Visual Impairment Credential: Special Education
The Education Specialist Preliminary Credential program in Visual Impairment (VI) prepares highly qualified educators to teach and empower a diverse range of blind and low vision students aged birth to 22 and their families. Students with visual impairments are a heterogeneous population and include individuals with additional disabilities including deafblindness, and from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Blind and low vision learners benefit from educational experiences that take into account their unique learning needs that require the acquisition of nonvisual or low vision conceptual knowledge and skills using tactile, visual, and auditory strategies. Teachers of blind and low vision students may work in a wide range of curricular and placement options, including: general education, resource room, and school for the blind; employment may be in an itinerant (1:1) or classroom setting.
Our program prepares educators to bridge current evidence-based literature with practice-oriented instructional strategies that are focused on promoting students’ access to core and expanded core curriculum areas, while emphasizing barrier-free membership in school, home, and community settings. We commit to exercising culturally responsive pedagogy as aligned with principles of anti-racism and anti-ableism. Candidates are expected to demonstrate skills in working with an array of professionals as well as families in order to facilitate learner participation and growth within the context of their educational experience. Graduates exercise proficiency in holistic assessment and instruction to promote literacy including braille, access technology, and design and instruction of multimedia accessibility. The 600 hours of supervised clinical fieldwork and practicum experiences ensure that teacher candidates are intrinsically motivated to apply the knowledge and skills acquired through course content and assignments to the instruction of students with visual impairments in a variety of school settings. Program curricula include an integrated approach to instruction, with content delivered via weekly online synchronous instruction and once per semester in-person Lab Weekends.
Visual Impairment Credential: Special Education
Core (18 units)
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| E ED 784 | Curriculum and Instruction in Mathematics (CLAD Emphasis) | 3 |
| SPED 747 | Physical Disabilities and Sensory Impairments | 3 |
| SPED 763 | Transition Planning for Students with Disabilities | 3 |
| SPED 788 | Law, Ethics, and Instructional Planning | 3 |
| SPED 801 | Development, Diversity, and English Language Learners: Special Education | 3 |
| Health Education Requirement 1 | 3 | |
Advanced Methods Courses (31 units)
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| SPED 655 | Basic Orientation and Mobility for Learners with Visual Impairments | 3 |
| SPED 735 | Technology for Blind and Low Vision Students | 3 |
| SPED 749 | Medical, Educational, and Rehabilitative Implications of Visual Impairment | 4 |
| SPED 750 | Assessment for Learners with Visual Impairments | 3 |
| SPED 751 | Instruction for Learners with Visual Impairments | 3 |
| SPED 752 | Issues in Visual Impairment | 3 |
| SPED 753 | Living Skills Assessment and Instruction for Learners with Visual Impairments | 3 |
| SPED 754 | Basic Communication Skills for Learners with Visual Impairments | 3 |
| SPED 757 | Visual Impairment: Special Populations | 3 |
| SPED 758 | Advanced Communication Skills for Learners with Visual Impairments | 3 |
Clinical Fieldwork & Student Teaching (12-15 units)
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| SPED 701 | Education Specialist Intern Teacher Support Seminar 2 | 3 |
| SPED 723 | Workshop: Student Teaching Support Sessions for Extensive Support Needs or Visual Impairments | 3 |
| SPED 730 | Student Teaching: Special Education | 9 |
- 1
A list of CTC approved health education courses is available on the department website: https://sped.sfsu.edu/content/forms-0
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Required only for intern teachers.