Itard

A patriarch of special education, Jean-Marc Gaspard Itard did not start out as the infamous physician he came to be. Educated to be a tradesman, Itard was forced to join the army during the late 1700’s, presenting himself as a physician. Demonstrating considerable talent for medicine, he received his medical education “on the job” and in 1796 took on a formal surgical internship in Paris. He quickly made his presence, and talents, known and was appointed Chief Physician at the National Institution for Deaf-Mutes in Paris, in 1800. He made his mark in medicine with numerous accomplishments in otology, but it was his work with “The Wild Boy of Aveyron” which earned him an international reputation. In early 1800, The Wild Boy of Aveyron was sent to Paris to be examined by a team of physicians. It was there where Itard met the boy, adopted him into his home and named him Victor. While other physicians declared Victor to be mentally deficient, Itard disagreed. He believed Victor seemed to be deficient due to a severe lack of human interaction. Itard devoted five years of his career into an intensive, individualized educational program. He believed that Victor could not learn effectively until he became attuned to his environment, leading Itard to rely heavily on sensory training and stimulation in his educational approach.

Influenced by philosophers whom advanced the idea that all knowledge comes through the senses, Itard believed Victor could not learn effectively until he became more attuned to his environment, heavily influencing his educational approach to sensory-training and stimulation. Despite failing to make Victor “normal”, Itard was the first physician to declare that an enriched environment could compensate for developmental delays caused by heredity or previous deprivation. Maria Montessori was fascinated by Itard’s work and scientific approach to learning. Itard based his work on observations and experiments, leading him to assume that normal