Special Education at SCSU
By: Kendra Kochol
In the fall of 1931, New Haven State Normal School offered its newest curriculum. Prior to this, students had two fields of study to choose from- teaching in kindergarten or one of the first three grades, or intermediate grades 4-6. Starting in 1931, students could choose to study Atypical Education, or Special Education as it is known today. However, Special Education and its similar interventional areas were in New Haven long before 1931.
Individuals with disabilities have been fighting a long battle for inclusion and even respect from others. The first chapter of History of Special Education discusses historical and philosophical changes in the treatment and education of students with exceptionalities. The first chapter says “the mid-nineteenth century saw the growth of institutions and asylums for individuals with disabilities… Although some institutions viewed their purpose as providing educational and vocational programs and fostering moral and religious development, many of them saw their role as delivering medical, vocational, and custodial care and serving as a vehicle to separate, mend, and control disabled and “defective” individuals who were perceived as deviant and threatening.” It is clear that there is a divide between individuals with disabilities and those without disabilities. Before special education was offered as a course of study at New Haven State Normal School (NHSNS), students with disabilities were not treated as fairly as their general education peers.
Closer to the development of the Special Education curriculum at NHSNS, there emerged a focus on the inclusion and advocacy of individuals with disabilities. There were many advocacy groups formed including “the Council for Exceptional Children, a professional organization that was founded in 1922." This brings us up to the 1930s, when the new curriculum was added to NHNS’s catalogue. In his centennial history of Southern Connecticut State University, Thomas Farnham explains how “prior to July 1, 1930, persons who taught ‘mentally defective children’… could teach without a normal school diploma.” Therefore, “when the [state] board began requiring certification for such teachers… it had to provide specific training for them and consequently created the so-called ‘atypical curriculum’ at New Haven.”
The Atypical Curriculum did not differ much from the curriculum for the school’s two other programs. All the classes in a students’ first two years were the same, with a focus on their area of concentration happening in their third year. Some classes specifically for the Special Education curriculum included Practical Problems in Special Education, Psychology of the Atypical Child, and Sociological Problems of Special Education. These classes were similar to classes other students took, but instead there was a focus on the individuals with disabilities.
Coming out of the 1930s and into 1950s, there develops a shift in the philosophy of Special Education. In 1954, the Brown v. Topeka Board of Education was a landmark decision that established racial segregation in public school as unconstitutional. This decision brought about the idea that “separate but equal is not equal.” This idea became the starting point for the disability rights movement, where legal actions were taken by families of special needs children. This also led to the creation of the idea of a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) for individuals with disabilities. This brought the creation of more Special Education classes in public schools, which gave families that option to send their child to a free public school rather than send them away to a private school specially for special needs students.
This seems to contradict some of the ideals of NHSNS, changed to New Haven State Teachers College (NHSTC) around this time. In 1958, NHSTC Special Education curriculum was firmly established and, according an article posted in the New Haven Register in January 1958, “[NHSTC] has the largest undergraduate program in the nation”. Dr. Burton Blatt, the coordinator of special education for the college, explained how, “If retarded children are placed in conventional classrooms, they will not necessarily be integrated into the social atmosphere of these grades. Many research studies demonstrate that retarded children in regular grades are rejected more and accepted less by their more typical peers.” He also goes on to explain that “Identity of opportunity does not necessarily mean equality of opportunity.” Here, Dr. Blatt is suggesting that a student may not be receiving the best education while they are in a classroom with their general education peers, and that they will develop to their greatest capacity when the other “retarded children” are friends, or at the very least classmates, with them.
Soon after this article was published, in 1958, the Council for Exceptional Children was recognized as a college organization at NHSTC. “The purpose of the C.E.C. is to promote interest in understanding of the exceptional child and to offer information concerning the welfare and education of the exceptional child.” After almost thirty years, Special Education majors gained a club that directly related to their field of study.
As it gets closer to the present day, the ideas and beliefs around Special Education continue to grow and change. “Since the 1960s and 1970s… special education has gone from being a separate system to being integrated into the general education system and serving an important role in advocating for and ensuring the inclusion of individuals with disabilities into the larger society.” One of the latest events that has been significant for the education of individuals with disabilities was in 1975 with the passing of Education for All Handicapped Children Act (now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act [IDEA]). IDEA “provided students with exceptionalities with access to public schools. The IDEA also mandated that students with exceptionalities be taught in the [Least Restrictive Environment] and have an individualized educational program (IEP) that guides the delivery of special education services, addresses academic and functional goals, and fosters students’ education, postsecondary options, employment, and independent living.”
There have been many changes to Special Education throughout the past 125 years, especially the ninety years in which it has been offered as a major at Southern Connecticut State University. Today, Special Education majors have two years of differentiated curriculum that focuses on the students with exceptionalities, as opposed to the one year when the program was first developed. Additionally, there are many more opportunities for these students to go out into the field and gain experience working with these types of students. Today, SCSU has even partnered with the Hamden Transition Academy to provide educational opportunities to students with disabilities from ages eighteen to twenty-one. The Special Education department has been growing and adapting with most of the changes that have taken place, and they will be doing so with the changes in the future.
Farnham, Thomas J. Southern Connecticut State University: A Centennial History. 1993.
Laurel Yearbook, New Haven State Teachers College, 1959.
“NH Teachers Leads in Training For Mentally Handicapped Field,” New Haven Register, January 13,
1958.
Rotatori, Anthony F., Festus E. Obiakor, and Jeffrey P. Bakken. History of Special Education. 1st ed.
Advances in Special Education ; v. 21. Bingley, U.K.: Emerald, 2011.
State Normal School Catalogue: Thirty-ninth Year 1931-1932, 1931.
