As a special educator, general educator, school counselor or administrator, your role is to ensure that the needs of your students (or clients) are met. Working with students who are not performing to their potential can be tricky. An understanding of student strengths and needs, along with the knowledge of the special education process, are key to ensuring that you are providing those students with what they need in order to be successful. The purpose of this course is to better prepare you with the necessary skills to identify students with a disability as well as implement child-specific interventions and accommodations to support those not performing to their potential. But what do you do to ensure a student’s needs are met? How do you ensure that you are successfully advocating for your students? How do you utilize your school or community’s resources to best meet diverse learners? Students with disabilities? Gifted students? No matter what your role is in the school system or outside of the school system it’s important that you understand why special needs identification and planning works the way that it does.
This course will provide you with a strong foundation in the principles of special needs advocacy, with an emphasis on practical application of the fundamental legal requirements that drive special needs education. You will learn about the IEP process and about 504 Plans, and use your knowledge of the rights and entitlements granted by the aforementioned special education laws to create effective plans for student success. Through learning the differences between IDEA and Section 504, you will be better equipped at determining which plan is best for a particular student. Once a plan has been created, you will learn tips and be given tools to implement that plan and monitor the plan’s effectiveness and the child’s progress. This course will also focus on exploring how to maximize effectiveness by writing S.M.A.R.T. goals and choosing appropriate accommodations and adaptations. By the end of this course, you will be able to feel confident in their ability to successfully advocate for struggling students and understand the process necessary to ensure their needs are met.
To Enroll in a Course:
- Select from two options of the courses:
- Course Only (you will receive a Certificate of Completion to obtain your PLUs). See the important information on the PLU process in the Credits tab.
- Course + Credits (which includes the credit fees, and you will receive a Certificate of Completion for your records and/or for PLUs and you will receive an official University transcript.
- Add the course(s) to your Cart.
- When you are ready to check out, go to your cart. You will be asked to log into your account or create a new account.
- Follow the enrollment and payment prompts. If you have a coupon/discount, you will be asked to enter it during the enrollment process.
- Upon purchase, you will receive an email receipt and be able to login to your course at eclassroom.cecreditsonline.org. You have 6 months (180 days) from your purchase to complete your course.
- If you have any questions, check out our FAQs or email support@cecreditsonline.org.
Course Only Courses for PLUs
- All of the courses listed can be used to meet your recertification or professional development needs in Southwest GA RESA for PLUs. (Always check with your district/state to determine eligibility).
- Upon successful completion of your course, you will receive a Certificate of Completion for your records that will include the name of the course and number of professional development hours completed.
- The Certificate of Completion acts as a record that verifies that a professional development course was taken and passed.
- To obtain your PLUs, email a copy of your Certificate of Completion to:
Jennifer Hand;
Director of Professional Learning
Southwest Georgia RESA
Phone: 229-255-2781
Email: jhand@swresa.org
How PLUs are calculated:
- 15 hours = 1.5 PLUs
- 30 hours = 3 PLUs
- 45 hours = 4.5 PLUs
Course + Credits Courses
- We have partnered with regionally-accredited universities to provide graduate-level professional development credits for our courses. Review the University Partners tab for more information.
- All courses taken for graduate credit receive both a Certificate of Completion and an official University Transcript.
- Upon completion of your course, CE Credits Online will forward all the required documentation to the University you selected.
- The University partner will process your course completion and provide a transcript that includes the name of the course, course number, number of credits, and your grade.
- You will receive directions on how to receive your transcript in email form, and you can also review the University Partners section of our website for more information.
- Note: If you would like to receive your credits from Adams State University, please purchase the Course Only version of the course and upon completion email support@cecreditsonline.org to request your graduate credits from Adams State University. Each graduate credit costs $55.
- You must check with your district to ensure the credits received will meet your specific requirements. We will not be held responsible if your school, district or state does not accept the credits issued.
