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History of Special Education and Its Pioneers

Special needs education has evolved over centuries from the extermination of people with disabilities in ancient Greece and Rome to more humane approaches today. Notable pioneers like Itard, Seguin, Montessori, and Decroly developed new educational methods focusing on individualization, sensory training, and normalization. Major developments included compulsory education, special education systems, integration and inclusion, and ensuring education in the least restrictive environment.

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Philip James Lopez
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3K views40 pages

History of Special Education and Its Pioneers

Special needs education has evolved over centuries from the extermination of people with disabilities in ancient Greece and Rome to more humane approaches today. Notable pioneers like Itard, Seguin, Montessori, and Decroly developed new educational methods focusing on individualization, sensory training, and normalization. Major developments included compulsory education, special education systems, integration and inclusion, and ensuring education in the least restrictive environment.

Uploaded by

Philip James Lopez
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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History of Special Needs

Education and the


Pioneers in the Field
What is Special Needs Education?

Special Education is “specially”


designed instruction to meet the
unique needs and abilities of
exceptional students.
Greek and Roman Period
Era of Extermination
▪ Disability is a “punishment of the gods” – A bad or evil sign
▪ “Individual is what he is, now and forever”
▪ Plato & Aristotle call for infanticide
▪ Ciceron calls for the purity of the race, a society free of
“defectives” - Need for military superiority
▪ Therefore, someone with a disability resulting from war (soldiers)
is taken in charge by the City.
Greek & Roman Treatment of Children with special needs:

Chaining
Left on hills to die
Thrown off cliffs
Locked away
Drown

Father had right to terminate child’s life


Old Testament

God created man in his own image

Disability is an impurity

A disabled person cannot approach sacred


places
New Testament
The bible stories where Jesus helped disabled persons (ex:
blind miracle) changed the way people with disabilities
were treated.
Disability became less a fault or an evil sign and instead
were seen as people needinPeople helped PWDs because
they felt that this is an g assistance.
an occasion for “winning ones salvation ”
Middle Ages

Era of Ridicule (Rigid caste system )

Those with disabilities were:


a) Used as servants
b) Some were still put to death
c) Dwarfs were used as clowns
d) Overall, ridiculed for deformities and behavior
Renaissance
Era of Asylum

Catholic Church accepts those with disabilities as


wards of state
Cared in isolation
No education at first, but humane treatment
Belief: Once disabled, always disabled
First Attempts to Educate Children with Special
Needs
1578 - Pedro Ponce de Léon in Spain created the first documented experience
about education of deaf children (from nobility)

1760 - Abbé Charles Michel de l’Epée in Paris created the “Institut pour
sourds” (Institute for deaf)

1817 – Thomas Gaulladet established the first school for the deaf

1829 - Louis Braille invented “Braille script”


Pioneers in Special Education
1. Jean Marc Gaspard Itard
(1774-1838)

2. Eduard Seguin
(1812-1880)

3. Maria Montessori
(1870-1952)

4. Ovide Decroly (1871-1932)


Jean Marc Gaspard Itard (1774-1838)
French physician and educator Jean Marc Gaspard Itard was
one of the earliest teachers to argue that special teaching
methods could be effective in educating disabled children.

Between 1801 and 1805, Itard used systematic techniques


to teach a boy, named Victor, how to communicate with
others and how to perform daily living skills, such as
dressing himself.
Description of Wild Boy
“. . . He is unusual to our food, selecting his
nourishment by smell but at the same time
indifferent to fragrant or foul odors; lying flat on
the ground to drink; tearing garments placed upon
him and trying constantly to escape; walking often
on all fours; fighting with his teeth; giving few
marks of intelligence; having no articulate
language even devoid of the faculty of speech. It
was later discovered that the boy’s hearing was
insensitive to loud noises and to music; yet he
readily heard the fall of a nut. His sense of touch
was likewise deficient. As to sight, his eyes
constantly wandered and could not be fixed on
objects” Bonaterre (1798)
Five primary goals for Viktor
1. To interest him in social life – try to make his life better than before
2. To improve his awareness of environmental stimuli – but the context
was controlled
3. To extend the range of his ideas (e.g. introduce him to games,
culture, etc.)
4. To teach him to speak & teach him to communicate by using symbol
systems, such as pictures and written words
5. To exercise the operations of his mind upon his physical wants, from
simple and proximal to complex and far
Results of Itard’s Teaching Method
▪ Sleeping and eating habits and personal hygiene got
more regular and controlled
▪ Senses of touch and taste became more acute
▪ Circle of wants increased
▪ Learned some monosyllabic words
▪ Learned to sequence objects
Itard’s failure

