Teacher of Students with Moderate Special Needs
CES offers preparation for these Initial Licenses:
- Teacher of Students With Moderate Disabilities, PreK-8
- Teacher of Students With Moderate Disabilities, 5-12
Requirements:
Candidates may come from either inside or outside of the field of public education. Enrollment is available for those who have a Bachelor’s Degree.
Participants enrolling in the Teacher of Students with Moderate Disabilities Licensure Program will:
- Meet MTEL and application requirements
- Complete 6 required courses
- Complete the Practicum
All courses may be taken for graduate credit. For those interested in obtaining an advanced degree, graduate credits may be applied toward a M.Ed.-Curriculum & Teaching or a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies (CAGS), through CES’s partnership with Fitchburg State University. Graduate credit registration forms are available at the first session of each course. For graduate program procedures and information, contact Beverly Streeter.
Program Details
MTEL Requirements – All Candidates:
- Communication and Literacy Skills Test
- Foundations of Reading Test (taken upon completion of all or part of the program)
MTEL Requirements – PreK-8
- General Curriculum Test
MTEL Requirements – 5-12
- General Curriculum Test or
- Academic Subject Test: English, mathematics, science (biology, chemistry, earth science, general science or physics), history or political science/political philosophy at either the 5-8 or 8-12 level.
Practicum
- PreK-8: 300 hours in an inclusive general education setting or 225 hours in a separate or substantially separate setting for students with moderate disabilities plus 75 hours in an inclusive general education setting
- 5-12: 150 hours in an inclusive general education setting or 75 hours in a separate or substantially separate setting for students with moderate disabilities plus 75 hours in an general education setting
- Success in the practicum is assessed based on the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Pre-Service Performance Assessment
Courses
While every course in the CES Licensure Program may be taken individually (for PDPs or optional graduate credit), these six Licensure courses and a Practicum must be successfully completed to obtain an Initial License as a Teacher of Students with Moderate Special Needs.
Fall
(3 CR) Assessment for Reading Instruction
The focus of this course is the assessment of what students identified with reading and/or writing difficulties understand about the reading and writing processes. This information will then be used as a basis for designing both group and individualized interventions to support these students as they become more proficient readers and writers. Participants will evaluate students identified with literacy difficulties in reading, writing and oral language skills using formal and informal assessment tools, background information and observation. Information gathered will be synthesized and interpreted to select appropriate strategies and plan effective academic programs in the language arts. It is best if participants have access to students who have literacy difficulties in order to carry out class assignments.
(3 CR) Working with the Struggling Reader
This course is designed to give classroom teachers, reading specialists and special education professionals research-based background knowledge of the reading process. The course addresses reading abilities and reading approaches as well as issues of motivation and engagement within all the components of the language arts curriculum. There is a focus on helping teachers develop an ability to design and plan an approach to teaching that yields a comprehensive literacy program for struggling readers of all ages. Students will demonstrate competency in developing and modifying lesson plans as well as reading instruction programs for students with diverse educational and/or cultural needs by assessing, evaluating, designing and implementing prevention and intervention strategies with one student that will require one to one tutoring sessions totaling a minimum of two hours a week.
Spring
(3 CR) Learning Disabilities and Instructional Techniques
The course is a survey of the general field of learning disabilities, including history and definitions, as well as assessment and remediation. The course looks at the underlying neuro-developmental functions of the brain and how differences in brain functioning can lead to difficulties learning in school and can impact job performance in the workplace. The impact of these learning differences on individuals and on society is considered.
(3 CR) Positive Behavior Supports (formerly Managing Challenging Behaviors)
The course addresses the differentiated approaches and the common approaches to successfully educating together typical children and youth and those with the most challenging behaviors. Course participants learn how to:
- create an environment that is conducive to learning;
- create a physical environment appropriate to a range of learning activities;
- maintain appropriate standards of behavior, mutual respect, and safety; and
- use the appropriate management of classroom routines, procedures and student behavior as an element of instruction.
While the title of the course can be interpreted to mean “controlling” students, the contrary is true. The skills, processes, structures, and ways of working with all children allow them to accept greater responsibility with adult guidance. Readings will include a principal text on this topic. The course is organized so that there can be a focus, as appropriate, for course participants on younger special needs students, older special needs students, and typical middle school students.
Summer
(3 CR) Working with Individuals with Disabilities (formerly Working with Individuals with Special Needs)
The needs, levels of functioning and contributions of individuals with special needs are examined. Educational issues and strategies for understanding and working with individuals with autism, communication, developmental delay, emotional, health impairment, intellectual, multiple disabilities, neurological impairment, physical, sensory, specific learning, and traumatic brain injury are explored.
(3 CR) Working with the Range of Students in Mathematics
This course focuses on teaching mathematics to struggling students, including, but not limited to, those with special needs. The course focuses on participants’ interaction will the “big ideas” of mathematics in order to help students develop a strong sense of understanding what is behind the numbers. Participants observe, analyze, and define children’s mathematical learning needs utilizing a variety of evaluative techniques, both of an informal and formal nature.
Participants learn to identify the essential knowledge, understandings, and skills embodied in a diverse mathematical curriculum. The data obtained through the assessment process assists participants in the planning and implementation of plans for learning, including, but not limited to, Individualized Education Plans (IEPs). The evaluation of learning styles (both self and student) is central to this process and is investigated along with a variety of techniques that can be incorporated into instruction of mathematics. Related current research is examined, with findings discussed in class. Explicit relationships with the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks are explored within the context of each discipline. Using this common set of goals, participants create grade level specific lessons and activities.