Online Courses for Teachers

PDI Course Number: 168T02

UCSD Course Number: EDUC42651

Learn how to receive UCSD graduate-level credit for completing this course.

Course Timeline

Participants have one year to complete the course. Participants must spend a minimum of three weeks in this course.

Course Description

Have you ever wondered why some students struggle to communicate clearly, participate in class discussions, or keep up with reading and writing tasks? This online course for teachers takes a comprehensive look at speech and language needs that can appear in PreK-5 classrooms and equips teachers with evidence-based strategies to address them. The course begins with an overview of communication disorders, highlighting their impact on student participation, literacy, academic performance, and social-emotional development, as well as the roles of the school team, families, and the community in providing support. Throughout the rest of the course, teachers will explore articulation and phonology, fluency, vocabulary, grammar and syntax, and comprehension needs. Each unit introduces the nature of one of these challenges, its impact on students’ academic and language development, and practical methods for identifying, accommodating, and intervening effectively. Teachers will gain insight into how speech and language difficulties affect learning across the content areas and discover interventions that can be integrated into everyday instruction. Special attention is given to the needs of students with co-occurring disabilities, such as autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, as well as multilingual learners, ensuring inclusive and equitable practices. By the end of this continuing education course, educators will be prepared to recognize early signs of speech and language needs, apply classroom-based supports, and use developmentally appropriate interventions to promote language and literacy growth for every learner.

Educational Outcomes

1. Teachers will learn the characteristics of articulation disorders, phonological disorders, fluency disorders, and developmental language disorders, and will be able to distinguish between them.
2. Teachers will be able to identify the academic and social needs of students with various communication disorders.
3. Teachers will understand the various roles school professionals have in supporting students with speech and language needs, as well as how students can gain support at home and in their community.
4. Teachers will be able to identify atypical speech patterns and will understand how these atypical patterns can impact a student’s academic success.
5. Teachers will understand the typical sequence of speech-sound development to aid their identification of students who could benefit from intervention support.
6. Teachers will be able to perform evidence-based intervention strategies for supporting students with articulation and phonological needs.
7. Teachers will be able to distinguish between stuttering and cluttering, and they will explore how fluency disorders are diagnosed and differentiated.
8. Teachers will be able to perform evidence-based intervention strategies for supporting students with fluency needs, including multilingual learners and students with co-occurring disabilities like autism and ADHD.
9. Teachers will learn a range of tools and resources to support students with fluency disorders and foster a culture of inclusivity in the classroom.
10. Teachers will understand the typical milestones of vocabulary development and how these milestones might appear differently for students who speak more than one language or who use augmentative and alternative communication to communicate.
11. Teachers will be able to implement a range of evidence-based intervention methods to facilitate vocabulary development in the classroom, whether for the full class or a small group of students.
12. Teachers will understand the typical developmental norms for expressive language, as well as the possible implications associated with grammar and syntax weaknesses in the school setting.
13. Teachers will be able to implement a range of evidence-based practices to expand their students’ grammar, syntax, and overall expressive language skills.
14. Teachers will be able to implement a variety of evidence-based practices to facilitate expressive language growth while scaffolding their existing classroom standards and themes.
15. Teachers will learn the characteristics of language and literacy disorders and how they affect verbal and written comprehension.
16. Teachers will be able to implement a range of evidence-based listening and reading comprehension interventions, as well as accommodations and modifications to ensure all students can equitably participate during classroom instruction.
17. Teachers will learn how to tailor comprehension strategies to effectively support the needs of students with autism, Gestalt language processors, and multilingual learners.
18. Teachers will be able to apply evidence-based comprehension strategies to both literacy and mathematics lessons.