▪ Victor never talked


▪ He wanted to return to his old life
▪ Too much exigencies ; lack of emotional
attachment
▪ Maybe Victor maybe had an autistic syndrome or a
mental retardation can also explain the
abandonment
First basis of Special Education needs

1.Individualization
2.Emotional attachment
3.Specific materials
4.Structure of contents
5.Segregation
Eduard Seguin (1812-1880)
In 1848 French psychologist Edouard Séguin, who had studied
with Itard, immigrated to the United States and developed
several influential guidelines for educating children with
special needs (ex. Mental retardation).

Seguin’s education programs stressed the importance of


developing independence and self-reliance in disabled
students by presenting them with a combination of physical
and intellectual tasks.
Edouard Seguin
Developed the physiological method

Sensory training
Focused on touch
Utilization of material
Motor training
Age appropriate activities
Simple to complex
Functional activities
Work and play
Seguin’s Basis

1. Frequent changes in activities


2. Analysis of tasks into their components
3. Differentiation of senses from intellect
4. Physical education
5. Sensory stimulation
6. Employment as an outcome of education
Maria Montessori (1870-1952)
Montessori education is a flow experience; it builds on the continuing self-
construction of the child—daily, weekly, yearly— for the duration of the
program. Although Montessori schools are divided into multi-age classrooms:

The prepared environments introduce an uninterrupted series of learning


passages, a continuum

The "prepared environment" is Maria Montessori's concept that the


environment can be designed to facilitate maximum independent learning
and exploration by the child.
Montessori Materials
Each material in a Montessori classroom isolates one
quality. In this way, the concept that the child is to
discover is isolated.

For example, the material known as the pink tower is


made up of ten pink cubes of varying sizes. The
preschool-aged child constructs a tower with the
largest cube on the bottom and the smallest on top.
This material isolates the concept of size. The cubes
are all the same color and texture; the only difference
is their size. Other materials isolate different
concepts: color tablets for color, geometry materials
for form.
Last Century (1900’s)

Biological emphasis - Medical model - Institutional Care

1900-1950’s Compulsory education. Creation of classes or


schools for the mentally retarded, blind, deaf, etc..

After the 2nd world war : Creation of special education


system, organized in parallel to ordinary system.
Special Needs Education
The four periods of special needs education:
1. Instruction for pupils with sensory disabilities, many
disabled children were excluded from school
2. Care for the disabled, medical care and rehabilitation.
Children segregated into homogenous groups
3. The principle of normalisation and integration
4. Educational equality and equal educational services
(inclusion)
Special education

Specifically designed instruction, at no


cost to the child’s parents, to meet the
unique needs of a student with a
disability
The World Health Organization (WHO) (1996):

IMPAIRMENT refers to a physical or mental defect at the level of a


body system or organ.

DISABILITY refers to a person-level limitations in physical and psycho-


cognitive activities

HANDICAP refers to the social abilities or relation between the individual


and the society.’
Normalization
▪ Treating people with disabilities as normally as possible
▪ In a “natural environment”
▪ Both the means and the ends of education for students
with disabilities should be as much like those for non-
disabled students as possible
▪ De-institutionalization - a systematic drive to move people
out of institutions and back into closer contact with the
community
Least Restrictive Environment
To the maximum extent, children with disabilities
are to be educated with children who are not
disabled

Removal may only occur when education in


regular classes with the use of supplementary
aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily
Placement in the Least Restrictive Environment
▪ Regular classroom placement is the first option the team
must consider
▪ Access to the general education curriculum is as
important as placement in a classroom
▪ If it is not possible to educate a child successfully in a
regular education classroom with the use of
supplementary aids and services, then team must
consider more restrictive alternatives.
Possible forms of Special Education

1. Specialized Teaching Techniques

2. Special Materials

3. Special Facilties
Resource Room
▪ A special education placement for less than half a child's
school day.
▪ With special “materials” or “resources”.
▪ Resource Room students receive additional instruction in
language arts, math and/or content areas

▪ Resource room students receive basic skills instruction in


addition to their general education program.

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