Past Tense—Nearly fifty years of research and service for individuals with autism IN 1973 PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY’S Special Education Department applied for and received federal monies to study the validity of providing educational services for individuals with autism in public school settings. For many years prior to the late sixties the prevailing belief was that children with autism were uneducable and could only be served in institutional settings. During the ‘60s several researchers around the country were showing impressive gains using individual therapies, but no public school inclusion programs were being reported. The research grant originally obtained by PSU was quite likely the first in the country to use instructional methodologies with a group of students with autism in a classroom setting. 7 This first classroom was placed in the basement of the Helen Gordon Child Development Center and was soon moved to a local Portland public elementary school. An almost constant stream of research and teaching grants have been awarded to PSU’s School of Education in the years following this first pioneering work, and numerous research articles describing methods for teaching and evaluating these individuals with autism have been published. The early work conducted by David Krug, Joel Arick, Pat Almond, and Cheryl Scanlon in the field of autism and special education has been followed by major studies recently completed and others currently underway at PSU by Ann Fullerton, Helen Young, and Ruth Falco. —Dave Krug PAST TENSE is an occasional column featuring glimpses into Portland State’s history. To submit a story (or an idea for one), email the RAPS History Preservation Committee —Photograph taken at Helen Gordon Child Development Center and used with permission of author.
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