Helping Young Children Needing Learning Support in an Inclusive Environment

This course provides an introduction to the field of special education and the legal mandates guiding inclusive classroom practices. Participants are introduced to characteristics of children with specific disabilities or atypical development and to the specialized instruction and services designed to meet individualized student needs. The purpose of this course is to understand the special learner, to provide practical and engaging classroom strategies and to understand students who struggle. Participants explore the evidence-based framework from the special education field and from PLN’s frameworks, The Five Early Reading Writing Talking Processes and The

Four Lenses of Learning. Participants need to purchase the following book before class #1. “Don’t Get so Upset: A Guide for Caregivers” by Tamar Jacobson, PhD, Redleaf Press or you can find it on Amazon.

Coursework includes on the job learning competencies focused on the implementation of active learning for young children. The PLN frameworks, The Five Early Reading, Writing and Talking Processes and The Four Lenses of Learning, are integrated into these learning experiences. Participants also gather evidence-based artifacts of student learning that are generated from lesson try-outs based on course content. Online Schoology class sessions are part of the required coursework in addition to face-to-face sessions.