Advocating for Students: The Special Education Process and Beyond
An online, self paced course, based on Rich Weinfeld's, "Special Needs Advocacy Resource Book.” The book is Available on Amazon. The course provides a strong foundation in the principles of special needs advocacy, with an emphasis on practical application of the fundamental legal requirements that drive special needs education. No matter what your role is in the school system or outside of the school system it’s important that you understand why special needs identification and planning works the way that it does.
Whether for salary advancement or recertification, CE Credits Online offers best-in-class continuing education courses for teachers including LAUSD Salary Points and NYC P Credits. This six-module, 45 hour graduate-level course offers options for 3 credits or a certificate of completion.
Course objectives include:Â
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Gain a foundational understanding of special education law
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Learn the process for developing 504 plans and Individualized Education Plans (IEPs)
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Improve plan effectiveness by writing S.M.A.R.T. goals and choosing appropriate accommodations and adaptations
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Access tools to effectively implement IEP or 504 plans, monitor the plan’s effectiveness and track student progress
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Know the steps to requesting functional behavioral assessments and creating behavioral intervention plans
Are you ready to make a difference in the lives of under-served Black Students with Special Needs? Change agency begins with awareness, knowledge, and skill. In this self-paced course, teachers and school staff will recognize personal and professional biases, relationships between structures of racism and special education, relate empathy for ignorance to strategies for equity, and relegate evidence-based and privileged best practices to the most marginalized students with special needs: Black students.
Course objectives include:
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Analyze data and recognize disparities and challenges among boys and girls across all special education boys and girls, specifically, Black, White, Latinx and Native American Indian
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Apply the idea of best teaching and advocate practices to their classrooms to better support struggling students to reach their potential
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Begin to assess/unpack/reflect on their own individual identities and cultures, including influences on teaching and learning
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Choose equitable and easy to implement classroom management practices as a strategy for inclusion
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Design an instructional practice, process, or program proposal that directly impacts the outcomes for Black students with special needs
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And more...
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By the conclusion of this course, you will learn how to improve the quality of your role in the identification of Black Students with Special Needs related to academic, disability, or giftedness and will understand the role of the advocate as part of the special education identification and planning process. Most importantly, you will build upon your intellectual courage and interpersonal empathy while adjusting your instructional method to ensure a meaningful impact for all of your students.