Jean Itard from the inclusive education viewpoint

Abstract

Jean Itard has traditionally been valued as the father of Special Education. An analysis of his reports in 1801 and 1807 about the education of Victor, the wild child of L’Aveyron, from the perspective of inclusive education allows discovering in him some significant features that permit to consider him as a clear precursor of it. These are: his claims to the right to education of the disadvantaged, the implementation of a comprehensive training program and an individualized rehabilitation plan beginning with the abilities, limitations, needs and aspirations of the pupil. Methodological contributions advance some of the current proposals for inclusive education: importance of early intervention, value of interdisciplinary work, social integration of the individual as the ultimate goal of education. Despite the failure in the attempt to provide speech Victor, his proposals and claims for the right of a wild child to education served by administrators and scientists and sponsored by the government are a clear precedent of some basic proposals for inclusive education now guiding the main International Declarations.