Special Education for Teaching Assistants and Classroom Support Staff

Curriculum Content

This course supports the following:

Successful candidates will demonstrate their understanding and ability to apply the following:

Special Education - A Guide for Educators


Education for All: The Report of the Expert Panel on Literacy and Numeracy Instruction for Students With Special Education Needs, Kindergarten to Grade 6
  1. Theoretical Foundations of Special Education
    2.
    • Understanding the relevance of the Education Act, Ministry of Education curriculum expectations, regulations and relevant policy memoranda and the standards that support special education.
    • understanding how current and past historical theories, research and best practices impact on students identified as exceptional
    • developing an awareness of a broad range of curriculum and delivery models
    • understanding the differences between the words "modification" and "accommodation" and the implications on program development and implementation
    • understanding theories of social, emotional, physical, intellectual, linguistic, cultural, spiritual and moral development of the student
    • having an awareness of research and experience-validated practices in order to address the range of abilities (mild, moderate, or severe) of each student identified as exceptional
    • understanding the relationship of special education to equity and social justice
    • understanding the continuum of various service models such as integration and inclusion, resource room withdrawal, self-contained programs, provincial demonstration schools as they evolved in the development of special education in Ontario
    • developing knowledge related to funding issues
    • developing knowledge of the various categories and definitions of exceptionalities as defined in Ministry of Education documents: Behaviour; Communication: Autism, Deaf and Hard of Hearing; Language Impairment; Speech Impairment, Learning Disability; Intellectual: Giftedness, Mild Intellectual Disability; Developmental Disability; Physical: Physical Disability, Blind and Low Vision: Multiple: Multiple Exceptionalities
    • having an awareness of ethical and legal issues

  2. Program Development, Planning and Implementation:
    3.
    • understanding that all students share elements of ability and disability
    • identifying and connecting student strengths, needs and necessary transitions with curriculum objectives by reviewing Ontario Student Records (OSRs), Individual Education Plans (IEPs), Annual Education Plans (AEPs) and Assessments
    • having an awareness of how to identify a student as "exceptional" for the purpose of an Identification Placement and Review Committee (IPRC)
    • understanding and learning how to participate in Identification, Placement and Review Committee (IPRC) processes and appeals
    • knowing how to write, develop and amend an IEP in a genuine and culturally relevant context
    • understanding how the IEP is connected to student curriculum and the report card
    • knowing how to write modified expectations for an individual student
    • knowing how to provide accommodations to the curriculum in order to support and demonstrate learning
    • applying appropriate curriculum expectations while maintaining an awareness of specific needs
    • learning the characteristics that often describe students who have been identified as exceptional
    • recognizing that specific learning strategies and interventions will impact on the social and physical life of the student
    • observing and listening to students in order to select appropriate strategies
    • observing different kinds of behaviour as a response to the demands and stress of being a student identified as exceptional
    • understanding that special education is an equity issue by listening to the "voices" of the students identified as exceptional
    • managing and documenting information that is pertinent for critical review, IPRCs, transitions and referrals

  3. The Learning Environment:
    4.
    • establishing an accepting, safe, and enabling community of learners
    • practising a variety of age and exceptionality-specific teaching strategies
    • having an awareness of and employing effective classroom management strategies to support the learning of all students
    • encouraging risk-taking, decision making and independent thinking
    • learning how to adapt and modify teaching to meet individual needs
    • understanding the impact of medication on student performance
    • Implementing crisis intervention strategies for all students in structured and unstructured settings
    • promoting peer relationships and self management in students in order to foster independence and self-esteem
    • identifying factors in a diverse and changing society that impact on individual student's future
    • knowing how to contribute to information gathering (background information, assessment information, work samples, etc.) that will inform programming
    • acquiring the understanding of what it means to be accountable in the classroom (e.g. in terms of program planning, etc.)
    • considering and developing the role and work of an educational assistant as a partner in the classroom
    • having an awareness of programs and schools outside of regular school sites, such as treatment centres and demonstration schools

  4. Instruction, Assessment and Evaluation:
    5.
    • developing and employing instructional and assessment strategies based on the individual learning needs of students
    • using candidates' own stages of learning as a tool to understand how students learn
    • enhancing and advancing student learning by using appropriate technology and assistive learning devices
    • introducing, recognizing and becoming aware of the multiple types, purposes and biases of assessment and evaluation instruments
    • maintaining assessment and evaluation that is consistent with the objectives and methods described in the IEP
    • having an awareness of the roles of the Special Education Advisory Committee (SEAC) and Minister's Advisory Council on Special Education (MACSE)

  5. School, Parent/Guardian and Community:
    6.
    • understanding, respecting and being empathetic to parents' knowledge and perspectives
    • developing strategies for communicating effectively with parents through consultation
    • communicating in language, such as explaining acronyms and explaining jargon, that facilitates parent participation in IPRCs
    • supporting students to be self advocates
    • becoming an advocate for students and parents
    • identifying and accessing appropriate resources and students' services in the community
    • encouraging students to involve themselves in the community
    • knowing and providing collaboration on a variety of referral processes in school and in the community
    • working with volunteers
    • explaining and ensuring that parents are able to participate in the development of the IEP

  6. Information Technology:
    7.
    • accessing and using adaptive and assistive information technology to support student learning
    • exploring and evaluating a variety of reference and web sites relevant to special education.