ED 5170 - Special Education: Disabilities, Issues, and Laws

The primary goal of this course is to increase the student’s awareness of and sensitivity to individuals with special needs. In this course students will examine and become familiar with the laws relating to special education, the characteristics of various exceptionalities, the pre-referral, referral, and identification process, resources available to support learners, the roles of different related service personnel, the role of a paraeducator, how to work effectively as a team member with general education and other members of the special education team. Students will be expected to apply the knowledge from this course in a special education setting and reflect on what they are learning in the college classroom to what they are seeing in a school setting. (3 credits) There is an experiential component for those seeking licensure.