1.1. The rise and great efforts (1852-1926)

The first school in Chile for deaf-mutes was founded in Santiago on October 27^th, 1852, becoming the first on this matter in Latin America. In this school, “reading and writing, religious dogma and morality, and principles of Spanish grammar and arithmetic” were taught for free (Boletín de Leyes…, 1852: Book XX, no. 10). However, ^{Castro (2015}) states that in the Yungay neighborhood of the capital, two months before (August 2^nd) "la Casa de Orates de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles was created, the first formal attempt to take care of the psychiatrically disabled (...) applying various treatments of madness, to heal, repress and sterilize people” (p. 27). Two years later, a second school for deaf-mutes was established, also for free; teaching "(...) reading, writing, Christian doctrine and morality, mental calculation, sewing, embroidery and other handicrafts adapted to the conditions of the students which exercise favors the learning processes” (Boletín de Leyes…, 1854: Book XXII, no. 4). At the same time, two new special schools were established in the capital: one for teaching the blind and the other for the deaf-mute on March 31^st, 1875 (Boletín de Leyes..., 1875: Book XVIII, volume 1). For its part, according to the Decree of April 10^th, 1889, in Art. 1 it is stated: “Create an Institute for Deaf-Mutes whose purpose is to educate the deaf-mute and train teachers for special schools with the same purpose that are convenient to be founded in the Republic”; and in Art. 2: “The method of articulated word and lipreading will be exclusively adopted. The minimum system is prohibited and, as far as possible, the exercise of the hearing organ will be applied” (Boletín de Leyes…, 1889: Volume 1^st quarter). In turn, the ‘Blind’ section was established in the first school for deaf-mutes in 1900. At the beginning of the last century, there were two primary teachers concerned for the mentally handicapped, Luis Flores Fernández (1907) and Miguel Ángel Soto (1910); although, they were not welcomed at the educational level, at the medical level they began to look for possible solutions.

In order to become aware of how intellectually handicapped people were considered at that time, a text from “El Monitor de las Escuelas Primarias” from 1858 is consigned by ^{Castro (2015}, p. 29):

It is not without purpose that we have written these lines to give notice of an important event recently carried out in the United States and in some European towns. This event is the education of idiots, regenerating their bodies and awakening some spark of intelligence in those inert and lost masses, for everything that is not to vegetate in brutalization.

The disease of these unfortunate evicted and almost helpless, has yielded to the care that has been lavished on them; the knowledge of their individuality has been inspired in them, they have acquired more or less power to overcome themselves, and sentiments of duty and affection have been awakened in them. It has been proven that imbeciles are susceptible to discipline and instruction.

Happily, for the poor idiots, the error of those who judged them incurable, and denied them all intelligence has been recognized.

With the actions in favor for special education, Chile responded to its concern of providing education to all its citizens from the beginning of the Republic; in this context, we understand the creation of the First Male School of Preceptors (1842), the University of Chile (1842), the School of Arts and Crafts (1849) and the First Female School of Preceptors (1854) (^{Caiceo, 2010b}). The consolidation of special education in its beginnings is expressed in considering, in today's words, students with permanent special educational needs -PSEN-: deaf-mute and blind. With these works, Chile became a pioneer country in the development of education in Latin America, in its different levels and types. Regarding the education of students with P-SEN (permanent special educational needs), special schools were founded to serve them.

1.2. The development and the main precursors (1927-1964)

1927 is pointed out as the year of the beginning of this new period, because in the Reform promulgated the same year in the government of Carlos Ibáñez del Campo (1927-1931), it is explicitly stated for the first time, that, in the school system outside of the traditional schools, there will be "schools-homes for the destitute, weak and organically inferior, abnormal or mentally retarded children" (Decree No. 7.500, Art. 17, letter d).

During this period, it is worth consigning the creation of different experimental schools, among which, some of them are worth mentioning:

- Special School of experimental category to operate in Ciudad del Niño neighborhood, in San Miguel, Santiago. Created by Decree No. 1.336 on March 21, 1944.

