Amy Hughes

English 102

Ms. White
03/26/2010
WA-3
Literacy in the Archives

Sitting on the floor of the school’s gym with approximately twenty of your peers, waiting

for the gym coach to come in and tell all of you what game you will be playing today, you begin

to doodle in the dust on the floor. While you are contently drawing little grumpy, sad, happy, and

mad dust faces, seven or eight students and two teachers come through the gym’s double doors.

One of the teachers is pushing a girl who is in a wheelchair; the other teacher is tightly holding

on to and helping a boy with muscular sclerosis walk. You watch the students with curious eyes.

It is the special needs class at your elementary school. They are here for their physical education

class, just as you are. Everyday at 10 a.m., they join your fifth grade class in running and

jumping, laughing and screaming. It is hard to imagine that just twenty years ago, you would not

have shared a school, much less a class, with any these bright young children.

In schools today there are special classes for children and young adults with special

educational needs, or SEN, but that has not always been the case. There has been a long and hard

battle to help get children with SEN to have an education available to them like other children.

Not too long ago parents’ only had two options when it came to schooling their children: send

their child with SENs to mainstream schools or not send their child to school at all. This has

changed through the years with many court cases. They have helped special needs children gain

the legal ability to go to school and have the chance to obtain an education like all other children

are given.

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 There are three different forms of disabilities. These disabilities are emotional or social,

physical, and intellectual. Emotional disabilities are disorders such as Attention Deficit

Hyperactivity (ADHD) or Autism. Physical disabilities are disorders such as blindness, deafness,

or cerebral palsy. Intellectual disabilities are disorders such as dyslexia, dyscalculia, or mental

retardation. There are many levels of severity to each of these forms of disabilities and with each

level of severity; different steps have to be taken to help the children with these disabilities learn

to their full capacity.

The first tests that were successfully developed to determine if a child had any degree of

learning disabilities and should be placed in a special education school was developed by a

French psychologist, Alfred Binet, in 1904. It has become known as the Binet-Simon

Intelligence Test. This test determines the child’s mental age. It was standardized in 1906 for

American children. Between 1915 and 1930, special needs schools and classes grew rapidly.

There was a steep decline in both the number of classes and the number of schools during the

Great Depression. According to the Arc U.S., during the time of the Great Depression, “Mildly

retarded children either stayed at home or attended regular classes. The more severely retarded

youngsters were placed in institutions.”(Parallels in Time II: 1950-2005 A Place to Learn. Pg. 2)

The first major court case that helped gain equality for children with SEN was Brown vs.

The Board of Education in 1954. The court case got rid of the legal basis for racial segregation in

schools and other public places. This helped set the foundation for legal ground in later court

cases in determining laws for special education schools and classes, as well as for children with

SEN.

The 1960s and 1970s were two of the biggest decades with court cases for advancements

in the fight for equality in education for children with learning and physical disabilities. In

October 1962, the President’s Panel on Mental Retardation proposed a program that extended the

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education training in both the special education schools and mainstream schools. This program

increased the number of teachers with the proper training and proper knowledge to handle

children with SEN. The program was called National Action to Combat Mental Retardation. The

number of children enrolled in special education schools doubled because of the program. This

program led to The Mental Retardation Facilities and Community Mental Health Centers

Construction Act of 1963. This helped to further the training of teachers who would be teaching

the children with SEN during this time. (Parallels in Time II: 1950-2005 A Place to Learn Pg. 4-

6). In 1965, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, or ESEA, provided the first federal

support for education. The latest amendment to the ESEA is the No Child Left Behind Act,

issued in 2001. Today, the ESEA also allows military recruiters access to eleventh and twelfth

grade students' names, addresses, and telephone listings when they request it.

In 1971, Attorney Thomas K. Gilhool represented the Pennsylvania Association for

Retarded Citizens v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (PARC v. Commonwealth). This was the

most important court case won to date. Attorney Gilhool used the court case from 1954, Brown

v. Board of Education. The court ruled that children with mental retardation were entitled to a

free, appropriate public education (FAPE) designed to meet their unique educational needs,

preferably in the mainstream classrooms. Four years later in 1975, the Education for All

Handicapped Children Act was developed. It was in short, a state grant program with

requirements that must be followed. Its main impact was to keep children from being

institutionalized. It also helped begin the end of surrogated schools and classes between children

with SEN and the mainstream schools.

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was formed in the 1977-1978 school

year. The All Handicapped Children Act paved the way for the IDEA. IDEA and its

amendments, especially those enacted in 1997, have had an overwhelming impact on special

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education in the United States. The bill was signed into law on June 4, 1997 by President

Clinton, but now all aspects went in to affect immediately.

1986 showed a major shift in the way the educational system thought of children with

SEN. The Assistant Secretary of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services,

Madeleine Will suggested a plan. She wanted not only the special educators to be responsible for

the education of children with SEN, but mainstream educators to be responsible. This was known

as the Regular Education Initiative. This has been a controversial issue in education because it

relates to educational and social values, as well as to our sense of individual worth.

Today, the system and structure of the special needs classes and schooling are not perfect.

There are still separation of students with SEN in the classroom, as well as students not receiving

the proper attention they need when it comes to their education. Funding is still low in many

school districts. Changes still need to be made, but we have come a long way from where we

were at. We are growing and becoming more knowledgeable about the tools needed to help

children with SEN in their education journey.

Resources

1. Bentham, Susan, Philippe Harari, and Karen Legge. "Special Educational Needs." n. pag.
Web. 20 Mar 2010. file:///H:/English%20102%20Stuff/Special%20Educational
%20Needs.htm.

2. "The IDEA." publication of the National Information Center for Children and Youth with
Disabilities 26. (1998): 1-39. Web. 20 Mar 2010.

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 http://www.nichcy.org/InformationResources/Documents/NICHCY
%20PUBS/nd26pdf.pdf.

3. Jones, Harold. Personal interview. 23 Mar. 2010.

4. "Parallels in Time II: 1950-2005 A Place to Learn." Development of a Free Appropriate

Public Education for All Children (2006): 63. Web. 20 Mar 2010.
http://www.mnddc.org/parallels2/three/063.htm.

5. Orosco, Denise. Personal interview. 21 Mar. 2010.

6. Tucker, Kenneth. Personal interview. 23 Mar. 2010.

7. "United States Department of Labor." Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-11 Edition.

N.p., 17 Dec 2009. Web. 26 Mar 2010. http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos070.htm.

8. Wright, Pamela, and Peter Wright. “Wrightslaw." IDEA 2004 Statute and Regulations.
N.p., 08/12/2008. Web. 20 Mar 2010. http://www.wrightslaw.com/idea/law.htm.