Minor in Educating Students with Exceptionalities

The minor in educating students with exceptionalities prepares general educators (K-12) to provide special education services to students with exceptionalities who are in their general education classrooms.

Students who have completed this minor are eligible to earn the Learning Behavior Specialist I Endorsement, which is increasingly attractive to school districts as more general education districts, schools, and classrooms adopt inclusive special education service delivery options.

• The minor is only available to students who are formally admitted to a teacher education program.
• Students are required to complete all courses with a grade of C- (1.7) or higher and a 2.75 minor GPA.
• The courses required for the minor satisfy the requirements for the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) Learning Behavior Specialist 1 endorsement. Teacher candidates will need to pass the LBS1 (155) state content exam to earn this endorsement.

Minor Coursework

Completion of the minor requires 18 semester hours of coursework in special education, including:

• SPE 320 Establishing Professional Relationships: Communication and Collaboration
• SPE 338 Characteristics of Learners II
• SPE 434 Academic Curriculum/Assessment/Instructional Strategies
• SPE 438 Functional Curriculum/Assessment/Instructional Strategies
• SPE 440 Diagnosis and Remediation of Reading Difficulties
• SPE 442 Remediation of Difficulties in Understanding and Applying Mathematics