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Counseling Psychology and Special Education 400
Spring 2006
Brigham Young University
Department of Counseling Psychology and Special Education
Course Title: Exceptional Students: Principles of Collaboration
Course Credit: 2 semester hours
Instructors: /Dr. Lynn Wilder
340H MCKB
Office: 422-1237
Cell: 380-7622
Home: 492-4299
/ Office Hours:
in 340H MCKB
Mondays 12-2
Tuesdays 12-2
Wednesdays 10-12 and
by appointment
Call my cell.
Teaching Assistants: / Sungti Hsu,
Terri Humphrey, / Wednesdays 12-2
Wednesdays 12-2
Course Description: This course prepares future classroom teachers to understand how students with exceptionalities learn, and to use basic strategies for meeting their educational needs. Participants will identify: the ways individuals differ, the exceptionalities defined in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, strategies to instruct students with various learning needs, curricular adaptations and accommodations for students with disabilities, and ways to collaborate with parents and professionals.
Prerequisites: None
Concurrent field experience: Work a minimum of 12 hours with a student with disabilities (or at risk of failure) in a general education school classroom and submit a case study regarding this volunteer work.
Text: CDs of text written by professors in the BYU Department of Counseling Psychology and Special Education are available in bookstore.
Guiding Framework: As a department, we embrace the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) Standards as our guiding framework for preparing teacher candidates.
The Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) Standards: The INTASC standards center on five major propositions: (1) Teachers are committed to students and their learning. (2) Teachers know the subjects they teach and how to teach those subjects to diverse learners. (3) Teachers are responsible for managing and monitoring student learning. (4) Teachers think systematically about their practice and learn from experience. (5) Teachers are members of learning communities.
Course Objectives: This course is designed to meet the requirements needed for a state of Utah teaching license in Elementary Education, Secondary Education, and Special Education and to also meet the standards of the Council for Exceptional Children (See http://www.cec.sped.org/ps/perf_based_stds/standards.html/#standards for a full description of the CEC standards). INTASC and CEC standards are met in this course as listed below.
Students will:
Objective / INTASC and CEC Standards / Assessment1. Describe the various ways in which people differ and identify barriers and ways to increase understanding of exceptionality. / 3: Diverse Learners
CC1K5 CC1K10
CC5K9 CC6K2
CC6K3 CC9K1 / · Quiz 1
· Unit Exam I
· Electronic Discussion 1
2. Define special education and describe the legal structure of services for individuals with disabilities, including the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. / 7: Planning Instruction
CC1K8 CC8K2
GC1K7 / · Quiz 2
· Unit Exam II
· Hypothetical Parent Letter
3. Describe the Learning Journey and how teachers use it to plan and implement effective instruction. / 7: Planning Instruction / · Quiz 3
· Unit Exam I
4. Identify the keys to effective collaboration, and the role of collaboration in special education. / 10: Collaboration, Ethics, and Relationships / · Quiz 4
· Unit Exam I
· Electronic Discussion 2
· Collaboration with Others
5. Describe the steps in the Individualized Education Program (IEP) process. / 7: Planning Instruction
CC3K3 / · Quiz 5
· Unit Exam I
6. Explain the requirements of the law for services for eligible infants and toddlers, preschool children, and adolescents with disabilities. / 7: Planning Instruction
CC1K5 / · Quiz 6
· Unit Exam I
7. Describe the characteristics, prevalence, and educational strategies for students with specific learning disabilities, speech or language impairment, mental retardation, and emotional disturbance. / 3: Diverse Learners
CC1K5 CC1K9
CC2K3 CC10K4 / · Quiz 7
· Unit Exam II
· Demographic Information
· Electronic Discussion 5
8. Describe the characteristics, prevalence, and educational strategies for students with other health impairments, visual impairments, autism, traumatic brain injury, deaf/blindness, and developmental delay. / 3: Diverse Learners
CC1K5 CC1K9
CC2K3 CC10K4 / · Quiz 8
· Unit Exam II
· Demographic Information
