Essay Sample on Special Education

Many people believe that special education has only been around since the late nineteenth century. However, special education has been a majorly advancing career for more than two hundred years. In the eighteenth century, there was a period known as the enlightenment period. Children with disabilities were not taken seriously and were thought of as simply stupid, possessed by an evil spirit, or even cursed. During that period, education, and special education ideas started to evolve. People started to take into consideration that kids with disabilities needed more help than they thought. People did not think it was fair that children with disabilities do not gain the proper education that they need to advance into adulthood. According to IDEA (2022), Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EHA) was passed by congress to help children with disabilities and their families with any need or situation that they were having trouble with (par 1). It eventually changed to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Many people did not want to help anyone with or related to special education. They were struggling to gain support. They were denied a right to an education and many other opportunities to gain one. Since the act was passed there has been major progress to reach many goals to improve the educational system for special education students. America has progressed throughout recent years to provide more children with educational and therapeutic sessions to improve the individual’s way of life. IDEA (2022) stated that they want children with disabilities to succeed in adulthood by having plenty of employment opportunities. They use the child’s interests and turn that into a job opportunity. Many children did not get the individual education that they needed. Special education teachers set an Individual Education Plan for each child to gain the proper and effective education that they needed. Some children do not have the funding needed to gain the proper education and therapy that they might need to help them improve their way of life, so free education came into effect so special education students will not have to suffer due to financial problems.

In the twentieth century, majorly changed for the good of special education. It was shown as the execution of laws to guarantee that students with disabilities would have the right to an education no matter what. In the nineteenth century, colleges started courses that would help to train special education teachers to teach in special education classrooms. French researchers have created intelligence scales that help identify special education students. Later, every state said that all citizens would have the right to an education. It could not be taken from them. In the twenties, the Council for Exceptional Children was founded to provide laws to protect individuals with disabilities. In the next couple of years, exceptional children and blind people were added to the Social Security Act (1935). The situation with special education was put off due to World War II and the Great Depression. According to The Arc (2021), parents were tired of things not getting done for their children, so they wanted to do something for their children (par. 1). They wanted their children to lead their own life and live it to the fullest. The parents do not want their children to live in the dark shadows becoming hidden away. The Arc wants the word “retarded” to be completely disappeared and replaced with “intellectual disability”. Through the decades, The Arc has been trying to make a difference and improve the road for future generations. It was the first organization that put money into research for disabilities. Children with disabilities do not need to suffer from a lack of education or therapy. Organizations want to improve the way of life for people that suffer from disabilities. They want those people to use their disability as a gift and improve the world one piece at a time.