Different countries have adopted different attitudes towards disabled children at different times. In ancient Europe, disabled children were killed or abandoned. Special education in the modern sense began to appear after the development of capitalism in Europe. With the development of science and social progress, people's understanding of the nature of disabled children has got rid of the fetters of religious views and put forward the ideas of "everyone is useful" and "everyone is equal". Both Czech educator Comenius and Italian educator Montessori have discussed the education of special children. Some doctors and educators began to teach mentally ill children, mentally retarded children, blind people, deaf people and other children individually, founded schools, wrote books and expressed their opinions, and therapeutic pedagogy appeared. French priest c .-M. A. de Lepe established the world's first school for deaf children in Paris in 1770, and initiated the gesture teaching method for deaf people. 1778 german s Heineck founded a school for deaf children in Leipzig. He is the founder of the oral legal system. 1784, France v Haillouy established a school for blind children in Paris, and published "Teaching Experience for Blind Children" in 1786. When L. burrai, a graduate of the School for the Blind, taught in this school, he created Braille composed of six salient points used by the blind in the world. Austria established schools for children with mental retardation as early as 18 16. Sé gan, a French psychiatrist, is one of the founders of pedagogy for mentally retarded children. He established a school for children with mental retardation in Paris on 1839, and published a book "Education, Health and Moral Treatment for Children with Mental Retardation" on 1846. 1864, Gallaudet College, the only deaf college in the world, was established in Washington, USA. German von court first established a school for disabled children in Munich. The probation education for problem children began in the middle of19th century, but it didn't develop until the 20th century, especially after the Second World War. Although gifted children have long been noticed and individually selected and educated, countries began to educate gifted children in the form of schools or special classes only after the middle of19th century. After 1945, many international conferences adopted resolutions and declarations that are beneficial to the development of pedagogy for special children. Many countries have passed laws on special children's education, declared compulsory education, formed a special education system from early childhood to higher education, established and developed special education research institutes or research centers, special education departments and mass research organizations in universities, conducted research on special children's education and psychological characteristics, published various periodicals and works, and strengthened the international situation.

In ancient China, there were records about the education of the blind and deaf. The Book of Rites expounded the idea that "anyone with disabilities must be provided for". Before the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), there were only a few schools for the blind and deaf in China. 1874 Beijing opened the first school for blind children, and Dengzhou (later moved to Yantai) in Shandong established the first school for the deaf. There used to be the name of "special education" and "special education", and some people have studied the education of blind, deaf, talented, mentally retarded and stubborn children. After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), schools for the blind and the deaf were incorporated into the national education system in the Decision on the Reform of Academic System. The number and quantity of schools have developed greatly. 1953 The Ministry of Education established the Department of Education for the Blind and Deaf. In addition to administrative work, it also conducts some scientific research, holds teacher training courses, publishes the Deaf-mute Education Newsletter and translates books on the education of disabled children. Since 1955, a new type of work-study school has been established for young people who have lost their feet. 1958, a pilot class for mentally retarded children was started. From 65438 to 0980, the Ministry of Education established the Department of Special Education. Beijing Normal University has set up a special education research group. 1982 1 1 The Special Education Research Association of China Education Association was established.

The pedagogy of special children is closely related to general pedagogy, general psychology, pathological psychology, medicine, linguistics and other disciplines. The main contents of its research are: ① the characteristics of physical and mental development of special children and the law of education. ② The essence, purpose and task of special education. ③ Principles and methods of defect compensation (or development genius). ④ To study the education, teaching contents, methods, means, organizational forms and systems specially organized for each kind of children, and the relationship between education and family and society. ⑤ To study ways to give full play to the talents of special children, so that they can become equal members of society and contribute to social progress. The observation and experimental methods in pedagogy research are more meaningful to the pedagogy of special children. Teachers, psychologists and doctors often work together when studying the education of disabled children. The research on problem children is mainly based on the education department, and other relevant departments need to cooperate. Tracking learning is also used for supernormal children.

In China, special education, as an integral part of the whole education, has the same general purpose and task as general education, enabling special children to develop morally, intellectually and physically in an all-round way and become educated workers with socialist consciousness. But the education of all kinds of children has its own characteristics. On the one hand, we should set out from the actual situation of different children and have different requirements for tasks; On the other hand, they should have their own special tasks (for example, the education of disabled children has the task of compensating visual, auditory and motor obstacles and vocational labor education; The education of problem children has the task of saving juvenile delinquents and reforming their bad habits and behaviors; The education of gifted children has the task of accelerating their development. The organizational forms of special education in China are also different for all kinds of children. There are special schools (schools for blind children, schools for the deaf, etc.). ) or special classes for disabled children in ordinary schools. Work-through-school for children with problems (there is a reeducation-through-labor place for criminals in the public security system). Generally, special children are educated by individual counseling, key training and advanced placement learning, and there are also a few experimental classes for special children. The teaching principles in general education are also applicable to the education of special children, but there are some special principles and means to implement them according to their own characteristics. For example, deaf children's education should implement the principle of the unity of teaching process and language formation, make full use of various sensory organs, and use sign language, sign language and other teaching methods to cooperate with oral teaching. The reform school adopts the policy of "saving children and cultivating talents", focusing on positive education, paying attention to ideological education and learning of cultural knowledge, arranging certain productive labor, and stipulating that all students live on campus for management.