Special Education (Intervention Specialist)
Degree: Bachelor of Science in Education
What is Special Education?
Many school-aged children in the United States cannot benefit from the standard curriculum that schools offer. Because of physical, mental, behavioral, learning, or sensory differences, these students require special services to help them learn. Special education is designed to recognize these differences and to set up individualized instructional plans. This program prepares you for licensure as an special education teacher in Ohio Public Schools from kindergarten through grade 12.
You may select an area of emphasis in gifted, mild to moderate, moderate to intensive, or early childhood intervention. Miami's special education program leads to a Bachelor of Science in Education with an Ohio four-year provisional certification in two of the above areas of special education. With some additional course work, you can also become certified in early intervention or obtain a double major/minor option with early childhood education.
What are the features of Miami's program?
Top ranking: For nearly a century, Miami University has been offering programs to prepare teachers for the classroom. Today's preparation focuses on meeting the needs of contemporary schools, families, and communities. Our teacher education programs are widely recognized for their quality, and teacher education ranks among the top 10 programs at Miami for the number of majors.
Extensive classroom experience: Our teacher education program gives you more classroom experiences than most programs at other universities. Early in your second year, you get a feel for teaching by spending time in school classrooms. In methodology of teaching classes, you spend a quarter of the term in schools, working directly with teachers. And during the semester of student teaching, you are regularly visited by a Miami student-teaching supervisor for consultation and guidance.
Professional education sequence: Teaching requires such knowledge as the characteristics of learners, social structures of schools, families and communities, assessment techniques, classroom practices, law, statistics, electronic support systems, curriculum, and resources. In the professional education sequence, you investigate this knowledge and combine it with extensive experiences in a variety of schools. As you progress through the professional education sequence, you spend increasing time with experienced teachers in a variety of urban, suburban, and rural schools. Your experiences will range from helping individual students in the schools to being responsible for an entire classroom of students.
Teaching licensure: Miami's Department of Teacher Education is fully accredited through the Ohio Department of Education and the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education. While Miami participates in licensure of teachers through an interstate agreement, if you are planning to teach in another state, you should contact that state's certification office so you can apply for certification or licensure in that state.
Are there special admission requirements?
Students declare a pre-major in the special education program at the time of university admission or as soon as possible. After declaring a pre-major, students must apply for acceptance to a cohort—a group of students selected to experience certain parts of the program together. Selection is limited for each cohort to ensure quality instruction; those applicants with the greatest potential for academic success are selected for each cohort. Admission to Miami University or to the School of Education, Health, and Society as a pre-major neither implies nor guarantees selection to a cohort.
What courses would I take?
As a special education major at Miami, you will take courses in behavior management, career and life span education, communication with parents, assessment, and overview of exceptionalities.
This program also requires you to take classes within the Miami Plan for Liberal Education. Through the plan's foundation courses, you'll hone skills such as thinking critically, understanding contexts, reflecting and acting, and engaging with other learners. These courses are in the broad discipline areas of English composition, fine arts, humanities, social science, world cultures, natural science, formal reasoning, and in the social foundations of education. The principles and content of the foundation are the basis for the professional education sequence and the content specialization.
What can I do with this major?
With a Special Education degree and a license, you'll be able to educate those with physical, mental, behavioral, learning, or sensory differences.
Who can I contact for more information?
For general information about Miami University, please contact:
Office of Admission
301 S. Campus Ave.
Miami University
Oxford, OH 45056-3434
513-529-2531 (v/t)
www.muohio.edu/requestinfo
For specific information on the Special Education major, please contact:
Department of Educational Psychology
201 McGuffey Hall
Miami University
Oxford, OH 45056
513-529-6621
www.muohio.edu/edp
