Master of Science in Special Education-Emphasis in the Deaf and Hard-Of-Hearing

Lead Faculty: Ms. Colleen L. Smith

The Master of Science in Special Education with an emphasis in the deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) is designed for educators and other professionals who want to become knowledgeable about educational learning challenges and teaching strategies to enhance performance of students who are deaf and hard of hearing. To receive a Master of Science in Special Education with an emphasis on deaf and hard of hearing, students must complete at least 81 quarter units of graduate work. A total of 13.5 quarter units of graduate credit may be granted for equivalent graduate work completed at another institution, as it applies to this degree and if the units were not used in earning another advanced degree. Students enrolled in the joint degree credentials program are not awarded the master’s degree until they have completed all graduate and credential coursework, including student teaching. Course equivalence cannot be granted for life experience.

Admission to the Program
Submit the following application documentation in ONE complete packet:

• Application for Admission to Education of the Deaf graduate program
• CD or DVD portfolio of ASL Fluency (video samples, 10 to 12 minutes maximum in length) including the following content:
  1. Introduce yourself and discuss your sign language acquisition experience
  2. Narrate an ASL story
  3. Narrate a selected work of children’s literature
• Intermediate proficiency or better in American Sign Language competencies as assessed by Proficiency Interview
• Personal and professional goals essay (a writing sample, 1 full single spaced page maximum)

Send ONE complete application packet to:
DHH Lead Faculty Advisor
National University, 11255 North Torrey Pines Rd.
La Jolla, CA 92037-1011

Program Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of this program, students will be able to:

• Utilize research knowledge to critique and synthesize cultural-historical perspectives, educational theories, and effective ASL-English learning practices.
• Implement and evaluate differentiated visual learning activities that motivate individual academic development and lifelong learning within our diverse communities.
• Implement and evaluate culturally relevant curriculum expanding students’ megacognitive skills and multiple literacy skills.
• Critique communication policies and language planning frameworks, and implement the latest technology to facilitate individual student’s identity development, nonverbal communication, and academic interaction skills.
• Demonstrate academic discourse competency in both ASL and written English, and utilize interpretation and translation skills between the two visual languages.
• Implement and evaluate creative ASL-English curriculum showing evidence of individual students’ learning progresses based on learning interests and state content standards.
• Demonstrate negotiation skills by reconstructing new knowledge working as change agents advocating the communication and academic needs of ASL-English speakers.
• Demonstrate consultation and collaboration skills by linking reflective learning communities, working with and through professional organizations and families.

Requirements

Degree Requirements

Prerequisites
(10 courses; 43.5 quarter units)

PSY 100 - Introduction to Psychology (or equivalent course)
PSY 301 - Child Development
   (Prerequisite: ENG 100/101)
PSY 427 - Biological Psychology
PSY 431 - Theories and Techniques of Psychological Testing
   (Prerequisites: ENG 100/101 and PSY 100)
HED 602 - Introductory Health Ed: K-12
EDT 608 - Computer based Technology in the Classroom
EXC 603 - Dev. EC Spec Needs
EXC 604 - Excep & Diversity in Clsrm
EXC 602B - Fld Exper: Incl Settings (3 quarter units)
CLD 627 - Meth. Crosscult. Instr.

Interdisciplinary Core Courses
(3 courses; 13.5 quarter units)

TED 615 - The Foundations of Education
EXC 620 - Positive Behavior Support
TED 621A - Lang. Dev. Methods: Elem. Sch.

Generic Core Exam

Core Courses for the Education Specialist: Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing
(8 courses; 36 quarter units)

DHH 600 - ASL-English Bilingual Education
DHH 601 - ASL Acquisition & Development
DHH 602 - English Acquisition & Dev
DHH 603 - Assessment for DHH Learners
DHH 604 - Bi-literacy Education
DHH 605 - Ed of Deaf Special Needs
DHH 606 - Curriculum and Instruction
DHH 607 - Bilingual – Multicultural Ed

Research Coursework
(2 courses; 9 quarter units)

ILD 625 - Educational Research
EXC 637 - Action Research (Prerequisite: ILD 625)
or
EXC 694 Thesis
(Prerequisite: ILD 625 and successful completion of an undergraduate or graduate statistics course. Students must have written permission of lead faculty to enroll in the course.)

Exit Exam

For credential requirements please see credential section of the catalog.

Students seeking the Preliminary Level I Education Specialist- DHH credential must demonstrate Intermediate-high proficiency or better in American Sign Language competence as assessed by Proficiency Interview before taking:

Student Teaching
(3 courses; 12 quarter units)

DHH 609 - Student Teaching Seminar (3 quarter units)
(Must be taken concurrently with student teaching)
DHH 608A - Student Teaching I
DHH 608B - Student Teaching II
or

Internship Requirements
(for those in a DHH Internship program only)
(3 courses; 10.5 quarter units)

EXC 655I - Internship Induction Sem. (3 quarter units over a 2 month period)
DHH 608I - Student Teaching for Interns
DHH 609 - Student Teaching Seminar (3 quarter units)

Program Information

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Online Education

This program is available online.

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