Early Intervention

Recognizing the need for Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education was determined recently. During the early years after establishing the United States, “little was done to advance the rights of its disabled students. In fact, over 4.5 million children were denied adequate schooling.” The 1800’s was a progressive time for students with disabilities. Institutions like the American Asylum for the Education for the Deaf and Dumb, the New England Asylum for the Blind, and Massachusetts School for Feeble Minded Youth are established. New and improved methods for learning are developed such as Louis Braille creating and publishing the Braille code to assist with writing independency and education of blind students in 1837. In …show more content…
April 9, 1965, the first law to affect Early Intervention was the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) that stated, “initiation, expansion, and improvement of programs and projects . . . for the education of handicapped children.” This segued to the Education of the Handicapped Act (P.L. 91-230) passed by Congress on April 13, 1970 “…to encourage states to develop educational programs for individuals with disabilities.” On November 19, 1975, Public Law 94-142, otherwise known as The Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, passed ensuring “…children with disabilities would “have a right to education, and to establish a process by which State and local educational agencies may be held accountable for providing educational services for all handicapped children.” All of these laws were brought awareness to the educational deficit of individuals with disabilities, but still did not consider infants and toddlers until October 8, 1986 when P.L. 99-457, or the Education of the Handicapped Act Amendments of 1986, was signed by Congress. It included two significant amendments, Part H and Part B, “…that are designed to increase services to young children with special needs and their families: Part H is the Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities Program, and Part B, Section 619, is the Preschool Grants Program.” With more amendments in 1988 and 1990, the EHA changed its name and law number to Public Law No. 94-142 or Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA.) IDEA was reauthorized and amended in 1997, 1999, 2004, and 2011. In 1997, Parts H and B were reorganized into Part C and Part C was amended in 2011 to “focus on measuring and improving outcomes for the approximately 350,000 children served by the Part C program with the goal of ensuring that such children are ready for preschool and

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