History of Education and Autism
- The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, was set up in 1975 to guarantee that all students that have disabilities would be provided with a public education (Brock, Stephen, and Jimerson, 2006).
- The IDEA mandates that students with disabilities not only be provided with a free public education that is appropriate, but also within the least restrictive environment (Yell, 2005).
- The IDEA only requires mainstreaming when appropriate.
- The IDEA reformed the American education policy.
- Autism was added as a specific special education eligibility category in 1991, by the Department of Education (Brock, Stephen, and Jimerson, 2006).
- Students with Autism that served under the IDEA had increased more than 600 percent between 1994 and 2003 (Brock, Stephen, and Jimerson, 2006).
Autism and Education Home Page