2024-2025 Undergraduate Catalog

Teaching Major in Exceptional Needs: Early Childhood Special Education (BA/BS)

Ball State's teaching major in exceptional needs: early childhood special education prepares you for a fulfilling career working with infants and toddlers with special needs.

As a graduate, you will work in preschools, developmental centers, and agency-based programs serving young children with disabilities. Included in the early childhood major is coursework that leads to a teaching license in Mild Interventions (K-6).

The bachelor’s degree in special education (early childhood special education) consists of 120 credits with emphasis on special education for babies and young children with special needs. You will complete one semester of student teaching with one placement in an early childhood setting and another placement for the Mild Intervention license.

106 credits

Decision Point 1 Courses -- must be taken prior to Decision Point 2 courses

SPCE 201Introduction to Students With Exceptional Needs

3

SPCE 266Classroom Management

3

COMM 210Fundamentals of Public Communication

3

SPCE 271Introduction to Mild Interventions

3

Total Credit Hours:12

Decision Point 2 Courses -- must be completed prior to Decision Point 3 courses

SPCE 361Mild Intervention Practicum-Elementary

3

SPCE 375Assessment in Special Education, Including Response to Intervention

3

SPCE 215Assessment of Young Children With Exceptional Needs

3

SPCE 376Teaching Methods in Mild Interventions K-6

3

EDFO 420Social, Historical, and Philosophical Foundations of Education

3

SPCE 402Legal and Procedural Foundations of Special Education

3

SPCE 210Theory and Practices in Early Childhood Special Education

3

SPCE 390Early Literacy Instruction for Diverse Learners

3

Total Credit Hours:24

SPCE 361 and SPCE 376 are corequisite courses, meaning they are required to be taken concurrently.

SPCE 210 and SPCE 215 are corequisite courses, meaning they are required to be taken concurrently.

Decision Point 3 Courses

SPCE 489Student Teaching: Mild Disabilities

1 TO 12

SPCE 419Student Teaching: Early Childhood Special Education

1 TO 12

Total Credit Hours:12

Other Professional Education Courses -- can be taken outside of the Decision Point sequence

EDPS 250Human Growth and Development

3

EDPS 345Educational Tests and Measurement

3

EDRD 204Literature for Children

3

or

EDRD 318Literature for Young Children

3

EDRD 430Literacy Assessment and Intervention in Elementary Schools

3

SPCE 400Mathematics Interventions for Students with Disabilities

3

SPAA 270Language Development

3

SPCE 277Human Relations, Collaboration, and Diversity

3

SPCE 311Developmental Methods for Infants and Toddlers with Exceptional Needs

3

SPCE 312Developmental Methods for Preschool Children with Exceptional Needs

3

EDRD 300Reading and Language Instruction in the Elementary Classroom

3

Total Credit Hours:30

Other Required Courses

BIO 102Biological Concepts for Teachers

3

MATH 100Mathematics for Elementary Teachers 1

3

MATH 207Mathematics for the Teacher of the Exceptional Learner

3

MUSE 265Basic Music for Classroom Teachers

3

PHYC 101Physical Science Concepts for Teachers

3

SPCE 309Principles of Applied Behavior Analysis for Special Education

3

SPCE 331Technology in Education

3

ENG 103Rhetoric and Writing

3

ENG 104Composing Research

3

FIN 101Personal Finance for Fiscal Wellness

1

Total Credit Hours:28

Total Credit Hours: 106