Learning Disabilities:
Practical Information for the Classroom Teacher
Instructor
Name: Dr. Karen Lea
Phone: 509-891-7219
Office Hours: 8
a.m. to 5 p.m. PST Monday - Friday
Email: karen_lea@virtualeduc.com
Address: Virtual
Education Software
23403 E Mission Avenue, Suite 220F
Liberty Lake,
WA 99019
Technical Support: support@virtualeduc.com
Learning
Disabilities: Practical Information for the Classroom Teacher, is an interactive computer-based
instruction course, that provides an introduction to
the field of Learning Disabilities for special education teachers, general
classroom teachers, integration teachers and related professionals, especially
those working in the areas of language, psychology and counseling.
This computer-based instruction
course is a self-supporting program that provides instruction, structured
practice, and evaluation all on your home or school computer. Technical support information can be found in
the Help section of your course.
Instructor: Dr. Karen Lea
Publisher: Virtual Education Software, inc. 2001, Revised 2002, Revised
2010, Revised 2013, Revised 2016, Revised 2019
Academic
Work
Academic work submitted by the
individual (such as papers, assignments, reports, tests) shall be the student’s
own work or appropriately attributed, in part or in whole, to its correct
source. Submission of commercially prepared (or group prepared) materials as if
they are one’s own work is unacceptable.
Aiding
Honesty in Others
The individual will encourage
honesty in others by refraining from providing materials or information to
another person with knowledge that these materials or information will be used
improperly.
Violations of these academic
standards will result in the assignment of a failing grade and subsequent loss
of credit for the course.
As a result of this course, participants will
demonstrate their ability to:
·
Identify warning
signs of learning disabilities
·
Implement
modifications and accommodations for individuals with learning disabilities
·
Collaborate in
assessment to determine existence of a learning disability
·
Collaborate with
parents, guardians, and the community to provide effective teaching
Course
Description
This course will provide you with a
foundational knowledge of learning disabilities and practical ways you can help
students with disabilities in your classroom.
Chapter 1:
Definition & Characteristics
This
section focuses on the foundational knowledge of learning disabilities. At the
end of this section, students will be able to:
Chapter
2: Assessment
Assessment is an
integral part of the identification and education of children with learning
disabilities. As such its main purpose is to improve learning. This section of
the course will look at both the discrepancy model and the RTI model used for
assessing and identifying learning disabilities. At the end of this section,
students will be able to:
·
Articulate a
foundational knowledge of assessing for learning disabilities
·
Assess strategies
in classroom scenarios
This
section focuses on accommodations and modifications educators can make in the
classroom. We will look at general teaching techniques that will actually raise the quality of teaching in the classroom and
are beneficial when used for the whole class. Then we will look at
accommodations and modifications for specific learning disabilities. Your
objectives for this section are to: 1. Analyze
classroom situations to decide the best accommodation and/or modification to be
used, and 2. Analyze your own teaching to raise the quality of teaching by
integrating general teaching techniques.
Collaborating, or
working well as a team, is vital to meeting the needs of all students, but
especially students with learning disabilities. In this last section of the
course we will look at general educators collaborating with specialists and
parents. Included will be a discussion on IEP meetings, and handling conflict.
Your objectives for this course are to: 1. Understand
the principles of collaborating with others, and 2. Understand the importance
of handling conflict.
As a student you
will be expected to:
·
Complete
all four information sections
showing a competent understanding of the material presented in each section.
·
Complete
all four section examinations,
showing a competent understanding of the material presented. You
must obtain an overall score of 70%
or higher, with no individual exam score below 50%, to pass this course. *Please note: Minimum exam score
requirements may vary by college or university; therefore, you should refer to
your course addendum to determine what your minimum exam score requirements
are.
·
Complete
a review of any section on which your examination score was below 50%.
·
Retake
any examination, after completing an information review, to increase that
examination score to a minimum of 50%, making sure to also be achieving an
overall exam score of a minimum 70% (maximum of three attempts). *Please note: Minimum exam score requirements may vary by
college or university; therefore, you should refer to your course addendum to
determine what your minimum exam score requirements are.
·
Complete
a course evaluation form at the end of the course.
At
the end of each chapter, you will be expected to complete an examination
designed to assess your knowledge. You may take these exams a total of three
times. Your last score will save, not the highest score. After your third attempt, each examination
will lock and not allow further access.
Your final grade for the course will be determined by calculating an
average score of all exams. This score
will be printed on your final certificate.
As
this is a self-paced computerized instruction program, you may review course
information as often as necessary. You will not be able to exit any
examinations until you have answered all questions. If you try to exit the exam
before you complete all questions, your information will be lost. You are
expected to complete the entire exam in one sitting.
Instructor
Description
Karen Lea holds a Ph.D. in education, has TEFL certification, and is Project Management Professional certified. Dr. Lea has fifteen years’ experience teaching at the K–12 level and another seventeen years’ experience teaching education and leadership courses at the undergraduate and post-graduate levels. Currently she is an Assessment Developer at Western Governor's University. Dr. Lea has been professionally published over fifteen times and has served on more than a dozen panels and boards, including serving on the NCATE (CAEP) Board of Examiners.
You may
contact the instructor by emailing karen_lea@virtualeduc.com
or by calling (509) 891-7219 Monday through Friday. When calling during office
hours messages will be answered within 24 hours. Phone conferences will be
limited to ten minutes per student, per day, given that this is a self-paced
instructional program. Please do not contact the instructor about technical
problems, course glitches, or other issues that involve the operation of the
course.
If you have questions or problems
related to the operation of this course, please try everything twice. If the
problem persists please check our support pages for
FAQs and known issues at www.virtualeduc.com
and also the Help section of your course.
If you need personal assistance then email support@virtualeduc.com or call (509)
891-7219. When contacting technical
support, please know your course version number (it is located at the bottom
left side of the Welcome Screen) and your operating system,
and be seated in front of the computer at the time of your call.
Minimum
Computer Requirements
Please
refer to VESi’s website: www.virtualeduc.com
or contact VESi if you have further questions about the compatibility of your
operating system.
Refer to the addendum regarding Grading
Criteria, Course Completion Information, Items to be Submitted and how to submit
your completed information. The addendum will also note any additional course
assignments that you may be required to complete that are not listed in this syllabus.
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Course content
is updated every three years. Due to this update timeline, some URL links may
no longer be active or may have changed. Please type the title of the
organization into the command line of any Internet browser search window and
you will be able to find whether the URL link is still active or any new link
to the corresponding organization's web home page.
3/27/19 JN