- Due to the preferential concern of the Ministry for a policy that aimed to have greater coverage to care for people with SEN in the forties of the last century, it allowed the founding of various institutions or the formation of groups of work, such as the Special School of Phoniatrics (Decree No. 5.659, 1947), Institute of Therapeutic Pedagogy (Decree No. 10.968, 1949), the School for the Blind and Deaf-Mute was separated into two (Supreme Decree No. 3.871, 1951), School for the Disabled (Decree No. 7.931, 1953), Psychopedagogical Clinic (Decree No. 70, 1955); formation of an interdisciplinary team of professionals from the Neuropsychiatry Service of the Roberto del Río Hospital and the Psychopedagogical Clinic, to take care of dyslexic children, which was left in charge of Dr. Ricardo Olea (1957); a course for the deaf is given, annexed to the Carlos Van Buren Hospital in Valparaíso, dependent of the School for the Deaf of Santiago (Decree No. 8.407, 1957); courses for dyslexics were created at the Special School No. 5, together with the Arriarán Hospital (1959) (Mineduc, 1975); The Leopoldo Donnebaum Foundation was created and directed by himself, focusing its activity on the education and rehabilitation of the mentally handicapped in Providencia, Santiago (1961) and, the following year, the Recovery School was built, in charge of Juan Sandoval, where he started and directed the magazine El Niño Limitado (El Niño Limitado, 1969, p. 7); the National Association for Mentally Deficient Children and Adults was founded (1964).

As a summary of this period, it should be noted that several special schools continued to be created to serve students with P-SEN, but the most important thing is the beginning of the formation of interdisciplinary groups (educators, doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, etc.) to study experimentally, and so better serve children with physical problems (deaf, blind, etc.) and those with mental disabilities. In turn, some names in this area began to stand out, such as Ricardo Olea, Juan Sandoval³ and Leopoldo Donnebaum.

1.3. Consolidation and great scientific achievements (1964-1980)

This period begins with two relevant facts for this area in education: (i) Systematic training of teachers in Special Education at a higher education level and emergence of research groups: Universities: University of Chile, 1964; Pontificia Universidad Católica of Chile (UC Chile), 1969; Pontificia Universidad Católica of Chile, in the Maule Region, 1972; University of Conception, 1971; Austral University of Chile, 1974; Pontificia Universidad Católica of Valparaíso 1978; Católica del Norte University, 1979; simultaneously, several Professional Institutes and Technical Training Centers started to offer technical careers in the area, due to the 1981 legislation. (ii) from the Educational Reform in 1965, initiated by Eduardo Frei Montalva’s government (1964 -1970), an Advisory Commission was set to investigate and prepare proposals for solutions to the problem of mental deficiency in 1965⁴, in order to provide elements that dictate public policies for people with these characteristics; at the same time, it is worth noting the creation of the Department of Special or Differential Education in the structure of the Ministry of Public Education, 1970; the approval of the different study programs for Differential Education: Mental deficit (Supreme Decree No. 310, 1976), Visual deficit Supreme (Decree No. 125, 1980), Specific learning disorders in reading, writing and calculation (Supreme Decree No. 143, 1980), oral language disorders (Supreme Decree 148 of 1980) and hearing disorders (Supreme Decree No. 15, 1981 ); ever since 1985 the Ministry of Education will begin to approve different experimental plans for Labor Centers, both for Santiago and provinces. As the special schools were mostly located in Santiago, several dozen institutions were founded throughout the country, both public and private; among the former, the Experimental Center for Development stands out, dependent on the Directorate of Primary and Normal Education of the Ministry (1967), founded in San Miguel, with the objective of caring for mentally handicapped children and adolescents; an institute dedicated to the education of children with mental retardation⁵ in Viña del Mar (1966), thanks to the collaboration of the neurosurgeon Hugo Gárnica; Special School No. 11 of Valparaíso, at the Van Buren Hospital to attend people with dyslexia (1968); Special School of Punta Arenas (Decree 6558 on August 17^th, 1968 (Mineduc, 1975). Amongst the private ones the Limited Child Aid Corporation -Coanil- can be mentioned, whose objective is "(...) to tend to the integral attention of the subjects with intellectual, working and/or specific, motor and sensory alterations in order to effectively integrate them into society" (Coanil, 1975: s/p). Finally, from 1970 the formation of differential groups began in primary and secondary education for the sake of reducing failure and dropout rates (Decree No. 457, 1976 for schools and Decree No. 1,861, 1979 for high schools); the idea is that the special education teacher maintains contact with the class teacher in the classroom, and thus, he or she can find out better about the shortcomings of each student with SEN and so better psycho-pedagogical support can be provided.

