About Lipscomb
Master of Arts in Special Education (MASE)
The Master of Arts in Special Education (MASE) degree program provides colleagues an opportunity to earn licensure endorsement for Special Education: Modified K-12. The program views teaching as complex, contingent, and reciprocal, and continually shaped and re-shaped by students' responses to their learning experiences. It focuses on the need to understand and organize content and knowledge, and assist in creating cognitive maps for learners. Instruction in modes of cognition, motivation and learning theory, educative feedback, and diagnostic instrument application, scoring, and reporting provide the contextual grounding for program participants.
The MASE program includes 1) a Cohort Learning Community, 2) an Integrated Course Content Model, 3) a Pedagogy for Understanding Framework, 4) a Student Assessment and Program Evaluation Framework, 5) an Electronically-Mediated Learning Component, 6) a Circle of Praxis Approach to Learning, and 7) an Enhanced Teaching Practicum.
For all questions related to MASE contact Steve Hull, 615-966-1811.
Course of Study
The following courses (42 hours) are required for the MASE degree.
SE 5013 Foundations in Special Education, Early Childhood and Developmentally at Risk Students
SE 5023 I.D.E.A. and A.D.A. Regulatory Guidelines and Implications
SE 5033 Diagnosis and Remediation of Reading Problems
SE 5043 Assessment and Remediation of Exceptional Students
SE 5053 Inclusionary Teaching Practices
SE 5063 Collaborative Transitions: Home/School/Community
SE 5073 Teaching and Learning: Psychological and Behavioral Management of Classified Students
SE 5083 Instructional Methodology for Diverse Learners
SE 5093 Topics in Spectrum Disorders: Autism, PDD, ADD and ADHD
SE 510C Enhanced Student Teaching Practicum: Classroom Performance as Transformative Event
SE 5113 Culminating Project: Applying and Integrating Theory and Practice
Course Descriptions
SE 5013 Foundations in Special Education, Early Childhood and Developmentally at Risk Students (3)
Federal and
SE 5023 I.D.E.A. and A.D.A. Regulatory Guidelines and Implications (3)
Statutory guidelines that govern the application of major components of all federal mandates for special education, including PL 101 476-Individuals with Disabilities Education (I.D.E.A.), Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act are examined. Classification distinctions are examined, as are program adaptations for inclusion, designs for appropriate Individualized Education Plans (IEPs), and alternative instructional approaches to address student needs.
SE 5033 Diagnosis and Remediation of Reading Problems (3)
The cognitive, linguistic, perceptual and neurological underpinnings of reading and reading disabilities are studied. Protocols that reveal access to language structures for unraveling the reading conundrum, the etiology of culturally based reading disabilities, linguistic variation and disability, variation in neurological function, and educator’s efforts to improve literacy skills among classified students are explored. Reading readiness, emergent literacy, spelling systems and decoding, reading models, comprehension and schema theory are examined.
SE 5043 Assessment and Remediation of Exceptional Students (3)
Principles and practices of assessing the exceptional student are explored, as are ethical considerations in assessing special needs. Assessment, evaluative and diagnostic instruments and procedures are analyzed, including the Woodcock Johnson-III, the WISC-III/WISC-IV, and Oral Gray Test. Ethical considerations in assessing special needs within cultural, linguistic and racial populations; diagnostics; referrals; assessment measures; observation anecdotes; assessment results and summary recommendations, are explored.
SE 5053 Inclusionary Teaching Practices (3)
Theoretical perspectives and practical procedures for educating classified students in the general education classrooms is supported by clinical planning, implementing, and evaluating instruction and assessment protocols for students with disabilities. IDEA reauthorization guidelines are reviewed. Classifications of disabilities are defined and diagnoses are prescribed.
SE 5063 Collaborative Transitions: Home/School/Community (3)
Schools, families, and the community are important contexts for the education and development of children with disabilities. Students learn to work collaboratively with families, service providers, and community organizations in compliance with by I.D.E.A. regulations. They learn to collaborate with school personnel (e.g., social worker, psychologist, speech and reading specialist) to ensure that classified students are valued members of the classroom and larger community.
SE 5073 Teaching and Learning: Psychological and Behavioral Management of Classified Students (3)
Participants study clear and precise descriptions of psychological research and its impact on learning and performance theory, especially as it impacts classified students affected by these disabilities: Strauss Syndrome, perceptual handicaps, mild brain dysfunction, organicity, neurological dysfunction, dyslexia, dysgraphia, and streptosymbolia. Protocols for Individualized Educational Plans-IEPs, Individualized Family Service Plans-IFSP, and Individualized Accommodation Plans-IAPs) are explored.
SE 5083 Instructional Methodology for Diverse Learners (3)
Participants learn dispositions, pedagogical strategies and techniques, and philosophical underpinnings required for teaching exceptional students. Long-range and daily lesson planning, requisite for skillful instructional delivery of curricula, is taught. The role of the Committee on Special Education in facilitating transition planning is analyzed.
SE 5093 Topics in Spectrum Disorders: Autism, PDD, ADD and ADHD (3)
Participants review those learning systems manifest in teaching children with autism. Participants explore related disorders grouped as “Pervasive Developmental Disorders”, including atypical autism, Rett’s Disorder, and Childhood Disintegrative Disorder. Causes of autism spectrum disorders are examined and diagnosed; and t evidence-based interventions are analyzed.
SE 510C Enhanced Student Teaching Practicum: Classroom Performance as Transformative Experience (12)
Enhanced student teaching, a professional semester, includes full day teaching and observation as induction for candidates preparing to teach Special Education preK-12. It includes ongoing reflective dialogue with a University mentor and LEA cooperating teachers. The experience focuses on individuals’ special needs and skills and on teaching in diverse settings. Seminars focus on application and analysis of teaching performance.
SE 5113 Culminating Project: Applying and Integrating Theory and Practice (3)
The culminating project demonstrates in-depth understanding of theory, and proficiency in application of self selected phases of teaching as they affect exceptional learners. From the perspective that teaching is a learnable art, and with an appreciation that research and development undergird the practice of this art, each candidate is required to develop a comprehensive research based project in an application of educative practice, and grounded in a significant issue in Special Education.
