History of Special Education

• These notes cover the historical trajectory of special education, relevant legislation, and the inclusion of students with special educational needs.
• It covers the evolution of attitudes and practices towards individuals with disabilities, from ancient times to the present day.
• It also highlights key milestones in the development of special education in both international and Spanish contexts.
• The notes also cover the definition and differences between students with special educational needs (ACNEE) and students with specific educational support needs (ACNEAE).

Historical Trajectory of Special Education

• In ancient Sparta, the council of elders inspected newborns, allowing only the "strong" to survive (Plutarch, 300 a.c.).
• During the Middle Ages, the sick and deformed were marginalized, forgotten, rejected, and feared.
• The 16th century (Renaissance) saw the emergence of the first treatises on special education by Luis Vives, Ponce de León, and Francisco de Lucas.
• Valentin Hüay opened an institute for educating the blind in Paris during the 18th century French Revolution.
• Rousseau's philosophy of equality and fraternity influenced human rights.
• The 19th century marked the institutionalization of public institutions catering to heterogeneous disabilities.
• Pinel initiated medical treatment for the mentally retarded
• Esquirol differentiated between idiocy and dementia.
• The early 20th century was characterized by a welfare-based approach.
• Binet developed a metric scale (1905)
• National Patronage of the Deaf, Blind, and Abnormal
• Central School for Abnormal Children was founded
• Primary Education Act (1945)
• National Institute of Re-education of the Disabled (INRI) was established
• ONCE (National Organization of Spanish Blind People) was established
• The clinical model in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s led to specialized centers, and the National Patronage of Special Education in 1955.
• School integration occurred in the second half of the 20th century, with the General Education Act (1970).
• The Warnock Report (1978) and the World Conference on Special Needs Education in Salamanca (1994) were significant events.
• The International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN, 2006) was a landmark agreement

The Warnock Report (1978)

• Special educational needs (SEN) may require special resources, adapted curriculum, or attention to the social and emotional climate.
• SEN is not exclusive; a child may have multiple forms of educational needs.
• The report aimed to avoid discriminatory language and labeling.
• Education should have the same goals for all students, with varying degrees of achievement and types of support.
• Education should be inclusive with adjustments to accommodate diversity, making schools responsible for providing necessary support.

World Conference on Special Needs Education in Salamanca (1994)

• The challenge is to create "schools for all," ensuring all children and youth have the right to education.
• Education systems must adapt to meet the needs of all children.

Key Contributions of the Salamanca Declaration

• It promoted an interactive, contextual, and broad view of "special educational needs." It emphasized "integration/inclusion" as the goal of educational policy, acknowledging the role of special education centers.
• It called connecting improvements in special needs education with global educational reforms.

What Works and What Is Missing in the Educational Model Reflecting the Salamanca Declaration

• Analyses reveal progress and shortcomings since the Salamanca Declaration.
• Imagining a different reality is insufficient for transformation.
• Advances have been significant but often limited by assimilationist approaches to integration, with mainstream schooling seen as ideal for many students and secondary education developing unsatisfactorily for some.
• The concept of SEN has not fully conveyed the interactive nature of teaching/learning processes and has been ambiguous.
• Barriers to inclusion persist, related to student categorization and resource allocation, leading to segregated "integration" and unequal student/support ratios.
• There's a dual network of "regular" centers: those with and without integration.
• Focus has shifted from principles to resources.
• Post-compulsory education inclusion is seen as a favor, not a right, and university integration faces challenges.
• More students are at risk of exclusion than are recognized as having SEN.
• Re-evaluating ideas and addressing barriers hindering aspirations is necessary.

Historical Evolution Towards Inclusion

• Traditionally, modern education excluded those different from schools designed for a minority.
• Initial exclusion gradually gave way to segregation in favor of formal equality by the mid-20th century.
• Segregation policies shifted to integration based on assimilation, accepting others if they didn't challenge dominant values and required minimal curricular changes.
• In the last 25 years, there's been a slow, limited push toward inclusion.

International Support for Inclusion

• Spain ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006) in 2008.
• Inclusive education was established as a right with ethical, political, and legal force.
• The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set a target for 2030 to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure peace and prosperity for all.
• The fourth goal is to achieve inclusive and quality education for all

International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN, 2006) - Article 24 on Education

• States Parties recognize the right of persons with disabilities to education without discrimination and based on equal opportunity.
• Inclusive education systems at all levels, and life-long learning, are to:
• Develop human potential, dignity, self-esteem, and respect for human rights and diversity.
• Maximize personality, talents, and creativity, as well as mental and physical abilities.
• Enable effective participation in a free society

Historical Trajectory of Special Education in Spain

• The Moyano Law (1857) in Spain aimed to promote education for the deaf and blind, with at least one school of this type in each district.
• The Primary Education Law (1945) allowed for creating special schools by the State and promoted private initiatives for children with sensory, physical, psychological, social, or academic disturbances.
• The Ministry of Education regulated special education in 1965.
• Regulations covered special education centers, schools, programs, and methods for students with disabilities or difficulties in following regular programs.
• The Royal Decree 334/1985 on the Organization of Special Education incorporated educational innovations from Nordic countries, establishing three basic pillars:
• Normalization
• Sectorization
• Individualized teaching
• The synergy of these principles means "the school institution is provided with services and supports that will fundamentally include assessment and educational guidance and pedagogical reinforcement" (art 11.2), which favor the incorporation of disabled students into schools.

