德保尔大学

The Bachelor of Science in Special Education will prepare you to teach students with exceptionalities in kindergarten through 12th grade in a variety of urban and suburban educational settings, including public and private schools.

By completing the Special Education program, you will be eligible for the Illinois Learning and Behaviour Specialist I (LBS1) license, provided you complete additional state requirements.

As a Special Education major, you will learn to:

• Apply specific strategies needed to teach exceptional learners
• Consult and co-teach in general education inclusion classrooms
• Modify content for exceptional learners in reading, math, natural and social sciences
• Teach small groups of exceptional students in a resource room
• Teach students with more significant disabilities in a self-contained classroom

Courses in the Special Education curriculum will prepare you to do the following:

• Assess exceptional learners
• Implement classroom and behaviour management
• Collaborate with parents and professionals
• Understand how exceptional students learn
• Teach reading, math and the natural and social sciences
• Differentiate instruction
• Teach students with significant disabilities
• Develop transitional and vocational plans

Students entering the program must be able and willing to devote themselves to a program requiring a minimum of 130 hours of field experience. Students should expect to spend 40 hours of evening field hours in the Education and Counseling Center, and 90 hours of daytime field experience in schools. These school-based clinical hours are completed in conjunction with methodology courses that require students to spend a half-day each week in a school. In addition, the student must spend a minimum of 16 weeks in full-time student teaching.

Learning Outcomes

Students will be able to:

• Recognize how exceptionalities interact with development; apply foundational knowledge inform special education practice, including planning, instruction, and assessment of students with disabilities.
• Understand the connection between learning environment, social-emotional development, and student behavior; create safe, inclusive, culturally responsive learning environments; manage behavior effectively, utilizing proactive management techniques.
• Apply understanding of curricula to design learning for individuals with exceptionalities; choose, modify, and utilize research-based instructional strategies based on learner needs.
• Utilize multiple methods of assessment and data sources in making educational decisions, developing IEPs, and planning instruction; collaborate with other school-based professionals and families to serve student needs; integrate multiple sources of information to inform planning and instruction.​