Psychology (PSYC) 400

Overview

Psychology 400: Teaching and Managing the Child with Learning Difficulties is a six-credit course that provides a practical approach to teaching and managing children with learning challenges. It emphasizes remedial strategies, specific teaching, and management suggestions; the development of special materials; and various classroom and curriculum modifications to meet the needs of students with learning challenges. This course examines many aspects of teaching and a variety of practical approaches from a number of theories.

Outline

This course is divided into three major parts consisting of 12 units.

Part 1: Building the Foundation for Serving Students in Inclusive Settings

Unit 1: Creating Responsive Learning Environments

Unit 2: Planning and Organizing Instruction

Unit 3: Assessing Students for Instruction

Unit 4: Teaching Students and Managing Instruction

Unit 5: Promoting Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Development

Part 2: Teaching Academic Skills

Unit 6: Assessing and Teaching Language

Unit 7: Assessing and Teaching Reading

Unit 8: Assessing and Teaching Spelling

Unit 9: Assessing and Teaching Handwriting and Written Expression

Unit 10: Assessing and Teaching Math

Unit 11: Assessing and Teaching Learning Strategies, Content, and Study Skills

Part 3: Application and Implementation

Unit 12: The Individualized Program Plan

Evaluation

To receive credit for PSYC 400, you will need to successfully complete the assignments for Track 1 or Track 2.

Track 1 is for students who have access to working with a child with learning difficulties in their work or family environment. In Track 1, the final grade in PSYC 400 is based on the performance on six reflections, the completion of a skills survey, an individual program plan, and journal entries of daily teaching lesson plans and evaluations. All components of the course must be submitted to receive credit for the course. Students must achieve a course composite grade of a least “D” (50 percent) and at least 50 percent on the Individual Program Plan and on the Journal.

Skills Survey	Six Reflections	Case Study Activity	IPP	Journal	Total
5%	25%	15%	25%	30%	100%

Track 2 is for students who do not have access to working with a child with learning difficulties in their work or family environment. In Track 2, the final grade in PSYC 400 is based on six reflections, the completion of a skills survey, Individual Program Plans, and a research paper. All components of the course must be submitted to receive credit for the course. Students must achieve a course composite grade of at least “D” (50 percent) and at least 50 percent on the individual program plans and on the research paper.

Skills Survey	Six Reflections	CD Activity	IPP	Research Paper	Total
5%	25%	15%	25%	30%	100%

To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University's online Calendar.