Master of Education and Licensure in Early Childhood Special Education
Early intervention works best when it's family-centered.
It works best when it honors diversity.
It works best when teachers have a solid background in child development.
Earn your master's degree or licensure in ECSE from Minnesota State Mankato, and practice early intervention at its best.
If you're interested in serving children from birth through age six with family-focused, culturally sensitive intervention, then our ECSE program is for you. Some of our students have initial teacher licensure; others have bachelor's degrees in non-teaching fields. Together with our faculty, they share a desire to learn evidence-based practices that promote optimal outcomes for the children and families they will serve.
As a student, you'll take part in both traditional and on-line coursework, as well as field experiences in home, community, and preschool settings. You'll find the program flexible enough to accommodate your schedule, whether you're currently working as a teacher or in another field. Courses are held in the late afternoon, evenings, and during the summer session.
Core coursework includes:
- child development and disability
- child assessment
- IFSP/IEP development
- special education law
Our program goes beyond what you'll find at other universities. At Minnesota State Mankato, we emphasize:
- Appropriate services for culturally and linguistically diverse populations
- Infant mental health
- Positive behavior support
- Family-centered Routines-Based Intervention
- The relationship between language and literacy development
- Medically fragile infants and young children
- Current trends in ongoing progress monitoring
- Emerging research in Response to Intervention (RTI) in early intervention
When you complete the program, you'll be well prepared to:
- Conduct evaluations to determine eligibility for special education and write technically adequate evaluation reports
- Provide culturally and linguistically appropriate direct services to children ages 0-6 in home, community-based, or self-contained settings
- Collaborate with other professionals and specialists in special education
- Use family-centered practices to effectively partner with families
- Implement evidence-based practices in instruction and program planning in ECSE
- Articulate trends based on seminal and current research in the field of ECSE and early intervention
- Understand early bilingual development and apply this knowledge to assessing a bilingual child's need for special education and writing appropriate goals and objectives
- Design emotionally responsive educational programming incorporating principles from Relationship-based teaching to meet the needs of young children who have been traumatized, abused and/or neglected
- Conduct Functional Behavior Assessments and write Behavior Intervention Plans based on the theories and principals of Positive Behavior Support
