Origins Special Education Toronto
A Class by Themselves?: The Origins of Special Education in Toronto and Beyond
The cover of “A Class by Themselves?: The Origins of Special Education in Toronto and Beyond”, 2021 Heritage Toronto Awards Book Nominee. Cover photo: City of Toronto Archives.
Author: Jason Ellis
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
In A Class by Themselves?, Jason Ellis provides an erudite and balanced history of special needs education, an early twentieth century educational innovation that continues to polarize school communities across Canada, the United States, and beyond. Ellis situates the evolution of this educational innovation in its proper historical context to explore the rise of intelligence testing, the decline of child labour and rise of vocational guidance, emerging trends in mental hygiene and child psychology, and the implementation of a new progressive curriculum. A Class by Themselves? sheds new light on these and other issues by bringing special education’s curious past to bear on its constantly contested present.
About the Author: Jason Ellis
Jason Ellis is an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Studies at the University of British Columbia.