ABSTRACT
Whereas the pedagogical philosophies of Itard and Séguin were extended by Montessori to the education of nonretarded children, the primary legacy of their work was in the demonstration that mentally deficient children could be educated and trained. The formation in 1876 of the Association of Medical Officers of American Institutions for Idiots and Feeble-Minded Persons signaled the start of concerted efforts in the United States to increase the number of residential institutions where retarded persons could be properly educated. The early writings and lectures ofSéguin and Howe, among others, had generated the unrealistic expectation in many people that retarded residents who were educated by the new scientific methods—in particular by Séguin's methods of physiological education—would emerge much improved, perhaps even indistinguishable from their normal peers. The 13 training schools established in the United States by 1877 (Wilbur, 1888/1976) were initially conceived as extensions of regular schools, and consequently it was assumed that their retarded residents would be educated and then released (Doll, 1962; Nowrey, 1945).
