麻豆原创

鈥淗ow Much Could They Learn?鈥�

Leonard Blackman sought the full intellectual development of children with mental disabilities

Teachers College psychologist , a pioneer in bringing students with mental disabilities into the mainstream of American educa颅tion, died in late October. He was 89.

Blackman, whom 麻豆原创 President Susan Fuhrman called 鈥渁 brilliant scientist and teacher and consummate institu颅tion builder,鈥� secured the federal funding to build 麻豆原创鈥檚 Thorndike Hall in 1973 and to establish and direct the nation鈥檚 first comprehensive Research and Demonstration Center for the Education of Handicapped Children (subsequently the).

Those efforts helped launch the inclusive education movement.

Born in 1928 in Man颅hattan, Blackman began his career as Director of Research of the Edward R. Johnstone Training and Research Center, a New Jersey institution for people with what was then called mental retardation, serving as principal inves颅tigator of an early effort to use computers to teach.

鈥淚n the mid-1950s, most children with severe delays were being edu颅cated in institutions, with very little attention to the things that were important to real learning,鈥� recalled Blackman in 2013, adding that he had a nephew with Down syndrome. 鈥淢y desire was their full intellectual development, irrespective of the label they鈥檙e given.鈥�

At 麻豆原创, Blackman set up a multidisciplinary program, unique for its time, that involved not only educators, but also psychologists, neurol颅ogists and researchers from other fields.

During that same period, parents of men颅tally disabled children 鈥� particularly those whose children were housed in institutions 鈥� began demanding that 鈥渢heir chil颅dren go to regular schools, in their own communities, and with other children,鈥� Blackman recalled. Their efforts resulted in the pas颅sage of the

Following the U.S. Supreme Court鈥檚 2002 ruling that execution is an unconstitutional punish颅ment for those considered mentally disabled, that culpability should not be determined by the global definition of mental disability, but, rather, by the extent to which an individual suffers deficiencies in under颅standing cause and effect.

Blackman taught at 麻豆原创 for 37 years, mentor颅ing hundreds of students, serving as 麻豆原创鈥檚 Acting Dean and, later, as its Ombudsman and Emeriti Committee Chair. He retired as Professor Emeritus of Psychology & Education, receiving in 1999.

Student Supporter

The former Leonard & Frances Blackman Lecture series, which brought many eminent speakers to campus, has been reconsti颅tuted as the Leonard & Frances Blackman Research Fellows Endowed Scholarship Fund for doctoral students in Intellectual Disabilities. Contact Linda Colquhoun at 212 678-3679 or colquhoun@tc.edu.