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Itard, Jean Marc Gaspard (1775-1838). French educator of the handicapped. Itard was born in Oraison in Provence. His early education was at Riez: first in the household of his uncle, a Canon, and then at the local collège. Subsequently he studied with the Oratorians in Marseilles. At first Itard was employed as a bank clerk but, prompted perhaps by a wish to avoid serving in the army, he began working in a military hospital as a surgeon’s assistant. He studied hard under the guidance of Larrey, chief surgeon at the military hospital at Toulon, and accompanied him to Paris where he completed his qualifications. Called to the Institution for Deaf Mutes to treat a patient after a fall, Itard became friendly with Sicard and was appointed physician to the Institution. Here he began researches into the diseases of the ear and developed those instruments necessary for treatment which gave him a European reputation. His major work, the two-volume Traité des maladies de l’oreille et de l’audition, was published in 1821. In 1799 Itard began the education of a deaf-mute boy aged about 12, known as the ‘Sauvage de l’Aveyron’, who had been found living in a forest in the company of animals. Two accounts of his education of the boy, De l’éducation d’un homme sauvage ou des premiers développements physiques et moraux du jeune sauvage de l’Aveyron, and Rapport... sur les nouveaux développements et l’état actuel du sauvage de l’Aveyron, were published in 1801 and 1807 respectively. Though only limited progress was made, in terms of social behaviour, sense training and speech, the possibilities of treating severely handicapped children had been shown. Itard subsequently undertook the education of a group of six deaf-mute children, and in 1815 his report on their progress indicated the advances that might be made, both in sign language and in speech. In 1804 Itard declined an offer from the Russian Emperor, Alexander I, to work in St. Petersburg. For his services to education Itard was awarded the Legion of Honour by Louis XVIII, and was elected to the Academy of Medicine. In his will Itard bequeathed an annuity of 1,000 francs to the Academy for the purpose of a prize to be awarded triennially for the best book on practical medicine. He also gave 160,000 francs to the Institution for Deaf Mutes in Paris. See his several writings, and the article on Itard in the Bulletin de l’Académie nationale de médecine, vol. CLVIII, 1974.