The History of Special Education: From Isolation to Integration

Abstract

This comprehensive volume examines the facts, characters and events that shaped this field in Western Europe, Canada and the United States. From the first efforts to teach disabled people in early-Christian and medieval eras to such current mandates as Public Law 94-142, this study assesses the development of special education as a formal discipline. The book presents a four-part narrative that traces its emergence in detail, from 16th-century Spain through the Age of Enlightenment in 17th-century France and England to 18th-century issues in Europe and North America of placement, curriculum and early intervention. The status of teachers in the 19th century, and social trends and the movement toward integration in 20th-century programmes are considered as well.