The Establishment of Schools for the Disabled | Research & Encyclopedia Articles

The Establishment of Schools for the Disabled

Overview

During the nineteenth century the number of educational institutions in the United States grew rapidly. In addition to elementary schools, high schools, and colleges, schools devoted to the training and welfare of disabled children were established. Special schools were created to assist in the training and education of children who were blind, deaf, and mentally handicapped. The attempt to educate the handicapped was related to major nineteenth-century reform movements that fought against slavery and other forms of institutionalized injustice, mistreatment, and neglect.

Background

Education for the Deaf

Children who are severely deaf are unable to learn from the spoken word and may not develop spoken language. Such children are considered mute through deafness. The lack of normal communication may lead to isolation and great difficulty in education. Efforts to teach deaf students to read, write, speak, read lips, and use sign language were reported in the seventeenth century. Thomas Braidwood (1715-1806) established the first schools for the deaf in Edinburgh and London. Other schools soon followed. Schools for the deaf adopted a mixture of approaches to instruction; some specialized in silent methods, but most used the oral method, which called for lip reading and the use of speech.

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