MAAPS Celebrating IDEA 50 Years Blog Series
From Hope to Healing: 50 Years of IDEA and Therapeutic Education
Nancy Fuller, Executive Director Emerita (1974–2024), Community Therapeutic Day School, Lexington, MA
Also posted in the Lexington Observer
When the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was signed into law in 1975, it did more than expand access to classrooms. For thousands of young people and their families, it laid the foundation for a model of education that addressed not only academics, but the full complexity of children’s lives.
The 1960s and 1970s were a time of enormous cultural change. Large state hospitals were closing, the public began questioning institutionalization, and new approaches in medicine, psychology, and education offered hope that children with complex needs could thrive in educational settings.
Inspired by a new concept of “therapeutic communities” in 1974, Dr. Bruce Hauptman and a small team of innovators came together to create what would soon become the Community Therapeutic Day School (CTDS) —a school designed for children whose educational, emotional, and medical needs could not be met in traditional classrooms. They worked with limited resources but with an unlimited determination, creating an environment where children and families could begin to find understanding, healing, and most of all, hope.
Just one year later, IDEA was enacted. For our school, IDEA wasn’t just a policy—it provided the roots to flourish. With IDEA’s protections, therapeutic schools could expand services beyond academics: integrating psychotherapy, neuropsychological evaluations, and family collaboration/support groups. Over the decades, in part due to IDEA funding, CTDS was able to grow from a small, mobile program to a stable and respected institution that today serves 200 students annually.
At its core, therapeutic education recognizes that learning cannot be separated from emotional well-being.
These CTDS values echo what IDEA made possible: schools that see children not as problems to institutionalize, but as human beings with dignity, potential, and a right to education.
Today, as IDEA turns 50, CTDS and therapeutic schools across the United States stand as a testament to what therapeutic education can achieve. What began as a bold experiment in 1974 is now a thriving program that not only educates but also heals, guides, and sustains families. CTDS continues to carry forward the values of connection, curiosity, and compassion while integrating advances in science, psychiatry, and psychology.
IDEA gave CTDS the foundation. Therapeutic education built the framework. And together, they have given thousands of children the chance not only to learn, but to live fully. As we look ahead, the call is clear: continue to fund, protect, and expand IDEA so that therapeutic schools across the country can keep offering hope, healing, and education to children who need it most.
Nancy Fuller served as CTDS’ Executive Director for 45 years, since co-founding the organization in 1974 – just one year before IDEA was enacted into law. Today, Mark Lucier serves as Executive Director.