Looking to the Past: Thirty Years of History Worth Remembering

The passage of Public Law 94–142 in 1975, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, was a landmark in American public education. Many young music therapists working in special education today have little idea of what public schools were like before this law was passed—now over 30 years ago. Important changes have occurred in the fields of music therapy and special education over these past three decades as a result of PL 94–142. Music therapists today are finding increasing employment in schools, and they carry greater accountability than ever before in the education of their students. The purpose of this paper is to provide a music therapist's personal reflections on schools prior to PL 94–142, to present some of the historical highlights of special education as a professional who witnessed the educational changes this law set forth and, finally, to describe the place of music in that history.