Special Education in the United States: Lit Review Essay

Special education in the history of the United States has mainly been a story of exclusion and struggle for rights. For much of the twentieth century, students who had disabilities (ex., Autism, Emotional Disturbance, Dyslexia, etc.) have been denied access to public education or were expected to be taught in separate institutions away from “normal” classes. The passage of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act in 1975, which was later reauthorized and renamed in 1990 to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), mandated, for the first time, that children with disabilities had the right to access “free appropriate public education” (FAPE) in the “least restrictive environment” (LRE). This act represents a huge transitional shift in the way children with disabilities were viewed in the eyes of the law and society. Instead of being seen as burdens or exceptions to the public schooling system, students with disabilities were formally recognized as citizens who have equal rights to access the same educational opportunities as their peers.