Add-On License in Moderate Disabilities (PreK–8)

This course provides an overview of the challenges that students with moderate disabilities encounter in their lives. The class explores how disabilities are identified, what necessary steps are taken to refer students for evaluations in the Special Education process, characteristics of students with disabilities, general issues of evaluation approaches and research-based accommodations and interventions, including the use of assistive technology devices and behavioral interventions. State and federal laws as well as an overview of local and national support agencies are also reviewed.

This course provides an overview of the emergence of language and writing across development. This course also examines how to draw from knowledge of oral language and writing development to plan and implement evidence-based writing instruction for PK–8 students reflecting a wide range of needs and backgrounds to address the Massachusetts English Language Arts Curricular Frameworks. This includes evidence-based instruction for sentence structure and conventions, craft of writing and the writing process and strategies. Field experience is necessary to complete course assignments.

This course in classroom assessment and instruction examines how effective instruction depends on ongoing, meaningful assessment. Instructional and behavioral assessment, as well as techniques, are addressed. This course studies how models of instruction in different content areas depend on how teachers can collect and use assessment data. Further, this data is used to inform effective instruction to enable all students to produce great learning outcomes, regardless of their learning disabilities and challenges.