This is a course designed to familiarize you with the special problems, needs and rights of "exceptional" individuals those people who have disabilities, health problems, intellectual differences, emotional difficulties, etc. which set them apart from others. Most of our discussions will focus on children, but we will take time during the semester to discuss the problems of exceptional adolescents and adults. We will also spend some class time discussing behavior modification, because these techniques are so widely used when working with special populations. I have tried to design this course so that it would be especially useful for those who wish to work in a variety of capacities with special needs children: child psychologists, speech therapists, physical therapists, school psychologists, teachers, special ed. teachers, etc. I do not recommend it as an elective for persons just interested in fulfilling a social science distribution, as it is too intense.
TEXT
Two years ago a number of students suggested that I try replacing a standard textbook with several smaller, more focused books. We tried this last year and the students deemed the experiment a success, and so we will read smaller, more focused books again this time through. The up-side is that the books are more reader-friendly than most texts; the down-side is that some topics I will cover are not at all represented in the readings.
All four of the following books are required.
Casebook in Child Behavior Disorders, 2nd Edition, 2002, written by Christopher A. Kearney and published by Brooks/Cole-Wadsworth.
The Misunderstood Child, Third Edition, 1998, written by Larry B. Silver and published by Three Rivers Press.
Teaching Children with Language and Speech Difficulties, 2000, written by Deirdre Martin, and published by the Taylor and Francis Group.
Taking Sides: Special Education, 2002, edited by MaryAnn Byrnes, and published by McGraw-Hill/Dushkin.
COURSE OUTLINE
8/23-8/27: Introduction: A History of Exceptionality and Student Diversity
Silver, Chapter 21
Byrnes, Issues 2, 3, 7, and 8
8/30-9/3: Exceptionality and the Family
Silver, Chapter 11
Kearney, Case 1
9/6-9/10: Learning Disabilities
Silver, Chaps. 1-5, 9-10, 12-13, & 15
Kearney, Case 7
Byrnes, Issue 14
9/13-9/17: Attention Deficit, Hyperactivity, and other Externalizing Disorders
Silver, Chapters 6, 7, 14, 16-18
Kearney, Cases 6, 8, & 10
Byrnes, Issues 6, 15, and 16
9/20-9/24: Internalizing Disorders
Kearney, Cases 2, 3, & 5
Byrnes, Issue 4
9/27-10/1: Mental Retardation & Acquired Brain Injury
Byrnes, Issue 10
10/4-10/8: Severe and Multiple Disabilities
No readings this week.
10/13-10/15: Communication Disorders
The entire Martin book
10/18-10/22: Abused and Neglected Children
Kearney, Case 13
10/25-10/29: Autism and Childhood Psychoses
Kearney, Case 11
11/1-11/5: Hearing Impairments
Byrnes, Issues 11 and 17
11/8-11/12: Visual Impairments
No readings this week.
11/15-11/19: Physical and Health Disorders
Kearney, Case 12
HAPPY THANKSGIVING! ENJOY!
11/29-12/3: Lifespan (especially adult) Issues
Silver, Chapter 19
12/6-12/8: Giftedness
Silver, Chapter 20
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
1. Midterm Exams:
There are 4 midterm exams in this class. They are each worth 15% of your final grade. The tentative dates of the midterms are:
Monday, 10/13; Wednesday, 10/6; Monday, 11/1; Friday, 12/3
The exams will consist of short answer, multiple choice, true/false and perhaps short essay questions. Most of the information on them will be found in both the texts and in your lecture notes, but there will be some questions on each one that come only from the texts or only from the lecture.
2. Final Exam:
The final will be comprehensive and will be worth 20% of your final grade. It will look very much like one of the midterms, except that it will be longer, and may, at might discretion, include a long summary essay.
3. Thoughtful Essays:
I hope you find much of the information in the course thought provoking; e.g. How is bilingual education best accomplished? What is the role of the government in providing for the needs of disabled citizens? Should the parents of deaf children be forced to allow their children to be provided with cochlear implants?
During the course of the semester, you must write TWO essays germane to the material covered in class or in the readings. I am looking for well-thought-out opinion papers. The best essays discuss evidence on both sides of a controversy, and then explain why you believe the weight of the data support one position over the other. In order to get a good grade, you must go beyond what is written in the texts or covered in class - you should look up additional information, and make points that you logically conclude but that were not stated by others. Do NOT merely re-write what you have read, but feel free to critique the readings. You should clear your topic ideas with me, but I generally approve any topic that is relevant to the course material. Do not pick topics such that you are fighting a straw man: overly-easy controversies do not make for good papers. (E.g. Do not choose something like: Should we kill all children with birth defects at birth?). Each essay project is worth 10% of your final grade, and should be 4-7 pages in length. (Longer is not necessarily better: don't pad for length's sake.)