In the fall of 1931, New Haven State Normal School offered its newest curriculum. Prior to this, students had two fields of study to choose from- teaching in kindergarten or one of the first three grades, or intermediate grades 4-6. Starting in 1931, students could choose to study Atypical Education, or Special Education as it is known today. However, Special Education and its similar interventional areas were in New Haven long before 1931.
Individuals with disabilities have been fighting a long battle for inclusion and even respect from others. The first chapter of History of Special Education discusses historical and philosophical changes in the treatment and education of students with exceptionalities. The first chapter says “the mid-nineteenth century saw the growth of institutions and asylums for individuals with disabilities… Although some institutions viewed their purpose as providing educational and vocational programs and fostering moral and religious development, many of them saw their role as delivering medical, vocational, and custodial care and serving as a vehicle to separate, mend, and control disabled and “defective” individuals who were perceived as deviant and threatening.” It is clear that there is a divide between individuals with disabilities and those without disabilities. Before special education was offered as a course of study at New Haven State Normal School (NHSNS), students with disabilities were not treated as fairly as their general education peers.
Closer to the development of the Special Education curriculum at NHSNS, there emerged a focus on the inclusion and advocacy of individuals with disabilities. There were many advocacy groups formed including “the Council for Exceptional Children, a professional organization that was founded in 1922." This brings us up to the 1930s, when the new curriculum was added to NHNS’s catalogue. In his centennial history of Southern Connecticut State University, Thomas Farnham explains how “prior to July 1, 1930, persons who taught ‘mentally defective children’… could teach without a normal school diploma.” Therefore, “when the [state] board began requiring certification for such teachers… it had to provide specific training for them and consequently created the so-called ‘atypical curriculum’ at New Haven.”
The Atypical Curriculum did not differ much from the curriculum for the school’s two other programs. All the classes in a students’ first two years were the same, with a focus on their area of concentration happening in their third year. Some classes specifically for the Special Education curriculum included Practical Problems in Special Education, Psychology of the Atypical Child, and Sociological Problems of Special Education. These classes were similar to classes other students took, but instead there was a focus on the individuals with disabilities.
Coming out of the 1930s and into 1950s, there develops a shift in the philosophy of Special Education. In 1954, the Brown v. Topeka Board of Education was a landmark decision that established racial segregation in public school as unconstitutional. This decision brought about the idea that “separate but equal is not equal.” This idea became the starting point for the disability rights movement, where legal actions were taken by families of special needs children. This also led to the creation of the idea of a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) for individuals with disabilities. This brought the creation of more Special Education classes in public schools, which gave families that option to send their child to a free public school rather than send them away to a private school specially for special needs students.
This seems to contradict some of the ideals of NHSNS, changed to New Haven State Teachers College (NHSTC) around this time. In 1958, NHSTC Special Education curriculum was firmly established and, according an article posted in the New Haven Register in January 1958, “[NHSTC] has the largest undergraduate program in the nation”. Dr. Burton Blatt, the coordinator of special education for the college, explained how, “If retarded children are placed in conventional classrooms, they will not necessarily be integrated into the social atmosphere of these grades. Many research studies demonstrate that retarded children in regular grades are rejected more and accepted less by their more typical peers.” He also goes on to explain that “Identity of opportunity does not necessarily mean equality of opportunity.” Here, Dr. Blatt is suggesting that a student may not be receiving the best education while they are in a classroom with their general education peers, and that they will develop to their greatest capacity when the other “retarded children” are friends, or at the very least classmates, with them.
Soon after this article was published, in 1958, the Council for Exceptional Children was recognized as a college organization at NHSTC. “The purpose of the C.E.C. is to promote interest in understanding of the exceptional child and to offer information concerning the welfare and education of the exceptional child.” After almost thirty years, Special Education majors gained a club that directly related to their field of study.
As it gets closer to the present day, the ideas and beliefs around Special Education continue to grow and change. “Since the 1960s and 1970s… special education has gone from being a separate system to being integrated into the general education system and serving an important role in advocating for and ensuring the inclusion of individuals with disabilities into the larger society.” One of the latest events that has been significant for the education of individuals with disabilities was in 1975 with the passing of Education for All Handicapped Children Act (now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act [IDEA]). IDEA “provided students with exceptionalities with access to public schools. The IDEA also mandated that students with exceptionalities be taught in the [Least Restrictive Environment] and have an individualized educational program (IEP) that guides the delivery of special education services, addresses academic and functional goals, and fosters students’ education, postsecondary options, employment, and independent living.”
There have been many changes to Special Education throughout the past 125 years, especially the ninety years in which it has been offered as a major at Southern Connecticut State University. Today, Special Education majors have two years of differentiated curriculum that focuses on the students with exceptionalities, as opposed to the one year when the program was first developed. Additionally, there are many more opportunities for these students to go out into the field and gain experience working with these types of students. Today, SCSU has even partnered with the Hamden Transition Academy to provide educational opportunities to students with disabilities from ages eighteen to twenty-one. The Special Education department has been growing and adapting with most of the changes that have taken place, and they will be doing so with the changes in the future.
New Haven State Teachers College Located on Howe Street, New Haven
Bibliography
Laurel Yearbook, New Haven State Teachers College, 1959.
“NH Teachers Leads in Training For Mentally Handicapped Field,” New Haven Register, January 13,
1958.
Rotatori, Anthony F., Festus E. Obiakor, and Jeffrey P. Bakken. History of Special Education. 1st ed.
Advances in Special Education ; v. 21. Bingley, U.K.: Emerald, 2011.
State Normal School Catalogue: Thirty-ninth Year 1931-1932, 1931.
Comments
Post a Comment