Education of Children with Special Needs in Lithuania in 1928–1940: ‘Rotten Apples’ or the Vulnerable in Need of Care?

Abstract

This paper examines the development of special education in Lithuania from 1928 to 1940. Based on archival documents, newspapers from the interwar period, and historiography, it reveals the challenges faced by the founders of schools for children with visual, auditory, mental or intellectual disabilities. It also focuses on the public (especially teachers’) opinion on special education issues, which appeared in the pages of the periodical newspapers of the First Republic of Lithuania.