Special Education Timeline

Ancient Era

• 1552 BC First Reference to mental retardation
• In Rome children with disabilities were treated terrible
• publicly persecuted
• thrown in the Tiber River by parents
• left in the woods to die
• 4th Century Christians used Jesus' teaching people with disabilities
• Infanticide stopped
• 130-200 AD Living conditions were terrible
• Intolerance, sickness and disregard meant death or low quality of life

Middle Ages

• Roman Catholic Church provided refuge for those in need
• 787 AD Datheus, Arch Bishop of Milan founded the first asylum for abandon infants
• "Idiot Cages" were common to keep whose with disabilities
• Queen Elizabeth (1563-1601) passed a series of laws for the poor and disadvantaged

17th & 18th Century

• Locke (1632-1704) believed we were born as a clean slate and children with disabilities could not learn
• Philip Pinel (1745-1826) claimed "mentally deranged" were diseased rather than sinful or immoral
• Pinel & Turk originated the method of "moral management" using gentle treatment and patience
• Jean-Marc Gaspard Hard (1778-1838) proved that children with mental retardation could improve to some extent
• Industrial Revolution: factory owners were urged to take one "imbecile" with 20 other kids for labor

1800's

• Living conditions were poor
• People with disabilities were put in poorhouses or almshouses
• Wealthier parents kept kids with disabilities at home
• Jean-Etienne Dominique Esquire (1782-1840) Divided Intellectual Deficiency into 2 levels
• Idiocy: incapible of learning
• Imbecility: look "normal" and can learn some
• 1842 Jakob Guggenbuhl established a school for "cretins"
• 1848 Dorothea Dix addressed congress through Samuel Gridley Howe
• Congress set aside 5 million achers
• President Pierce vetoed it
• Maria Montessori worked with both kids with and without disabilities
• 1852 Hervey B Wilbur started a school for "feeble-minded"

More from the 1800's

• 1850-1890 showed an increase of mental retardation from .07% to .15%
• 1870-1880 training schools became asylums
• In asylums, inmates with mild disabilities became free labor to help care for others
• 1890 people with like disabilities should be placed together

1950's

• By 1950 Council for Retarded Children had 88 groups with 19,300 members
• They worked to create better conditions at large state facilities
• Late 1940's and 1950's Parents demanded services - "The Retarded Can Be Helped!"
• More money came but parents still faced over crowding and wait lists for institutions
• Parents wanted servies in their own community
• Parents wanted help to keep kids at home
• End of the 1950's for different reasons their was an international movement to better the lives of individuals with disabilities
• 1959 Dr. Bengt Nirji created the concept of Normal
• Normal rhythm (eat and sleep)
• Normal routine (school and work)
• Normal year (including holidays)
• Normal experiences
• Able to make choices
• Able to live in co-ed homes
• Normal economic standards
• Live and play in Normal communities

1960's

• 1946-1967 Children that were institutionalized increased at a rate nearly twice of the general population
• President John F. Kennedy and President Eisenhower help the civil rights movement that included individuals with disabilities
• 1960 Institutions for individuals looked more like hospitals
• 1964 Cost per day to help given to each individual was about half of what a zoo animal was receiving

The Future

• Seen as people first
• Experience love an friendship
• Experience continuity in their lives
• Focused on people who are important to them
• Respected
• Treated with Dignity
• Access to opportunities
• Learn skills needed to participate as much as possible
• Appropriate and quality places to live
• Contribute to the community
• Meaningful employment if possible
• Continue to learn throughout their lives