Program Areas
Undergraduate Program Areas | Choosing Your Special Education Major | Special Education Core Courses
Overview | Undergrad Admission/Continuance |Undergraduate Programs | Graduate Programs | Special Education
Undergraduate Program Areas
There are six undergraduate programs within the department: speech-language pathology/speech- language impairment, visual impairment, cognitive impairment, hearing impairment, emotional impairment, and physical and otherwise health impairment.
In order to practice as a speech-language therapist/pathologist in Michigan and other states, one must hold a master's degree. Therefore, after completing a bachelor's degree in speech-language pathology, you must continue on to complete your master's degree in speech-language pathology. You will be prepared to work with children and adults with speech and language disorders in a school or in a medical setting. One of your early decisions will be decide whether to pursue the "teacher" or the "health care" track". The difference is that the teacher track will lead to a teaching certificate and thus allow you to work in the school setting or a medical or health care setting. The health care track will not result in a credential for a school setting.
Students completing the program in the area of the cognitive impairment will be prepared to assist and instruct children and young adults with mental retardation. Credentials will allow graduates to work with mildly, moderately, and severely cognitively impaired persons. If you wish to work with severely multiply impaired persons, this program of study is appropriate.
Hearing impairment program graduates teach in self-contained classrooms for hearing impaired students. They may also work in a clinical setting or as a resource room teacher. As teachers gain experience, many work as teacher consultants. Graduates are prepared to teach persons with learning levels which range from mild to profound impairment. The program at EMU supports an auditory-oral language approach with the emphasis on preparing hearing-impaired students for full participation in a hearing world. American sign language is not emphasized, although a basic class is offered as part of the program.
Graduates of the visual impairment program teach at various agencies, schools, and organizations for the visually impaired. You also may pursue a graduate degree in rehabilitation teaching or orientation and mobility.
After receiving a degree from the physical and otherwise health impairment program, you will be able to instruct students with physical impairments or those who are homebound or hospitalized. Other career options are as caseworkers or coordinators of vocational rehabilitation. There also are numerous opportunities within community organizations such as the March of Dimes Foundation and the Easter Seals.
Emotional impairment program graduates can teach children and youths with special emotional needs in schools, work at residential treatment programs, in psychiatric facilities, and in juvenile detention facilities.
The Preprimary Impaired (PPI) endorsement prepares students to work with infants and children ages 0-3 who have disabilities and their families. Contact the Department of Special Education for the requirements for this endorsement.
Because students from this department also are required to be certified to teach in other elementary and secondary classrooms, you also may choose to teach in traditional settings.
Choosing Your Special Education Major
You may know exactly which disability program area you want to pursue for professional preparation; if so, your decision is made. However, often students who come to EMU will state that they want to "go into special education," but they don't know which area they prefer or where they will be most successful. Early in your program you will take a course which gives an overview of the field of special education. Your advisor will be helpful in directing you toward the right area for you. Best of all, you will begin to have practical classroom experiences as early as your sophomore year. These experiences will also help with decision making in choosing your career direction.
You can join various student organizations sponsored by the department: Student Council for Exceptional Children (SCEC), National Student Speech, Language and Hearing Association (NSSLHA), Student Organization for the Education of Hearing Impaired (SOEHI), and Michigan Association of Teachers of Emotionally Disturbed Children (MATEDC). Students also may gain valuable experience in volunteer programs such as AmeriCorps and Academic Service-Learning.
Students who attend any of the programs within the department can be assured of gaining vast practical experience that employers look for when hiring.
Special Education Core Courses
Regardless of the selected major program area of study, all students are required to take a common core of courses to prepare them as special educators. Those courses include such subjects as: education of exceptional children, classroom management and intervention strategies for handicapped students, language development and speech disorders in special populations, prevocational and vocational special needs programs, psychology, measurement and diagnosis in special education, physical education for the special education/classroom teacher, adaptive technology in special education, and special needs persons: school, family and community interactions.
Your professional preparation program will include course work, pre-student teaching, and student teaching experiences leading to an endorsement to teach children and youth in a particular area of special education. Additionally, you will receive a certificate for elementary or secondary classroom teaching.
