Iowa educator Mildred Wood was a trailblazer in the field of Special Education. Photo credit: Iowa State University
There are many trailblazing educators who have worked diligently for the rights of others in our nation’s public schools. One of these is Mildred H. Wood, an Iowa teacher who campaigned tirelessly for the rights of students with special needs.
Mildred was born on April 19, 1920, in Alta, Iowa. After her graduation from Humboldt High School in 1937, she enrolled at the University of Northern Iowa, where she earned her Bachelor’s degree in 1956, her Master’s degree in 1962, and a post-graduate degree as an Education Specialist in 1963. She earned her PhD from the University of Indiana in 1970. She completed additional courses in child psychology and learning processes from Syracuse University and the University of Oregon.
Mildred inaugurated her career as an educator in the Rowley Consolidated School System in Iowa in 1939. She taught first and second graders that year, a year she considered a personal failure because she felt unable to help one of her students who had both vision and hearing impairments.
As a result of these personal experiences in the classroom and her subsequent pedagogical studies, Mildred went on to become a pioneer in the field of special education in Iowa. In the 1960’s, she became an expert in the recognition and instruction of learning disabilities, emphasizing early identification and tailoring interventions. She developed and taught courses on learning disabilities and integrated principles of child psychology into teacher training programs. She emphasized diagnostic testing and individualized learning strategies for those who had been previously mislabeled or overlooked.
In addition to her work in the classroom, Mildred was also an author and a newspaper column writer. She published a column entitled “Parents and Learning Disabilities” for the Waterloo Courier, and developed policy when she was appointed to the Governor’s Task Force on Education.
For her work on behalf of special needs students, Mildred garnered multiple honors and awards. She was inducted into the Iowa Women’s Hall of Fame in 2011, and later that year garnered a 2012 UNI Outstanding Alumnus Award. She also earned the President’s Award from the Iowa Association for Children and Youth with Learning Disabilities, and received the highest honor from Iowa’s Commission of Persons with Disabilities.
Mildred Wood passed away on July 6, 2014. She was 94 years old. She is interred at Greenwood Cemetery in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
