The Bachelor of Science in Special Education will prepare you to teach students with exceptionalities in kindergarten through 12th grade in a variety of urban and suburban educational settings, including public and private schools.
By completing the Special Education program, you will be eligible for the Illinois Learning and Behavior Specialist I (LBS1) license, provided you complete additional state requirements.
As a Special Education major, you will learn to:
- Apply specific strategies needed to teach exceptional learners
- Consult and co-teach in general education inclusion classrooms
- Modify content for exceptional learners in reading, math, natural and social sciences
- Teach small groups of exceptional students in a resource room
- Teach students with more significant disabilities in a self-contained classroom
Courses in the Special Education curriculum will prepare you to do the following:
- Assess exceptional learners
- Implement classroom and behavior management
- Collaborate with parents and professionals
- Understand how exceptional students learn
- Teach reading, math and the natural and social sciences
- Differentiate instruction
- Teach students with significant disabilities
- Develop transitional and vocational plans
Students entering the program must be able and willing to devote themselves to a program requiring a minimum of 130 hours of field experience. Students should expect to spend 40 hours of evening field hours in the Education and Counseling Center, and 90 hours of daytime field experience in schools. These school-based clinical hours are completed in conjunction with methodology courses that require students to spend a half-day each week in a school. In addition, the student must spend a minimum of 16 weeks in full-time student teaching.
Please make sure you consult the Liberal Studies Requirements, Major Requirements, and College Core Requirements for full degree requirements.
This program leads to Illinois licensure in special education (Learning and Behavior Specialist 1)