by Suzy Frisch
Two decades before the federal government legislated inclusiveness in the classroom for students with disabilities, professors from the College of Education were advocating for that change in Minnesota. They succeeded in 1957 when Minnesota passed its first special education law, mandating that students with mental or physical disabilities receive an equal, public education.
Not only did the legislation revolutionize the way Minnesota educated its exceptional children, it also paved the way for the creation of the college’s special education program. The bill provided funding to hire faculty, provide scholarships to potential teachers, and launch research.
The college was a natural place to start. Already a cadre of graduate students and professors was working on learning and intellectual disabilities in the Psychoeducational Center, which provided psychological diagnostic services to individuals with disabilities and to school districts.
The special education program and its early leaders were enormously influential in the field. Their main contribution was successfully advocating for the inclusion of special education students in general education classes, notes Maynard Reynolds, the first chair of the special education department and a national leader in the field.
“There had been up to that time a very strong tendency to set kids who were handicapped or special in various categories in institutions or special education classrooms,” says Reynolds. “We worked to make more inclusive arrangements in ordinary schools.”
Reynolds built one of the nation’s top-rated special education departments by hiring other pioneers in the field, including Evelyn Deno and Frank Wood. One of Deno’s most important contributions was her “cascade of services.” A delivery system for meeting special education students’ unique needs, the cascade of services concept was adopted by the Council for Exceptional Children, the nation’s premier special education organization, and then written into federal law.
Tools such as keyboards helped to open communication with persons with disabilities.
In the 1970s, Reynolds, Wood, and Evelyn Deno separately received the J.E. Wallace Wallin Special Education Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council for Exceptional Children. “It’s the highest award given every year to people who have made outstanding contributions to the education of exceptional children in the United States,” says Stan Deno, professor of special education and Evelyn Deno’s son. “It’s pretty remarkable that three faculty from the University of Minnesota received that award,” and a testament to the powerful part the special education faculty has played on the national scene.
The program’s innovation didn’t stop after its early successes. In 1985, educational psychology professor Robert Bruininks (now University president) launched the Institute on Community Integration to improve community services and social supports for people with disabilities and their families. A multidisciplinary center, the institute has 140 affiliated faculty, staff, and research assistants who address disability-related issues across the lifespan.
The institute works to create full inclusion and a high quality of life for people with disabilities in neighborhoods, schools, workplaces, and communities. This has included playing a significant role in the deinstitutionalization of people with disabilities from state hospitals to community homes, notes the institute’s director, David R. Johnson.
The College of Direct Support (CDS) is a recent expansion of the institute’s innovative programs. An online training program for direct support staff, CDS has trained 25,000 people across the country who help people with special needs to be self-sufficient. In addition, the certificate in disability policy and services, jointly delivered with the Department of Educational Policy and Administration, provides students and community professionals with a broad understanding of disability and how to best serve people with disabilities.
In K–12 education, “Minnesota has been able to maintain one of the highest-quality workforces of special education teachers and paraprofessionals in the country,” Johnson says. “The college’s special education program, along with other individuals in the college, the institute, and the State Department of Education, has placed a high priority on making sure we have a high-quality workforce of teachers throughout the state. It’s been a very important part of the college’s role.”
Gilbert Wrenn
professor of counseling, 1937–1964
Before joining the college Wrenn (above left) served as an assistant dean in General College. He became internationally known for his innovative work in guidance counseling, both at the high school and college levels. He was a prolific author and outstanding teacher.
Evelyn Deno
(Ph.D., ’58, child development; M.A., ’50, child
development; B.S., ’48, nursery, kindergarten, and primary)
professor of educational psychology and director of the Psychoeducational Clinic, 1967–1975
An influential leader in special education, she was the first director of special education for the Minneapolis Public Schools, and was involved in writing the first special education law in Minnesota. Deno (above left with Maynard Reynolds) led the development of a new program to train teachers in special learning disabilities.
Maynard Reynolds
(Ph.D., ’50, educational psychology; M.A., ’47,
educational psychology)
first faculty member and chair of
the Department of Special Education, 1951–1989
Reynolds (above right with Evelyn Deno) worked to increase the mainstream participation of students with disabilities and encouraged collaboration between general and special educators. He was instrumental in establishing the first statewide association for special education, the Minnesota Counsel for Special Education, and was part of a group of policymakers who crafted Minnesota’s first state Special Education Law in 1957, which preceded federal laws by about 20 years. He was honored with the University’s Outstanding Achievement Award in 2004.