On this page you will find a variety of resources on the topic of education within disability history.
Useful journals
History of Special Education
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This volume will examine the history of special education by categorical areas (e.g., Learning Disabilities, Mental Retardation, and Autistic Spectrum Disorders). Each categorical area chapter will include an examination of: changing definitions, early pioneers in the field, major contributors and their theoretical ideas, changing educational and treatment practices, working with families, the use of technology, assessment practices and legislative acts specific to that categorical area. The volume will also include chapters on the changing philosophy related to educating students with exceptionalities as well as a detailed history of legal and legislation content concerned with special education. The volume will provide readers with a unique perspective on why special education is what it is today.
The Making of the Backward Pupil in Education in England, 1870-1914
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Starting from the point of the co-existence of two Royal Commissions on different aspects of elementary education in the period 1886-89, this study shows how educational provision for the pupil judged backward began to be divorced from that for the mainstream.
Backward Pupil over a Cycle of a Century
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Ian Copeland examines the root causes of pupils in our schools with poor literacy and/or numeracy skills and explains how, as early as 1880, thinking about the education of backward pupils became divorced from mainstream thinking.
The girls and boys of Belchertown : a social history of the Belchertown State School for the feeble-minded
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