Special education was originally a classroom full of kids who for one
reason or another, couldn’t learn at the pace of their original
classmates, or who had behavioral problems. Today there are several
categories of special education and in most states, licenses to match
those categories. That means special education teachers face an
additional educational component for licensure and when they obtain it,
will most likely be paid at a higher scale than regular classroom
teachers. The options for obtaining special education licensure are usually the
traditional educational institutions because of the requirement for
supervised classroom work that is a feature of any teacher education
program. However there are a few schools with online programs that are
accredited by the Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC) or by
the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE).
Categories for Special Education Students
The education community and the organization of school psychologists
have assembled a list of impairments that require special education.
Those include impaired hearing, impaired vision, emotional disability,
developmental delay, autism, mental retardation, orthopedic impairment,
speech impairment, traumatic brain injury, and a category for “other”
health impairments. Then there are the specific learning disabilities
such as dyslexia that are not the result of any physical condition or
injury.
Online Programs at Traditional Universities
The University of North Carolina offers several online programs for
licensed teachers. The East Carolina campus has a master’s program for
licensed teachers that leads to a MAEd with emphasis on one of the
following: mental retardation, emotional/behavioral disabilities,
learning disabilities, or low-incidence disabilities. The Chapel Hill
campus has a MAT program with general training in special education for
students with mild disabilities. The Western Carolina campus offers an
online MAEd with three tracks: mild disabilities, severe disabilities,
and gifted children. The University of Massachusetts Online (UMassOnline) has several
special education options. There is a Master of Education in special
education for children with impaired vision, and a MEd in vision
rehabilitation. A MEd in Curriculum & Instruction is available with
emphasis on children with autism. There is also a certificate program
for Behavioral Intervention with Autistic Students.
A Mixture of Specialized Degrees and Certificates
The University of North Texas and the University of Minnesota/Mankato
both have graduate certificate programs in special education. Florida State University
offers the Master of Science in Special Education with specialization
in severe disabilities (autism and severe cognitive disability), early
childhood special education (birth through age 5 years), and high
incidence disabilities. The University of Kentucky and Gonzaga
University both have online graduate degrees in special education. The
University of Missouri/Columbia offers a MEd in Mental Health Practices
in Schools, designed for both teachers and administrators.
Most of these programs are designed to meet teacher licensing
requirements in the state where the campus is located; however there is a
license reciprocity agreement for teachers with at least 33 states as
participants. There are a few exclusively online schools with
accredited special education programs; the first to achieve NCATE
recognition is Western Governors University, which also offers several
K-12 teaching degrees that meet licensure standards.
If you are a licensed teacher wishing to break into special education
there are several viable online programs available to you. There are
also MAT programs in special education for individuals who are not
licensed teachers but are interested in making a career change into
education. Special education has become a respected and well paid
educational niche that requires extra education, which is increasingly
available to teachers who would like to go back to school and continue
working.
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