The first essay is due by October 15th (the Friday after mid-semester break); the second is due by November 29th (the Monday of the next-to-last week of class).
LATENESS AND MAKE UP POLICY
I expect you to take the exams when they are scheduled and to complete all assignments on time. If you cannot take an exam because of an emergency or an illness, call and let me know beforehand. It is your responsibility to reach me; as a last resort, you can call and leave a message for me in Phonemail or e-mail me. If you call before the exam, then on the first available day you will be given an essay make up exam. If you call after the class has taken the exam, you will be docked 7% for each day you are late in contacting me (a minimum of 7% will be docked, even if you call later that same day), and on the first available day you will be given a make up exam. Similarly, you will be docked 7% off the grade that you would have received on the optional paper/project for each day that it is late.
EXTRA CREDIT
There are several possibilities. The first is to re-do an essay if you got a
poor grade on one; I will substitute the first grade with the one you earned
on the replacement. If both essay grades were good, you can write a third essay:
at the most, this will earn you 2 points added to your average at the end of
the semester. In my mind extra credit should only help people right on the border,
and so it may or may not elevate your letter grade. A third option is to do
a short (research) paper on some disorder that we did not cover in class. Again,
this will be worth up to a maximum of 2 per cent on your final average. You
may only do one extra credit option. All are due by April 16th.
Strategies that Will Help You Succeed
1. Come to class. Getting other people's notes or looking at the PowerPoints that I leave with Mary Ann are not good substitutes. Remember, if you miss one day a week, and then get everything right on the tests from the days that you are there, you still have a D (67%).
2. Ask me questions if you don't understand something. I'm always willing to
explain it again!
3. Skim the relevant sections in the texts before I cover a subject. It will
help you understand the lectures better.
4. Keep up with the material. Do NOT wait to study until a day or two before
an exam. You should always be up to date, i.e. learn Monday's material before
class on Wednesday, Wednesday's before class on Friday, etc.
5. Don't rely on rote memorization. Try to understand the concepts as you study
them, not memorize meaningless phrases. Thinking of ways in which the material
relates to your own life or someone you know is a great way to do this.
6. Don't study by reading and rereading and rereading your notes. It is inefficient
and doesn't work well at all. If you think it works, it's because you have been
unconsciously thinking about the material as you have reviewed it. Instead,
quiz yourself (or pair up with a friend or group of friends and quiz each other).
7. Come to review sessions.
ACADEMIC HONESTY POLICY
I expect everyone taking this course to behave honestly. By that I mean that
you are not allowed to copy from another person's test paper during exams, nor
are you to allow another person to copy from your paper. You are not permitted
to use crib sheets or notes while taking the tests. If you take a test late
(due to illness, for example), it is not permissible to ask others what questions
were on it; if someone in a similar situation asks you about the exam, it is
not permissible to answer. Furthermore, you are not allowed to examine previous
years' tests (even if a friend who had Atypical Child two years ago offers to
give you the his/her old exams). It is unethical to get extensive help from
another student for your paper, to make up information for the essays, or to
allow someone else to write your papers for you. Therefore, be aware that if
I were to catch you cheating or plagiarizing, I would either give you a zero
-not an "F", but a "0" - for the assignment in question
or I would give you an automatic "F" for the course (depending upon
the nature of the infraction). If I were to catch you a second time, you would
certainly be given an "F for the course. Please don't cheat!!!!!!!!
HONORS
Honors will be awarded for satisfactory completion of some project beyond the
normal requirements listed above, provided that the student has earned a grade
of B or better in the course. An expanded term paper or completion of a second
or more complicated data gathering project will make students eligible for this
distinction. Please see me before March if you wish to be considered for this
distinction.
Office Hours, Telephone
Office: 52C Phillips Hall
Phone: X3809
E-mail: kgdolgin
I'm here at Wesleyan from about 8:15 to 4:15 most days. I don't have official office hours; instead please feel free to drop by anytime. Especially good times are 11 and 3 MWFs, and early afternoon on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I can't speak to you right before class, as I teach at 1 (but I usually can right afterwards). If you really need to see me -- especially if you need a big chunk of time-- please schedule an appointment with MaryAnn Nelson, our department secretary. I check my e-mail about 100 times/day and so it is usually a quick way to get a message to me or ask a question.
E-Res
I will be making extensive use of our library's "E-Res" system for this course. At that site, I will provide study questions, provide copies of handouts, run chat room review sessions, post grades, etc. Therefore, please check the course site several times/week. To get to E-Res, go to the library's home page and look at the right hand side of the monitor screen. Click on "E-Res" and then find my name in the pop-up menu. Go to this course and take it from there! The system is very user-friendly and so you should have no problem. Please remind me to give you all the page's password if I forget to do so.
REVIEW OF GRADING
4 exams @ 15% each 60%
2 essays @ 10% each 20%
Comprehensive final 20%
________
100%
Extra credit: up to 2%