Meeting times and location

Wednesdays, 4:00-6:45, SH 230

Course Documents

Syllabus

Course Description

The goal of this course is twofold: First, you will develop your knowledge of typical and atypical development and the role of special education services in supporting students who are experiencing atypical development.  This will include a focus on the special education system in schools and the process of developing individual education programs (IEPs) for students who are eligible for services. 

Next, we will focus on the development of communicative competence, with a particular focus on the way in which speech and language develop and influence each other. As part of our discussion about the processes involved in mastering communicative competence, we will consider dialectal variations, second language acquisition, and the impact of communication disorders on an individual’s ability to interact with and successfully express him or herself to others.  As educators, it is critical that you recognize how the individual components of expression (articulation, pragmatics, etc.) combine to produce communicative competence.  It is also critical for you to identify challenges that students may experience in this domain so that you can appropriately modify the curriculum and make accommodations for that student.  While some students will receive speech and language services to address deficits in the area of communicative competence, many who experience challenges in this domain will not qualify for or be appropriately served by individual therapy sessions.