Since the Romantics culture has been identified with the promise of a complete development of human capacities and, typically, the 'rise of English' has been viewed in terms of the (true or distorted) fulfilment of this promise in the education system. This book presents a sustained and historically informed challenge to that view.

This book is an account of the epic struggle for special education in America's schools. It chronicles the actions of community leaders, families, caregivers, instructors, physicians, scientists, lawyers, judges, lawmakers, businesspersons, journalists, social activists, and persons with disabilities. It details the creation of facilities in which special learners would be safe, productive, independent, respected, and self-fulfilled. The book discusses techniques for assessing the presence, scope, and etiology of disabilities. Finally, American Special Education describes novel, sometimes expensive, and frequently controversial interventions, and places each development within the remarkable confluence of social and political circumstances that propelled the transformation of special education.