CONT504: Special Education Part 1
This course helps you deepen your understanding of special education through equity, inclusion and anti-oppressive frameworks. You'll develop guiding principles for teaching learners with special education needs, ensuring respectful support that values individual strengths, identities and experiences. Focusing on rights-based frameworks and policies, you'll examine creating inclusive learning environments that address systemic barriers faced by learners with disabilities and marginalized groups. You’ll analyze individual education plans, the identification, placement and review committee process and support models for learners with special education needs. You'll develop practical strategies to identify and support learners using differentiated instruction and a tiered approach, centering learner and family voices. The course also covers essential transition planning strategies.
Learning Outcomes
What You Will Learn and Do
In this course, you’ll have the opportunity to
- reflect on the importance of taking an anti-oppressive approach to supporting learners with diverse needs and adopt it as a guiding principle of teaching
- address individual and systemic bias, discrimination and barriers and explore strategies to address barriers that impact accessibility of special education programs and services
- examine the disproportionate representation of learners from equity-seeking groups within specialized programs
- critique the role of the educator as the champion of inclusion
- examine disability rights-based frameworks and Ontario legislation, including The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action, focusing on how they guide educational practices and frameworks in schools
- apply a social justice approach to a school board special education delivery model and its effectiveness in supporting learners who require special education support
- understand the importance of identifying the strengths and needs of learners who require special education support
- explain the purpose of an individual education plan (IEP) and how it supports learners in the regular learning environment
- recognize ethical responsibilities related to a learner's IEP, safety plan and transition plan
- analyze about the purpose of the identification, placement and review committee (IPRC) process
- identify the categories and definitions of exceptionalities
- review and reflect on educational research and literature regarding professional practices related to special education
- develop effective assessment and teaching strategies, taking into account learner lived experiences when developing programming
- evaluate the importance of transition planning for learners
- reflect on the importance of the role of the parent or guardian in supporting learners with special education needs
Assessments
Module 1
Essential Groundwork for Special Education
Module 2
Special Education Frameworks, Policies and Guidelines
Progress Update 1
Module 3
Special Education Processes and Practices
Module 4
Supporting Learners by Removing Barriers
Progress Update 2
Module 5
Best Practices for Inclusive Instruction
Module 6
Transitions and Shared Responsibility for Learning
Progress Update 3
Module 7
Consolidation of Learning
Final Report