History & Events July 26-31, 2010

July 26, 1992 — The Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 was signed into law. The act banned employment discrimination against people with physical and mental disabilities and required employers to make accommodations for the capabilities of disabled employees. See: http://www.disability.gov/ August 28, 1903 — Bruno Bettelheim was born. Bettelheim was a survivor of Nazi concentration camps whose "milieu therapy" emphasized "structured permissiveness" as a therapeutic environment for autistic children. His 1967 book “The Empty Fortress: Infantile Autism and the Birth of the Self” promulgated the “refrigerator mother” notion, doing untold damage to a generation of mothers of children with autism. It was later uncovered that he abused some children under his care. August 31 1870 — Maria Montessori was born near Ancona, Italy. Montessori pioneered a system of early childhood education based on a graduated series of direct experiences and exploration. Her methods were first developed for children with intellectual disability and came to widespread notice when they were used with normal children in a slum area of Rome. Aug 31, 1908 — Robert R. Sears was born. Sears's work focused on the social development of the child, exploring antecedents of aggression, patterns of child rearing, and factors influencing self-esteem. His book “Patterns of Child Rearing” with Eleanor Maccoby and others was a classic.