TCNJ

74 Graduate Course Descriptions SPED 612/ Curriculum and Methods for Students with Mild Disabilities 3 cr. This course examines societal, legal, and professional effects on how curriculum and methods choices are made for learners with disabilities, presents an overview of basic principles of teaching, and examines the repertoire of current best practices in teaching and learning strategies. Curriculum development, curriculum adaptations, integration of cogni- tive strategies, classroom management, and monitoring of student progress are emphasized. Curriculum design, along with lesson planning and delivering and assessing instruction in academic areas, will be discussed and used in course applications. Collaboration with families, colleagues, and community resources and strategies for meaningful inclusion are integrated into the course as important corollaries to curriculum. SPED 617/ Graduate Practicum in Special Education This course is a practicum in which students will have an opportunity to teach children with disabilities in special education and general settings. Students are expected to spend 20 hours a week for the duration of a semester in a public school classroom with at least three students with IEPs. Based on their observations and field experiences, students complete a series of written assignments which relate to models of service delivery in special education, the role of related service personnel, IEP development, lesson design, differentiation of instruction, delivery of instruction, analysis of student learning, and reflection. A seminar is an integral part of this experience. SPED 621/ Assessment and Identification of Young Children with Disabilities 3 cr. This course focuses on a range of formal and informal assessment tools and strategies for young children with disabilities. Methods of assessment will be explored as students are guided through a series of lectures, readings and activities designed to facilitate an understanding of an array of assessment approaches, such as observation-based, formal and standardized assessments, parent interviews and checklists, and trans-disciplinary play-based assessment. This course is designed to provide experiences and skill development in a wide variety of assessments employed in settings such as Early Intervention, Preschool Special Education, Preschool Deaf Education, and Elementary Special Education and Deaf Education (through grade 3). It is expected that the students will demonstrate these skills within their professional environment. SPED 622/ Intervention Strategies for Young Children with Disabilities 3 cr. This course focuses on evidence-based practices for supporting the development and learning of children with disabilities, ages birth through age 8. Methods of intervention will be explored as students are guided through a series of lectures, readings and activities in the following areas: 1) Language-based intervention strategies for young children; 2) Strategies for strengthening social relationships in the ecological context of young children with disabilities; 3) Supports for positive behavior, including responsive classrooms and social narratives; 4) Adult-mediated learning strategies; 5) Modifying the classroom environment to meet the needs of young children with disabilities; 6) Implementation of interventions with children and families across culturally diverse settings. This course is designed to provide experiences in skill development in a wide variety of approaches to intervention employed in settings such as Early Intervention, Preschool Special Education, Preschool Deaf Education, and Elementary Special Education and Deaf Education (through grade 3). It is expected that the students will demonstrate these skills within their professional environment. SPED 624/ Advanced Study of Learning Disabilities 3 cr. An intensive overview of the field of learning disabilities, including definitions, characteristics, medical aspects of attention deficit disorder (ADD), social and emotional behavior, assessment techniques, and major educational approaches to teaching. Instructional approaches will focus on cognitive learning theories and the learning strategies approach to instruction. SPED 626/ Curriculum Design for Individuals with Severe Disabilities 3 cr. The purpose of this course is to provide our students with the knowl- edge and skills that will enable them to address the needs of children and youth with significant disabilities. These disabilities include neuro- logical, developmental, intellectual, sensory, movement, and significant medical or health related disabilities. The neurological and physiological bases of the disabilities and their etiologies, along with the implications for instruction, will be discussed in depth, as will current best practices for education. SPED 631/ Transition and Community-Based Instruction 3 cr. This course introduces students to the historical, philosophical and legal foundations of transition and vocational education in public schools. Based upon a review of the current literature in this area, this course identifies research-validated practices and issues in the transition of youth with disabilities from high school to adult living. Contemporary issues including the legal responsibilities of schools and educators; person centered planning; functional vocational assessment; and collaboration with families and community agencies are addressed. It is expected that by the end of this course, students will have an understanding of the development of transition services as well as the methods of assessment and instruction for learners with diverse abilities in a variety of community settings. SPED 647/ Communication Development of Students with Significant Disorders 3 cr. This course focuses on preparing teachers to understand the early communication development of children with severe disabilities and its educational program implications. Students will develop skills in the analysis of communication development in children who have social, cognitive, motor, and sensory impairments, as well as the application of appropriate augmentative communication systems. There will be an emphasis on assessment of expressive/receptive communication skills (nonsymbolic– symbolic); teaching communication as an access skill across the curriculum; using augmentative communication to access the New Jersey core curriculum content standards; natural and assistive technology supports for communication (augmentative/alternative communication); and measuring skills of interaction/communication in students. SPED 648/ Positive Behavior Supports for Students with Extreme Behaviors 3 cr. This course specifically focuses on addressing the needs of students who demonstrate extremely challenging behaviors and are at a high risk of being excluded from inclusive school and community settings. What are the varied challenges faced by these students and their families? How should the positive behavior supports inquiry process be guided for such students? What can we learn from the perspectives of consumers who are navigating these challenges? What strategies should we use to mobilize school and community support for such students? What are the pros and cons of medication? What kinds of quality-of-life issues need to be addressed in order to bring about a long-term impact on behavior? These are some of the questions that will be addressed throughout this course. The intent of this course is to provide students with the necessary skills that will enable them to support such students and advocate for them within the system. The emphasis of the course is on collaboration, inclusion, and non-aversive techniques. SPED 655/Social and Cultural Constructs of Behavior 3 cr This course introduces students to how constructs of good/bad behavior are situated within larger systems of structural inequality, privilege and oppression. Employing critical disability studies perspectives and principles of social justice, the course encourages students to resist deficit- based narratives of such children and families and focus on the possibilities that exist within supportive contexts. This course approaches emotional and behavioral disorders as social, cultural, and historical constructs and in doing so examines the ways in which educational policy, social systems and schooling practices set the stage for the construction of this disability label. Students will use first-person narratives to investigate the intersections of poverty, language, ability, race, gender, sexual orientation, nationality and ethnicity as they relate to behavior. Typical disciplinary practices and their historical roots will be 252943_001-092_r4.indd 74 8/1/18 9:46 PM

• Cover