Affiliation:
1. Ypsilanti Public Schools, MI, USA
Abstract
Editor’s Note In recent years, more than 700,000 children aged 3 through 5 years identified with speech or language impairments (44%), developmental delay (37%), autism (9%), and other disabilities (10%) received federally supported special education services. For our republished article in the inaugural issue of the 50th anniversary volume, we have selected a historical piece by David P. Weikart. Working in Ypsilanti, Michigan, in the early 1960s, Weikart and his colleagues saw the need for—and projected the benefits of providing—structured educational experiences to preschool children from disadvantaged backgrounds. His work on the Perry Preschool Project is widely recognized as a foundation for evidence-based practices driving continuing interest in and success of early childhood education and special education programs today.