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Special education programs did not always used to be mandatory in the United States. Prior to 1975 there were not state-funded programs in relation to children with special needs. In the two decades prior to the 1970s family associations would often form to advocate the rights of these children. Soon the Federal government started creating funding and programs as well as services development to provide assistance for these families.

Soon two laws were created for the professional training for children with mental retardation. The 1961 Teachers of the Deaf Act required training for teachers of the deaf. The year 1965 brought two more laws in relation to funding towards educating disabled children. Two more law followed prior to the passing of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975. This law was renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to protect those with all disabilities. This law required that each state provide special education according to federal standards.

The IDEA states that children are entitled to education in their local school districts between the ages of three and eighteen or twenty-one. Special regulations have been put in place to classify each child for needs and qualifications. These thirteen categories include developmental disability, autism, specific learning disability, emotional and behavior disability, intellectual impairment, deaf-blind, speech and language disability, visual impairment, orthopedic or physical impairment, hearing impairment, health impairment, multiple disabilities, and traumatic brain injury.

The severity of a child’s needs will dictate the education he or she will be prescribed, including mainstream schooling or special schooling as well as resource rooms and self-contained classrooms. Academic goals are also set for the amount of learning a child may be capable of, including vocational training, speech, physical skills, social skills, and self-care. Now children with attention deficit disorders are also classified and perhaps given special schooling, depending on severity.