Zoltán Toth

* Nagykeszi, December 5, 1883 – † Budapest, May 17, 1940 / special education teacher, ; high school teacher ; ; He obtained his teaching certificate in 1903 at the Léva teacher training college. In 1906, he received a special education teacher's diploma in Budapest, and in addition, he studied pedagogy, psychology and philosophy at the University of Science, then obtained a secondary school teacher's certificate in natural history and chemistry and received the title of Doctor of Humanities. From 1905, he worked as a teacher at the Institute for the Blind in Budapest. During World War I, he headed the social office of the Office for the Disabled. In 1919–1922 he was the director of the Institute for the Young Blind, and from 1922 until his death he taught at the Special Education Teacher Training College he founded, also serving as director in 1924. Between 1922 and 1940 he was the secretary general of the Hungarian Special Education Society, which he initiated, and a member of the board of directors of the Children's Protection League. On his initiative, special education teachers built relationships with representatives of law, medicine, and sociology, which enabled the foundation of a new approach to special education. One of his professional assistants was Lipót Szondi (Nyitra). He introduced the four-year training at the Special Education Teacher Training College and developed the educational program and the organizational regulations of the institution. The aim of the training was to prepare teachers who would teach the sensory, intellectual and morally disabled, as well as those with speech disorders. It was considered a novelty that the hard of hearing and the visually impaired could also be admitted to higher education. He advocated the development of special education not only for children with disabilities, but also for adults. ; ; His main works: ; The Imagination of the Blind, 1927, ; The Education of the Blind, 1928, ; The Latest Guidelines of the Science of Healing and Education, 1931, ; The Latest Guidelines of Special Education (also in German), 1931, ; General Special Education, 1933, ; The Role of Special Education in the Development of Universal Educational Thinking, 1935.