· Electronic Discussion 5
9. Define various cultural differences and explain the effects of cultural, ethnic, and language diversity on the education of individuals with disabilities. / 3: Diverse Learners
CC1K5 CC1K9
CC1K10 CC2K3
CC3K3 CC3K4
CC5K9 CC6K2
CC6K3 CC9K1
CC10K4 GC1K7 / · Quiz 9
· Unit Exam II
10. Describe the characteristics, prevalence, and educational strategies for students who are gifted, talented, and/or creative. / 3: Diverse Learners
CC1K5 CC1K9
CC2K3 CC10K4 / · Quiz 10
· Unit Exam II
11. Explain the concept of, and strategies for, accommodating to meet individual student needs. / 7: Planning Instruction
CC1K9 CC10K4 / · Quizzes 11-13
· Unit Exam III
· Electronic Discussion 4
12. Describe how to use assessment results to make instructional decisions. / 7: Planning Instruction / · Quizzes 11-13
· Unit Exam III
· Pre-referral Checklist and Instructional/
Behavioral Strategies
13. Identify ways to accommodate for individual learning needs in reading. / 7: Planning Instruction
CC1K9 CC10K4 / · Quiz 11
· Unit Exam III
· School Learning Environment
14. Identify ways to accommodate for individual learning needs in written language. / 7: Planning Instruction
CC1K9 CC10K4 / · Quiz 12
· Unit Exam III
· School Learning Environment
15. Identify ways to accommodate for individual learning needs in math. / 7: Planning Instruction
CC1K9 CC10K4 / · Quiz 13
· Unit Exam III
· School Learning Environment
16. Explain ways to understand and manage student behaviors, including proactive strategies for success, building positive relationships, and strategies for managing challenging behaviors. / 5: Learning Environments
CC3K4 / · Quiz 14
· Unit Exam III
· Electronic Discussion 3
17. Complete a 12-hour field experience involving service with a student with disabilities and submit a case study of assignments regarding the experience. / 3: Diverse Learners
CC1K5 CC1K9
CC1K10 CC3K3
CC3K4 CC6K2
CC6K3 CC10K4
GC1K7 / · What I Learned
· Learning Log
· Cooperating Teacher Evaluation
· Confidentiality Statement
Course Content:
This course is organized into two parts, each of which must be successfully completed to receive a passing grade for the course. The first part is the Field Experience/Case Study. This is explained in detail in the beginning of the course.See Assignments on Blackboard. The second part is the three units of study.
UnitI on Foundations and the Law consists of six lessons: an introduction to exceptionality, an explanation of special education, a discussion of education for all learners, instruction oncollaboration for special needs, a description of the IEP process, and an explanation of services for young children and adolescents.
Unit II, entitled Exceptionalities, includes four lessons which teach the following topics: high incidence exceptionalities, low incidence exceptionalities, multicultural issues, and gifted and talented children.
Unit III, called Making Adaptations and Accommodations, includes four lessons which cover: adapting the curriculum in reading, language arts, and math, and adapting the classroom for challenging behavior. THIS SPRING WE WILL BE STUDYING UNIT 1, THEN 3, THEN 2.
Course Assignments:
Quizzes. Each lesson has Mastery Checks interspersed throughout the lessons, and each lesson is followed by a 10-question multiple choice quiz worth five points to test your understanding of the material taught. Quizzes should be taken following your study of the lesson and prior to class. You should NOT print the quizzes from the website.
Professionalism. Attendance, promptness (arriving on time and not leaving early), active participation, and completion of assignments will be evaluated using a self-evaluation form. This must be completed at the beginning of class.
Case Study. A case study will be submitted describing the 12-hour field experience (see Case Study Checklist). All case study assignments must be typed and turned in on Livetext.
Field Experience:
The field experience and related assignments are described in detail on the course website. Briefly described, participants will:
• Locate a classroom and a student with disabilities (or at risk of failure) that can serve as the subject of the experience.
• Spend at least 12 hours working in the classroom with the student, under the direction of the classroom teacher.
• Complete and submit a case study regarding this experience.
Late Work: Late work will receive half credit. Turn all of your work in on time on Livetext. Spring Term goes fast!
