[Infographic] Trends in Special Education

Students with speech delays, autism, cerebral palsy and Down syndrome need special assistance to communicate.

In olden days, such students with special needs found it difficult to learn and faced many hurdles in their education. The infographic is designed

in such a way that it represents the whole history of special education and what has been done to help them overcome their disabilities. The following are some interesting points from it:

For thousands of years the disabled were abandoned and treated as outcasts. But today, 96% (6.7 Million) of children with disabilities are educated in regular public schools.

800 BC: Ancient Greeks and Romans thought disabled children were born because the Gods were angry.

1776: Stephen Hopkins was a Declaration of Independence singer with cerebral palsy. Upon singing, he said, “My hands may tremble, but my heart does not.”

Sad but True fact:

Moron (IQ 50-70), Imbecile (IQ 35-49) and Idiot (IQ under 35) were once acceptable clinical terms for describing the intellectually disabled. 

Appreciable Change:

1817: The Connecticut Asylum at Hartford for the Instruction of deaf and dumb persons opens. It is the first permanent school for the deaf in the U.S.

1829: The New England Asylum for the Blind opens as the first school in the U.S for children with visual disabilities.

The infographic includes many more facts about children with special needs and the reforms that have been taken to improve special education. Here is the infographic:

This infographic originally appeared here .