The world of special education is relatively new. Before the 1900’s children with special needs were mostly treated as second class people. Often left in massive institutions to fend for themselves, they were mistreated, misunderstood and discriminated against throughout their lives.
Though we still have a multitude of problems in special education, the fact is that we have come leaps and bounds in a relatively short amount of time. Success is often measured against the ideal. In special education, the ideal is a world where every child is given the proper opportunity to reach their excellence. Using this definition, we are nowhere near success. Instead, let’s take a moment to measure success by comparing where we started to where we are today, one word… WOW!
Special Education – The Evolution;
Less than 100 years ago, in 1933 some of the first special education advocacy groups were formed. People started to realize that there was a better way, a humane way of working with children who seemed different than the majority.
In 1965 Congress creates one of the first committees dedicated to children with special needs. This committee was named Bureau of Education for the Handicapped.
In 1975, Public Law 94-142 was passed which guaranteed all children a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE). For the first time, the United States officially recognized that all children learn differently and began taking steps to ensure maximum success for all. Special education resources and services begin forming.
During the 1990’s Public Law 94-142 was reauthorized and named IDEA (Individuals With Disabilities Education Act)
Special Education Resources Go High Tech
Since the 1990’s the evolution of special education has continued, though at a pace not able to keep up with demand. The infographic below; Special Ed Goes High Tech details this alarming fact, along with how the massive advance in technology over the past few years has opened new doors to assist children with special needs outside of the classroom.
More Special Education Resources are available today than at any other time in history. With a few simple clicks of a mouse, your child can receive one-on-one special education tutoring, along with other special education resources such as curriculum, lessons and worksheets.
Special Education – The Evolution
In the infographic below, Special Education Degrees discusses the many psychological benefits of special education resources found through technology.
- Allows children with severe learning disabilities to communicate with others in ways not available to them before.
- Students have decreased anxiety and frustration, and develop a feeling of accomplishment.
- Special technology can make it possible for a student to stay in his or her class instead of being sent to a special program away from his or her friends and peers.
Historical infographic: the text below reproduces the original image, including dated statistics and terminology. It is not current guidance.
Full text of infographic
Special Ed Goes High Tech — full text of the infographic Title Special Ed Goes HIGH TECH How technology is shaping education for America’s special needs students. The good news and the bad news THE GOOD NEWS: Students with speech delays, autism, cerebral palsy and Down Syndrome have found new ways to express themselves, thanks to modern technology THE BAD NEWS: The federal government is only able to cover about 15 percent of the cost of educating a special needs child. Who receives services, and what it costs 6 MILLION (about 10 percent) of all school-aged kids recieve special education services. [sic: “recieve” is misspelled in the image.] $51 BILLION estimated cost of education those 6 million children. [sic: the image reads “cost of education those”, not “cost of educating those”.] $44 BILLION (or, about 86%) of the cost falls to local and state school districts. Two pie charts illustrate these figures: the first shows the 10 percent share of school-aged children who receive services as a small wedge pulled out of a full circle; the second shows the 86 percent local-and-state share as the large wedge of a circle. Neither chart carries any label beyond the figures already given. Percentage of students by disability (ages 6 to 17) A horizontal bar drawn as a twelve-inch ruler is divided into six coloured segments, each segment sized to its share. From left to right: 51% Specific learning disabilities 21% Speech or language impairments 10% Mental Retardation [sic: this is the wording used in the image; see the editorial note in REPORT.md before publishing it as text] 8% Emotional Disorders 8% Other, including multiple disabilities, orthopedic impairments, autism, traumatic brain injury 2% hearing or visual impairment A brief history of children with special education needs SAD BUT TRUE: Before the 1800s persons with physical and mental disabilities were targets of discrimination across most cultures. On virtually every continent there are records of isolation, exclusion, and even destruction of persons with disabilities Late 1800s-early 1900s: First public schools for children with disabilities were established in the U.S. These were segregated programs, and often served children with specific disabilities. 1918: Compulsory education laws passed, though many children with disabilities were routinely excluded from public schools. 1933: Special education advocacy groups begin. 1947: American Association on Mental Deficiency is launched. 1954: Brown v. Board of Education extended equal protection under the law to minorities, and paved the way for similar gains for those with disabilities. Groups named: United Cerebral Palsy Association; Muscular Dystrophy Association; John F. Kennedy’s Panel on Mental Retardation. 1965: Congress creates a Bureau of Education for the Handicapped later named Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP). 1975: Public Law 94-142 is passed, requiring public schools to provide an education for students with a broad range of disabilities 1990 and 1997: Public Law 94-142 is reauthorized and renamed, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Looking ahead to the future Before IDEA, very few children with disabilities received an adequate education. They frequently suffered discrimination and isolation. Technologies used in classroom to help with challenges include: MULTIMEDIA TECHNOLOGY is being employed in the classroom to help with a variety of challenges from hearing and vision loss to limited physical movement. Students who struggle with a pen and pencil find new opportunities to express themselves on the computer. Digital textbooks offer high-quality images, video and audio capabilities. Laptops and netbooks have become a low-cost option for the classroom. Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices VOICE RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY: for those students who are still challenged by the physical keyboard, voice-recognition technology has greatly improved, often reaching 98% accuracy in simple text documents. TEXT-TO-VOICE: available on computers and many eBook readers, this software scans text and reads it back to the student. Helpful to the student who needs the audio reinforcement of the words they are reading. TOUCH SCREEN: there may be no need for a physical keyboard. Tapping on a tablet screen with a finger or stylus will give the same results. Devices to help the hearing impaired: Hearing aid Frequency Modulated Amplification System Audio Loops Infrared Systems Cochlear Implants Telecommunication Devices for the Deaf Captioned Television Live Speech Captioning Devices to help the visually impaired: Closed circuit television magnification Computer screen magnification Descriptive video services Screen readers Optical character recognition Braille Note Apex: digital note taker helps visually impaired students take notes. Helpful iPad apps Grace: Designed for students with Autism Tap to Talk: Aimed at non-verbal students iCommunicate: Creates flash cards Autism Express: Flash card program Learn it Stars: Allows teachers to keep track Dance Party Zoo: To help improve gross motor skills iDress for Weather: Practicing dressing skills iWriteWords: Used to help improve motor skills and handwriting What are the psychological benefits of these new technologies? Students with severe learning disabilities can still benefit from technology to advance their learning. It can allow them to communicate with others in ways not available to them before. Students have decreased anxiety and frustration, and develop a feeling of accomplishment. Special technology can make it possible for a student to stay in his or her class instead of being sent to a special program away from his or her friends and peers. Credit and sources BROUGHT TO YOU BY: SPECIAL-EDUCATION-DEGREE.NET SOURCES: http://www.friscoisd.org/news/2013/04/04/special-ed-technology-revolution ; http://www.rethinkingschools.org/restrict.asp?path=archive/16_03/Hist163.shtml ; http://education.cu-portland.edu/blog/news/past-present-and-future-of-special-education/ ; http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/science/mental-retardation-history.html ; http://wwfinductionmodules-resources.wiki.educ.msu.edu/file/view/History+of+Special+Education.pdf ; http://www.slideshare.net/guestc3d215c/technology-in-special-education-2667762 ; http://familiestogetherinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/COMPUTERTECHNEEDS.pdf ; http://education.cu-portland.edu/blog/special-ed/9-ipad-apps-for-the-special-education-classroom/