Your Grade: Your final grade for the course is computed by the evaluation of the following assignments:
Quizzes / 14 @ 5 points per quiz / 70 pointsFinal Exam / 1 @ 50 points per exam / 50 points
Professionalism Self-Evaluation / 7 weeks @ 5 per class / 35 points
Web Quests / 1 @ 30 points / 30 points
FED, PIBS, Course Evaluation / 3 @ 5 apiece / 15 points
Case Study for Field Experience / 8 components @ 20 points / 160 points
TOTAL POINTS / 360 points
Your letter grade for the course will be calculated using the following grade equivalents for your percentage earned:
A 95 - 100 / C 73 - 76A- 90 - 94 / C- 70 - 72
B+ 87 - 89 / D+ 67 - 69
B 83 - 86 / D 63 - 66
B- 80 - 82 / D - 60 - 62
C+ 77 - 79
Course Expectations:
- Honor Code: Students are expected to adhere to the BYU Honor Code, and dress/grooming standards.
- Preparation: Students are expected to be prepared for each class by completing assignments, readings, and quizzes prior to class.
- Participation: Students are expected to attend each class period and to actively participate in classroom presentations, collaborative learning groups, and classroom discussions.
- Written Work: Written reports are expected to be professional: proof-read your report at least once prior to submitting it. Reports should typed and be free of spelling, grammatical, and typographical errors. Reports should be written in American Psychological Association 5th Edition style.
- Assignments: All assignments are due at the beginning of class on the day assigned. It is expected that all written work reflect the efforts of the individual student (except for cooperative learning group projects). Identical work submitted by two or more students will be regarded as plagiarism.
- Personal Responsibility: Students are expected to check the online course information and/or the course syllabus for clarification needed regarding assignments prior to contacting the professor.
7. Out of Class Work: Following university standards, students are expected to spend approximately 2-3 hours of out-of-class work per semester hour for a course. Since this is Spring Term and we meet 2 class periods per week--that equals 8-12 hours per week for out-of-class work for CPSE 400 each week of Spring Term. I doubt that you will spend that much time. The out-of-class work will consist of reading the short lessons, studying for and taking the quizzes, working 3-4 hours in a classroom for the field experience, and completing the course assignments.
- Online Submission of Work: All quizzes will be administered via Blackboard. Case study assignments will be submitted via Livetext. Students are expected to complete these assignments as directed by their professor.
- LiveText: All case study assignments must be submitted via your LiveText account. See Blackboard for directions.
Methodologies/Teaching Strategies: The course content will be learned primarily through the following strategies: reading the text online, completing mastery checks, working with a child with special needs, engaging in class discussions, participating in cooperative learning groups, and viewing videotapes.
Honor Code Standards: In keeping with the principles of the BYU Honor Code, students are expected to be honest in all of their academic work. Academic honesty means, most fundamentally, that any work you present as your own must in fact be your own work and not that of another. Violations of this principle may result in a failing grade in the course and additional disciplinary action by the university. Students are also expected to adhere to the Dress and Grooming Standards. Adherence demonstrates respect for yourself and others and ensures an effective learning and working environment. It is the university’s expectation, and my own expectation in class, that each student will abide by all Honor Code standards. Please call the Honor Code Office at 422-2847 if you have questions about those standards.
Preventing Sexual Harassment: Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits sex discrimination against any participant in an educational program or activity that receives federal funds. The act is intended to eliminate sex discrimination in education. Title IX covers discrimination in programs, admissions, activities, and student-to-student sexual harassment. BYU’s policy against sexual harassment extends not only to employees of the university but to students as well. If you encounter unlawful sexual harassment or gender based discrimination, please talk to your professor; contact the Equal Employment Office at 422-5895 or 367-5689 (24 hours); or contact the Honor Code Office at 422-2847.
Students With Disabilities: Brigham Young University is committed to providing a working and learning atmosphere which reasonably accommodates qualified persons with disabilities. If you have any disability which may impair your ability to complete this course successfully, please contact the University Accessibility Center (422-2767). Reasonable academic accommodations are reviewed for all students who have qualified documented disabilities. Services are coordinated with the student and instructor by the University Accessibility Center. If you need assistance or if you feel you have been unlawfully discriminated against on the basis of disability, you may seek resolution through established grievance policy and procedures. You should contact the Equal Employment Office at 422- 5895, D-282 ASB.
Statement on Diversity: The McKay School of Education and Brigham Young University are committed to preparing students to serve effectively in a diverse society. In this course students will learn methods and material that may be adapted to various settings and contexts. Students are expected to demonstrate the knowledge, skills and dispositions to effectively apply the course content when working individuals and groups with varying abilities and background.
Mission Statement of the BYU Special Education Programs: