Special Education

The Special Education program prepares you to work with mild to moderately disabled children in a self-contained or resource classroom. You will learn child development, differentiated learning, behavior intervention strategies, working with families and community resources, and strategies to teach students with learning deficits.

The Department of Education faculty is committed to the professional preparation of teachers for employment in special education programs. The goals are to prepare teachers who are:

• Classroom leaders, professionally prepared to accept responsibility for student learning
• Highly knowledgeable in their cognitive areas
• Skilled in the techniques and methods of teaching across a diverse student population
• Practiced in the application of six domains of positive teacher dispositions

The Professional Semester – Special Education
A student enrolled in Cross Categorical Disabilities Student Teaching will assume the daily teaching schedule of the cooperating teacher. Cross Categorical Disabilities Student Teaching (EDU 427 Cross Categorical Disabilities Student Teaching) is to be taken during the student’s senior year. Seminar in Elementary Education & Human Relations (EDU 403 Seminar in Elementary Education and Human Relations) is to be taken concurrently with Cross Categorical Disabilities Student Teaching. A passing score on the appropriate Content Area Assessment is required before enrollment in EDU 403 Seminar in Elementary Education and Human Relations and EDU 427 Cross Categorical Disabilities Student Teaching.

Course work during the professional education semester is usually limited to EDU 403 Seminar in Elementary Education and Human Relations and EDU 427 Cross Categorical Disabilities Student Teaching. Petition for any additional course work must be submitted to the Education Department in the semester prior to Student Teaching.

All of Missouri Western’s teacher education programs are accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and by the Missouri State Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.