University of Wisconsin - Stout

B.S. Special Education

UW-Stout's Bachelor of Science in Special Education program prepares future teachers to educate students with learning, cognitive, emotional and behavioral disabilities. This cross-categorical versatility combined with qualification to teach ages 5 through 21 ensures maximum employability in school districts. 

Program Highlights

Personal faculty support and advisement
Early and varied field placements
Cross-categorical licensure
Instruct kindergarten through adolescence, including ages 5 through 21
Additional Program-related Offerings

Post-Baccalaureate Certification
Autism Certificate

As a special educator, your mission is to both advocate for your students and their families while providing an appropriate level education for each student’s ability. To succeed, you’ll need to know how to assess the characteristics of the learners you serve, design effective teaching strategies, and develop the right attitude to practice within established standards.

You’ll work with general education teachers to:

Develop lesson plans, materials, tests and access student learning
Adapt curriculum to be appropriate for each student
Teach specific learning strategies and study skills
The special education teacher responsibilities also include:

Assessment
Developing individual education and transition plans
Working with families and other support services
Increasingly, students with disabilities have been integrated into general education settings. Their education is usually supplemented by support services provided by a special education case manager. As a special education teacher, you must possess a working knowledge of all general education curriculum subjects and content.

The B.S. in Special Education prepares teachers to be reflective practitioners who demonstrate knowledge, skills and dispositions relative to planning and preparation, the classroom environment, instruction, and professional responsibilities. The UW-Stout framework is compatible with the national Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) knowledge and skill base for all beginning special education teachers. Special education is founded on the philosophy of advocacy for persons with exceptionalities and their families, and of embracing and teaching to individual differences and needs. Special educators must know the characteristics of the learners they serve, possess the skills to design effective interventions and the dispositions to practice within the standards established by CEC.

Curriculum of the program prepares teachers of students with cognitive, emotional/behavioral, and learning disabilities. Graduates of the program will be prepared to work with students with CD, E/ BD, and LD, with an emphasis on Cognitive Disabilities. Graduates of the program will be prepared to work at the early childhood through middle childhood level and the early adolescence through adolescence level.