History of Special Education
Marie Cudia
Grand Canyon University: SPE526: Educating Learners with Diverse Needs
April 2, 2012
History of Special Education
The history of Special Education just as any history; is a long battle that has been fought by many who cared in order to bring us to where we are today. Its Journey has and will be never ending; since society is forever evolving. We will be fighting for equal rights in education and in life for many years to come since the definition of Special Education is not a precise one. In this paper you will learn the basics of what injustices we have risen above, to the current state we are in, and even what possibilities …show more content…
There are MANY things I would like to purpose as changes for the upcoming re-authorization of IDEA, but these are the most important ones! The first Thing I would do is have a specific set of criteria that would determine and define Special Education because there is not one definition of what our government considers Special Education. It needs to not be a blanket that can be interpreted in so many ways; this is why we have so many legal cases. Second if the government would like “Highly Qualified Teachers” then why is it that General Education teachers only have to take 2 classes about the Special Education System yet every classroom in the U.S. is guaranteed to have at least one student with an IEP! Heward cited that "more than 6 million children and youth with disabilities, ages 3-21, received Special Education Services during the 2005-2006 school year" and that number has only continued to increase in grades 1st -7th due to early detection (U.S. Department of Education, as cited in Heward, 2009, p. 10-11). Last, we consider Children with Behavior problems to be Special Education students, but they have to go through a huge system before we can get them help. Referral, FBA, BIP, BSP, IEP, and then they may be