SPED-577: Responsive Teaching Math/Literacy Instruction for Students w/High Incidence Disabilities

This course provides an in-depth study of responsive teaching strategies to meet diverse learning needs while emphasizing the need for strong homeschool collaboration between schools and families of students with high incidence disabilities. Candidates collaborate to form professional teams with staff, administrators, and others for professional development, instruction, and problem solving. Candidates examine characteristics of students with high incidence disabilities, including learning disabilities, emotional and behavioral disabilities and mild or moderate intellectual disabilities (focusing on how to apply various strategies of accommodations and curricular modifications to meet individualized learning needs.) This course emphasizes a culturally responsive, inclusive philosophy that promotes self-determination. Candidates explore the best of inclusion practices, the most effective general teaching practices, and ways to differentiate instruction for specific content areas with an emphasis on effective literacy and mathematics instruction for learners with complex support needs. Candidates apply principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), and the latest strategies relating to academic success as a means to improve outcomes and prevent failure of all students, including students with disabilities, ELL students, and other at-risk students.