Organic Law on the General Organization of the Education System (LOGSE, 1990)

• The educational system will provide necessary resources for students with special educational needs to achieve objectives that can be temporary or permanent
• Solidifies the path to integration, reaffirming education as the antidote to social inequality.
• Incorporates the term "students with Special Educational Needs" to include students who need pedagogical support.
• Chapter V LOGSE specifies that resources are available for students with NEE to achieve general objectives, that attention to students with NEE is governed by normalization and school integration, and that placement in special education units or centers only occurs when needs cannot be met by a regular center.

Royal Decree 696/95 on the Organization of Education for Students with Special Educational Needs

• Expands educational responses in vocational stages and prioritizes quality teaching.
• Specific centers will transform into special education resource centers.
• Students with significant learning difficulties should receive support, whether temporary or permanent, due to their educational and personal history, over-endowment, or physical, mental, or sensory disabilities.

Organic Law on Education (LOE, 2006)

• Introduces new categories of students with specific educational support needs (ACNEAE) in the Preamble, which includes those joining late, with specific educational difficulties, high abilities, or needing support due to social circumstances.
• Article 74.1 prioritizes the inclusion of all students regardless of personal and social conditions.

Law for the Improvement of the Quality of Education (LOMCE, 2013)

• Introduces few changes.
• Introduces a more thorough approach to specific learning difficulties of some ACNEAE, requiring educational administrations to adopt measures to identify students with specific learning difficulties, ensuring schooling is governed by the principles of normalization and inclusion, and that identification, assessment, and intervention of educational needs should occur as early as possible.
• Expressly mentions that administrations must provide an appropriate response to learning difficulties

Organic Law Modifying the Organic Law on Education (LOMLOE, 2020)

• Aims to revert to LOE, influenced by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with some changes
• Integrates a rights-based approach to childhood.
• Special emphasis in primary education on ensuring educational inclusion, personalized attention, preventing learning difficulties, and reinforcing mechanisms as soon as these difficulties are detected.

Categories of Disability

• Historical categories reflected evolving understandings

Educational Inclusion of ACNEAE and ACNEE

• ACNEE (Students with Special Educational Needs): Students who require specific educational support and attention due to disability or severe behavioral disorders.
• ACNEE require a psycho-pedagogical evaluation and a placement evaluation establishing the presence of special educational needs and mode of mainstreamed learning.
• Enrollment options include mainstream school, special education center, or a blended model between the two
• ACNEAE (Students with Specific Educational Support Needs): Students who require educational attention different from the mainstream.
• Those professional responsible for making sure any students get attention from the ACNEAE will be included for record keeping purposes.
• There are diverse reasons for different educational attention

Reasons for Being ACNEE

• Limits to mobility
• Severe behavioral issues
• Autism Spectrum Disorders
• Auditory disabilitiesVisual and auditory disability impairment

Reasons for being ACNEAE

• Limits to mobility
• Serious behavioral issues
• ADHD
• Autism
• Auditory and visual disabilities
• Intellectual disability
• Late incorporation into the educational system
• Higher learning ability

ACENEAE and ACNEE

• ACNEE is a category within ACNEAE.
• All ACNEE are ACNEAE, but not all ACNEAE are ACNEE.
• Both need different responses and an evaluation.

Differences Between ACENEAE and ACNEE

• ACNEE need a placement report, apart form the psycho-pedagogical evaluation
• ACNEE can be in a mainstream school, a special education center, while other ACNEAE are always withing a mainstream school.
• Students with special education needs (ACNEE) take a different program than the normal curriculum and materials are extracted while adding more in some circumstances. Students with ACNEE take a Adaptación Curricular Individualizada Significativa, ACI.

Guarantees of Quality Education in Legislation

• Qualification and permanent training of teachers
• Guidance and family participation
• Promotion of innovation and educational research
• Provision of necessary resources: personnel, materials, organizational
• Early identification of educational needs
• Adaptation of programs tailored to identified educational needs

Explore the historical development of special education, tracing the evolution of attitudes and practices toward individuals with disabilities from ancient times to the present day. Key milestones in special education's development in international and Spanish contexts are highlighted. Understand the nuances between students with special educational needs (ACNEE) and those with specific educational support needs (ACNEAE).