
financial assistance.
Public Law 94-142
Passed and signed into law by President Gerald Ford in
November, 1975.
Key point: requirement that every child be provided with a free
appropriate public education.
Among the most controversial conditions of PL 94-142 is the
provision that children with disabilities be educated with
nondisabled children whenever possiblea process that came to
be known as mainstreaming or currently inclusion.
Reauthorized in 1990 as the Individual with Disabilities Education
Act of 1990 (IDEA).
Key to interpreting Public Law 94-142 and IDEA has been the
policy of placing students with special needs into the least
restrictive environment possible.
 Equal Access and the
Student with Special Needs
The passage of PL 94-142
has forced local school
systems to reevaluate
their physical plans in
light of the needs of
special students.
Until the passage of the
law in 1975 most facilities
were designed exclusively
for the nondisabled.
 Identifying Individuals with
Special Needs
At the beginning of the 20th century, it was widely
assumed that measuring an individuals
intelligence was possible.
Alfred Binet thought that human intelligence could
be precisely measured.
In 1904 Binet was asked by the French government
to produce a measurement system that would
identify children who could not work in classrooms
at the same level as normal children.
Binet produced a version of his test in 1908 that
measured the mental age of the child, later called
intelligence quota (IQ)
Binet felt that his test should provide a general
guide to identifying the special needs of students.
He did not feel that intelligence could be captured
with a single number or measurement.
In many instances mental testing has proved highly
discriminatory and has been used for purposes that
were not always in the best interest of the
individual.
 Discussion Questions

What is an appropriate education for a student with

special needs?

What are the arguments for and against inclusion of

students with special needs into regular classrooms?

Why has interest in the needs of special students in

the United States increased since the 1960s?