In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

332 Part 3 / Into the New Century system should establish day classes instead. As a result, the first public school day class for blind students in the United States was established in Chicago in 1900, with one of Hall's teachers as supervisors (Irvine, 1976b, p. 120). John Curtis also pioneered day classes for the blind; the first Braille class opened in Chicago in 1900. Additional day classes for visually impaired students opened in Cincinnati (1905), Milwaukee (1907), Boise (1909), Cleveland (1909), and New York (1909). Boston's day classes for blind students, established in 1909, were promoted by Edgar Allen who, as principal of the Perkins School for the Blind, used institutional funds to buy needed supplies for five blind day students (Koestler, 1976). As well as classes for children accepted as blind, sight-saving classes for those with less severe visual impairments came into the schools. By 1925 there existed 260 sight-saving classes in the United States; by 1935, 476 (Bush, 1942). Classes for stammerers and other children with speech defects began in Detroit in 1912; by 1925 there were programs for children with speech defects, lisping , stammering, and stuttering. By the 1920s educational programs for crippled children were organized in the form of decentralized hospital-based facilities, diagnostic centers, and local clinics (Cruickshank, 1967). By 1944 twenty-one states had enacted legislation in aid of crippled children (T. A. Turner, 1944). From the time of the formation of the first class specifically for the mentally retarded in 1879, special classes for children with intellectual impairments flourished rapidly. Increased financial support for special classes and schools after World War I ushered in a period of growth in services for the educable mentally retarded: there were 75 classes by 1919; by 1941 there were 141 classes with an enrollment of more than 22,000 (G. O. Johnson, 1962). Cities took the lead in establishing segregated classes. To offset difficulties in rural areas and to educate children who could not attend school because of health difficulties, the visiting teacher movement began, first in Boston and Hartford in 1906 as a private organization. Home instruction in New York City was originated in 1913 by Adela Smith and 125 volunteer teachers. After a polio epidemic of 1916-1917, the increasing numbers of crippled children prompted the Board of Superintendents to recommend that home training be part of organized schooling for homebound crippled children. Rochester, New York, was the first district to join visiting teachers to its school board (F. E. Howard, 1935). By 1935 there were visiting teachers for emotionally disturbed and juvenile delinquent children (F. E. Howard, 1935), as well as those with severe physical and health handicaps. THE SPECIAL CLASS CURRICULUM The word curriculum derives from the Latin currere, which refers to a course, a track for a race. The implication, of course, is that students run through a course of study from a beginning point until they reach some designated finishing post. Special students, slower in negotiating the track, could, in a special class, be provided with a curriculum suited specifically to their needs. Their results could then be reported separately so that their poor academic levels and lowered promotional standards would not drag down the performance reputation of a school. Chapter 10 / From Isolation to Segregation 333 Nowhere were the links between residential schools and day classes stronger than in the early curricula presented in segregated classes. The expansion of special classes far exceeded the supply of trained teachers, and the school boards inevitably turned to the institutions to fill their staffing needs (see Fitts, 1916). The Boston school system, for example, during the first years of its operation sought teachers with some experience at the Barre Institution in Massachusetts or at Seguin's schools. Institutionally oriented workers moved into public school service, and the training activities that dominated residential school programs, with their strong emphasis on "doing" and crafts and manual pursuits, were transplanted with them. A 1928 report of the Atlanta special classes noted that teachers provided activities that were concrete and practical, that students could enjoy, and at which they could succeed (Franklin, 1989). Special classes, most especially those that served mentally retarded pupils, found children engaged in making rugs, scrubbing brushes, raffia baskets, and Swiss lace (Stevens, 1954). In Atlanta younger children were given "daily lessons in all elementary book work subjects." By junior high school, students spent two periods daily on units that integrated social studies, English, and spelling and that were...

Share