Special Advancements : The Advancements Of Special Education

The two important court rulings were the Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children v. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1971 and Mills vs. The Board of Education of the District of Columbia in 1972 (ERIC Clearinghouse, 1998). These court decisions showed that “the responsibility of States and local school districts to educate individuals with disabilities is derived from the equal protection law of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.”(ERIC Clearinghouse, 1998, n.p.)

Throughout the ages, people with disabilities have been hidden away at homes or institutions and were often not educated. This was common practice and as such, when the education system was designed, children with disabilities were not even considered. Then, starting soon after the civil rights movement in the 50’s, a series of lawsuits was brought against school boards and the federal government took notice. Then the Education for all Handicapped Children Act of 1975 was passed and these children were finally allowed the education they deserved. As time went

1940’s, 1950’s and 1960’s, there was change in society’s attitudes toward people with disabilities. In the 1940s, children with learning disabilities were shown to be different from children who were disabled by researchers such as Alfred Strauss. In the Brown vs. Board of education court case in 1954, led the way to a growing understanding that all people, regardless of race, gender, or disability, have a right to public education. In 1960s, Samuel Kirk began to use the term specific learning disabilities to differentiate students with learning disabilities from the much larger group of students who were low achievers or mentally disabled. In 1960s,

When children with disabilities were denied access from the public school system, they were taught separately from the general population and were placed in isolated special education

The case of Brown v. Board of Education (1954), found that education was an important function. The courts viewed education as playing an important role in the future of the United States and since states chose to provide it, education then is a right that must be available to all on equal terms ( (Murdick, Gartin, & Fowler, 2014). The question of equal terms has been an uphill battle for families that have children with disabilities. There were many acts that addressed educational issues of children with disabilities. The elementary and Secondary Act of 1965 was created to improve education for children that were disadvantaged and it expanded funding. 1974 Education of the Handicapped

In the early 1970’s parents of students with disabilities went to federal court when their local school districts did not provide services to meet their children’s educational needs. In Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Citizens (PARC) v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (1971), a Pennsylvania court ruled that all children, regardless of disability, have a basic right to an education under the Fourteenth Amendment. In Mills v. Board of Education of the District of Columbia (1972), a federal court ruled that the District of Columbia schools could not exclude children with disabilities from the public schools. Cases like this focused public attention on the issue of educating children with disabilities. The social and political pressure then resulted in landmark federal legislation to address the educational rights of these children.

Today’s society is different in its thinking when dealing with people with disabilities. There had to be many changes made in its labeling, and approach when dealing with people who may have physical/mental differences. The ostracize behavior that people were known to disturb in society has changed a great deal, due to the many federal laws that have been put in place to insure the well-being of people that have disabilities. In 1972, one very well-known case is Mill vs Board of Education of the District of Columbia this case address how the constituted rights of students were not being meet by not providing them with a public education.” Many disabled children had been excluded from public education prior to 1975,24 Congress, through the Act, sought initially to set up a process by which states would find children in need of educational services and bring them into the system”(Kotler, p.491,2014).

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEIA) mandates that “to the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities, including children in public or private institutions or other care facilities, are educated with children who are not disabled”, and stipulates that “special classes, separate schools, or other removal of children with disabilities from the regular educational environment occurs only when the nature or severity of the disability of a child is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily” (IDEIA, P.L. 108-446 [Sec. 612 (a)(5)(A)], 2004). Likewise, the No Child Left

Evaluation: In early 1970, children with learning disabilities were treated much differently than the peers that were at appropriate grade level. In this student’s case, the school system segregated the special needs students placing them in special classroom and labeled them as “slow learners”. With the teachers and school administration lack of knowledge on helping students with disabilities, students were at a disadvantage in receiving a fair education. Children felt as

The article I read discussed providing more substantial benefits to servicing students across the country with disabilities. The article writes, “the Supreme Court on Wednesday unanimously raised the bar for the educational benefits owed to millions of children with disabilities in one of the most significant special-education cases¬ to reach the high court in dec¬ades (Brown & Marimow, 2017).” However, “the court did not raise the bar as far as some advocates had hoped, to call for ‘substantially equal’ opportunities for students with disabilities… (Brown & Marimow, 2017).” The article also mentioned a major case in fighting for the rights of a student with disabilities to “a ‘free appropriate public education’ (Brown & Marimow, 2017).” The case involves a young boy

In the late 1960’s and early 1970s, litigation began to establish the right to appropriate education services and placement bias protections for individuals ages 3 to 21 (Reschly, 2013). During this time, placement litigation, in particular, was focusing on the overrepresentation of racial minority students in educable mental retardation (EMR), or special education programs, with allegations of “inappropriate assessments, use of biased instruments, and excessive reliance on intelligence testing” (Reschly, 2013, p. 200).

People with disabilities have long suffered from discrimination and segregation. In the 1880, people with hearing, visual, physical, mental or emotional impairments were sent to be educated in residential institutions or asylums. ("Issues about Change) Parents and family of those with disabilities put pressure on our government and legislation to develop and provide equal access to education by way of mainstreaming or special education. Section 504 of Public Law 93-112 passed in 1973 had far reaching effect on exclusion and discrimination. (Gollnick and Chinn p. 168) This law did for those with disabilities that Title IX did for females and education; it provided access and participation in regular education and extracurricular

The idea of children with disabilities, whether they be mild or severe has been a very controversial and misunderstood topic. In the past inclusion has brought about huge changes for not only the students, but also the parents and families of these children, and staff at schools. Teachers and education professionals were the first to really feel the wrath and intimidation of this dramatic shift in education. There were several different factors that were coming about that made it very difficult for schools and teachers, the unorganized mandates were strict and didn’t allow much time for change. “President Gerald Ford signed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EAHCA) into law in 1975. Since the original passage of the EAHCA, the law has been amended four times and renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)” (Conroy, Yell, Katsiyannis, & Collins, 2010, para.1).

For most of our nation's history, children with special needs or disabilities were shunted aside. In spite of mandated education laws that had been in place since 1918, many students were denied education and

The importance of education for all children, especially for those with disability and with limited social and economic opportunities, is indisputable. Indeed, the special education system allowed children with disability increased access to public education. Apart from that, the special education system has provided for them an effective framework for their education, and for the institutions involved to identify children with disability sooner. In turn, this promotes greater inclusion of children with disability alongside their nondisabled peers. In spite of these advances however, many obstacles remain, including delays in providing services for children with disability, as well as regulatory and