Simultaneously, it is established that in special schools there should be a 'technical office' of professionals: a specialist teacher, a psychologist, a social worker and a speech therapist, in order to support and guide the work of teachers and coordinate the action of the school with parents and the community (Decree No. 911, 1977).

In consideration of the foregoing, it should be noted that in 1970, there were 44 special schools in the country, covering the different SEN. Successively, a new order was given to the Special Schools for the mentally handicap throughout the national territory; Annex No. 1 shows the respective list.

The work carried out since 1965 at the Luis Calvo Mackenna Hospital with specialized personnel in psychiatry to investigate and attend to dyslexia problems deserves special mention; in order to do this, the Ministry of Education creates the Special School No. 15. In the investigative work, the psychologist Luis Bravo Valdivieso stands out, someone wh has become a leading specialist in the area and recognized in Latin American for his research and publications⁶; an important educator, Alfonso Brito, also worked there. Consequently, this new type of deficit began to be addressed. Dr. Bravo's work is enriched by forming a multidisciplinary team, in order to tend to the boys and girls who came to Child Psychiatry more effectively; In this group, Professor Mabel Condemarín Grimberg⁷ stands out because of her concern for children's learning problems, especially in reading. Dr. Bravo, who worked as an academic at Pontificia Universidad Católica of Chile, founded the postgraduate degree in Special Education in the same institution, and later the master’s degree in the same area. In this work, the PhD in Psychology, together with Mabel Condemarín, and other outstanding educators, psychologists and psychiatrists such as Amanda Céspedes, Neva Milicic, Mariana Chadwick, Eugenia Orellana, Alejandra Medina and Viviana Galdames, among others participated together; this entire team researched, taught, and published different investigations that are widely known, such as some of those mentioned in citations 5 and 6.

In order to make the school system teachers aware of SEN their students endure and so, they could identify them in order to give them an adequate education, during 1972, the Psychopedagogical Clinic, directed by Professor Alfonso Brito, and the Center for Improvement, Experimentation and Pedagogical Investigations -CPEIP- of the Ministry of Public Education carried out an 'Improvement course in learning difficulties'. Also, in the following years, in the same CPEIP, an appropriate training was given to those who worked as differential educators without having the corresponding title.

On the other hand, in the latest years of this period, the sons and daughters’ parents with P-SEN began to group together to support each other; and as a consequence, the National Union of Parents and Friends of the Mentally handicap -UNPADE in Spanish-, the Association of Parents of Spastic Children -ASPEC- and the Association of Parents of Autistic Children -ASPAU-, among others, have been created.

Finally, it is important to point out that during this period three relevant events occurred at an international level, the General Assembly of the United Nations approved, in the 2.027ª Plenary Session of 1971, the "Declaration of the Rights of the Mentally Retarded" and in the 2.433ª Plenary Session of 1975, the "Declaration of the Rights of the Disabled" and 1981 was declared, by the same Assembly, as the International Year of the Disabled.

As a synthesis of this period, it has been possible to verify that special education has reached a degree of maturity, due to the incorporation of training for specialists at different universities, allowing the creation of interdisciplinary work groups, to conduct a series of investigations in the area -mainly in learning disorders and in the importance of the development of basic functions for school learning-, the publications and participation in congresses; also it was very important the incorporation of a specific area in the structure of the Ministry of Public Education, to begin with the approval of plans and programs for the different deficits and a continuous improvement of teachers who worked in special schools without the corresponding mention.

