Special Education
Special education is a precisely designed system of education that seeks to fulfil the unique needs and capabilities of exceptional students. Historically, a disabled person would either be placed in asylums, hospitals or institutions for the disabled where there was little to zero regards for education. There is a historical era in which disability was perceived as a “punishment from the gods”. With time though, many great philosophers, through their works, changed the view of many societies towards the disabled. French educator and physician Jean-Marc Gaspard Itard was amongst the earliest educators to explore the effectiveness of special teaching techniques on the learning of disabled children. Jean used systematic methods between 1801 and 1805 to teach a mentally disabled boy how to perform every day living skills and communicating and socializing with others. Through training and controlled environment, the boy developed a structured eating and sleeping pattern and a more regular personal hygiene. The boy learnt to sequence objects and particular monosyllabic words.
Edouard Seguin, a French psychologist, immigrated to America in 1848 where he advanced several significant guidelines for teaching special needs children. His programs emphasized the importance of developing self-reliance and independence in disabled learners by offering them a blend of intellectual and physical tasks. Edouard Seguin developed different physiological methods for assisting disabled students. His achievements included developing techniques like sensory training which focused on utilizing material and touch and motor training that focused on simple to complex functional activities.
Of all the pioneers, Ovide Decroly is perhaps the one who indeed went a mile and pushed the inclusion of the disabled children into education. Decroly, in 1901, founded a school for mildly disabled children. Such disabilities could include light mental retardation, behavioural disorders and learning disabilities. He had his pedagogy on which he based the formation of another school for regular students in 1907. This pedagogy was initially the basis of the foundation of special needs schools. The base of his pedagogy included: education should be based on the interest and hobbies of a child; global inclusive education indicates that every child in the globe learns; the breakup of learning places, that is, the “class” is everywhere and everywhere should be a learning platform for a child; and the importance of the environment that sparks the curiosity of children thereby bringing about the want for knowledge.
Many other philosophers and educators came after these individuals to support, contribute and develop special education. The efforts of the pioneers, though, are what inspired and initiated the process of inclusive education through special education.