The History of Special Education in the United States

Before laws required public schooling for children with needs such as cognitive or emotional disabilities, deafness, blindness, or speech therapy, families generally had to teach their children at home or afford costly private schools.

The story of Special Education The movement gained traction in the early 1900s when parents started advocacy groups to highlight the schooling needs of children with disabilities; those groups grew stronger by mid-century. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy set up the President's Panel on Mental Retardation, which recommended that the federal government help states with funding. Then in 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, a law that provided money for primary schools and is credited by advocates with widening public school access for children with disabilities.

Even with those steps, by the 1970s only a small share of children with disabilities attended public schools. Two federal laws passed in 1975 changed that reality: the Education for All Handicapped Children Act and related legislation that laid the groundwork for broader inclusion.EHA) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The EHA establishes a right to public education for all children regardless of disability, while the IDEA requires schools provide individualized or special education for children with qualifying disabilitiesUnder the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), states that accept federal education funding are required to offer special education services to eligible children with disabilities.

IDEA defines Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) with clear rules: schools must customize instruction to each child's disability-related needs, ensure the education benefits the child, and help prepare the child for further schooling or independent living and work. The law also says children should be educated in the least restrictive environment possible and that schools must consider a student's disability when applying disciplinary measures.

Although not all children with disabilities are covered by the IDEA and EHAThese two laws have played a key role in providing free public schooling to millions of children with disabilities since they were passed. Before them, parents had limited schooling choices; now most children with disabilities learn alongside their peers who do not have disabilities.