2.1. The beginning of the integration and inclusion period, due to the paradigm shift derived from research (1981-2014)

2.2. 2015 Inclusion Law in Chile

During 2014, a Special Education Technical Board in the Ministry of Education was created, which carried out an exhaustive analysis of the situation of this type of education in every level and proposed a series of suggestions that would directly influence the Law Project, which was in the Congress and was going to be promulgated the year after; in this regard, it highlights about the school system:

Within the framework for the aims of the selection, it is recommended that the Law Project that puts an end to this option and safeguards the right to inclusion and non-discrimination in the admission processes of students with disabilities in regular and special schools, that equal opportunities are guaranteed in the access, that also, they are given priority in the schools of their choice and ensure an equitable distribution of these students in the school system (^{Infante et al, 2015}, p. 52).

After nearly a year of debate in parliament, Law No. 20.845, called School Inclusion was approved (2015), being published in the Official Gazette on June 8^th, but coming into effect on March 1^st, 2016., starting date of the school year in Chile. Regarding the issue of special education, there is significant progress with respect to Decree No. 170 (2009), ceasing to be optional whether an establishment has the PIE Program with students with SEN or not, because now, parents and guardians can register their pupils in the admission system managed by the Ministry of Education itself and the establishments must receive students with T-SEN (temporary) and P-SEN (permanent). Downwards, there are some relevant aspects of the previously mentioned School Inclusion Law:

Integration and inclusion: "The system will tend to eliminate all forms of arbitrary discrimination that obstructs the student’s participation and learning processes" (Art. 1, point 1, letter k).

Quality inclusive education: "It is the duty of the State to dispose and ensure a quality inclusive education for all. Likewise, it is the duty of the State to promote the generation of the necessary conditions for the access and permanence of students with special educational needs in regular or special educational establishments, depending on the best interests of the child or ward." (Art. 1, point 2, letter a); further on, it adds that access must be "equitable, inclusive and without arbitrary discrimination" (Art. 1, point 2, letter b); subsequently it is indicated that quality education is understood to be that which has an "integral character" (Art. 3, point 1, letter b)

System of admission to the school system: "The processes of admission of students to educational establishments will be carried out through a system that guarantees transparency, equity and equal opportunities, and that ensures the preferential right of parents or guardians to choose the educational establishment for their children” (Art. 1, point 6)

No enrollment cancellation: "(...) directors may not cancel enrollment, expel or suspend their students for derived causes (...) or related to the presence of permanent or temporary special educational needs, that were defined in the second paragraph of article 9, which may be present during their studies (Art. 2, point 5, letter f).

At the same time, the previously mentioned Inclusion Law is reinforced in relation to special or differential education, in the pedagogical aspect, with Decree No. 83 (2015), which in Art. 3 states:

Educational establishments that provide special learning modality and those that have an integration project (PIE) that serve students with special educational needs, must implement the criteria and guidelines for curricular adequacy referred to in this decree at the pre-school and primary general education

The foregoing is complemented by Art 4, which establishes that "they must apply an evaluation according to said adaptations, accessible to their individual characteristics and conditions."

As can be seen, this Law No. 20.845 definitively assumes the concept of connecting special education with the learning processes of students with SEN in the common school; Accordingly, the special educator attends students with SEN in groups apart from their course at different times and, in addition, participates, together with the regular teacher, in the entire class group in which his or her own students are. The Law, however, has meant the closure of many special schools and a considerable increase in children and adolescents with SEN, together with the other students in both, public or private educational establishments financed by the state. This situation has not been exempted from controversy, since questioning arises, considering how schools are going to attend deaf, blind or mentally handicapped students, since it will not be able to have all the necessary specialists to care for them. It is true that the allowance provided by the State for a student with SEN is three times what it is usually provided for a student without SEN, but with a cap of 5 people with T-SEN and only 2 with P-SEN; with the extra allowance received, it is only enough to hire the minimum staff required: differential educators (each one can serve only 20 students), psychologist and speech therapist. In an educational establishment, according to the investigations of Dr. Luis Bravo, the presence of students with SEN has risen from 15% to 30%; in an establishment that has 45 students per class -the maximum allowed by law- so it will have about 15 students with SEN and the law allows financing only 7. Arduous task for the management of schools.