Overview of Special Education

In their discussion of laws affecting special education, Papalia and Olds (1995) refer to the Education for all Handicapped Children Act (PL 94-142) of 1975 as the cornerstone of all new programs, courses, curricula, credentials and so forth that have arisen in special education from that period to the present. This law was expanded by Amendment PL 99-457 (passed in 1986) which extended the full rights and protection of the original law to handicapped children ages three to five; this law was implemented in the 1990-1991 school year.

It will be remembered here that these rights and protections include the education of special needs students in the least restrictive environment at public expense and under public supervision and direction. Further, the law mandated that schools must not only adopt policies that serve all handicapped students, they must also conduct searches to locate these students.

PL 94-142 was reauthorized in 1991, the legislation being retitled the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or IDEA. Supporting thi

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anner has, according to Villa, Thousand, Nevin and Malgeri (1996) produced an increasing trend for classroom teachers to utilize collaborative methods (small interactive group learning). The authors state that recent research on the effectiveness of collaboration in achieving the outcomes mandated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act supports the use of this technique but that there are some barriers which educators must deal with. Reid, Robinson and Bunsen (1995) report that current trends in special education research methodology are suffering from an over-emphasis on the collection and analysis of empirical data. The authors state that in their efforts to improve the field, educators are finally beginning to listen and understand the viewpoints and values and beliefs of those who represent a nonempirical point of view. Special educators are advised to continue to acquaint themselves with alternative perspectives in order to stimulate openness to communicative ethics and, through mutual understanding and collaboration, to ensure the survival of the field in the future. Inclusion, of course, has been a current trend in the field ever since the passage of PL 94-142. However, Billingsley (1993) reports that the
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