Instructional Media

• Online Discussions
• Online Engagement
• Online Collaboration
• Instructor Feedback
• Instructor Interaction
• Online Resources and Websites
• Supplemental Instructional Materials
• Printable Classroom Resources

Evaluation

• Online Discussions
• Online Engagement
• Test #1 (5% of final grade)
• Test #2 (5% of final grade)
• Test #3 (5% of final grade)
• Test #4 (5% of final grade)
• Test #5 (5% of final grade)
• Autobiography and Goals for the Course (10% of final grade)
• Article/Video Reflection (15% of final grade)
• Course Collaboration/Share Ideas with the Class (10% of final grade)
• Cumulative Assignment/Project: Respond to Five Speech and Language Scenarios (20% of final grade)
• Culminating Practicum (20% of final grade)

Topical Outline

Unit One

• Introduction to Communication Differences and Disorders
• Communication Disorders: Putting Students First
• A Comprehensive Approach to Students’ Speech and Language Needs
• Assignment #1

  Write an autobiography including information about yourself, your grade level, and what you specifically hope to learn about helping students with their executive functions so that they can succeed in an inclusive K-12 classroom. Your autobiography should be a minimum of three paragraphs.

• Test #1

Unit Two

• Articulation and Phonology
• Recognizing and Responding to Speech Sound Needs in the Classroom
• Evidence-Based Practices to Support Students’ Articulation and Phonology Needs
• Assignment #2

  As an educator, it is important to be aware of the research, studies, and professional work done in the field. In the course, you will find an article and video that are relevant to the specific course content. Read the article and then write an essay with your thoughts.

• Test #2

Unit Three

• An Introduction to Fluency Disorders
• Evidence-Based Practices to Support Students with Fluency Needs
• Tools and Resources to Address Fluency Disorders
• Assignment #3

  Online Discussion Board Participation/Engagement: Please post a tip, strategy, or idea that specifically relates to helping students with their executive function deficits so that they can succeed in an inclusive K-12 classroom. The tip, strategy, or idea that you share needs to make a difference to other teachers in their own classrooms. Your assignment should be a minimum of three paragraphs and detailed enough for another teacher to follow easily. This is a great opportunity to share and collaborate with other teachers at your grade level around the country. Take time to review and respond to other postings that are relevant to your classroom population in order to gain effective ideas to use immediately in your classroom.

• Test #3

Unit Four

• How Language and Literacy Disorders Affect Vocabulary
• Evidence-Based Practices to Support Students with Vocabulary Needs
• Applying Vocabulary Interventions in the Content Areas
• Test #4

Unit Five

• How Speech and Language Deficits Affect Grammar and Syntax
• Evidence-Based Practices to Support Students with Grammar and Syntax Needs
• Applying Grammar and Syntax Interventions in the Content Areas
• Test #5

Unit Six

• How Language and Literacy Disorders Affect Comprehension
• Evidence-Based Practices to Support Students with Comprehension Needs
• Implementing Comprehension Interventions in the Content Areas
• Assignment #4

  Review the speech and language scenarios and respond to each of them. Applying what you have learned from this course, design an evidence-based intervention that addresses each student’s individual needs. Each response should consist of a minimum of two paragraphs. The first paragraph should clearly state where the difficulty lies (e.g., speech sounds, fluency, vocabulary, grammar and syntax, and/or comprehension), and it should explore at least one specific strategy or intervention that can be used to address the fictitious learner’s needs. The second paragraph should discuss how the chosen strategy/intervention is expected to benefit the learning outcome for the given learner. The strategies and interventions you choose must be different from one another, meaning that you cannot use a particular intervention strategy more than once within each of your five responses. When you are finished with this assignment, you will have written a total of ten paragraphs.

• Assignment #5

  The culminating practicum is a three-step process. (1) In the first assignment, you were asked what goals you had and what you hoped to learn from the course. Think back to your original goals for this course. Write a minimum two-paragraph reflection specifically describing how what you learned can be used to help you reach those goal(s). (2) Next, write a minimum three-paragraph plan that specifically describes the ways in which you intend to implement a particular strategy you learned in this course into your own teaching situation. (3) Last, write a minimum two-paragraph reflection describing a student you have or have had in the past. Then, discuss how the strategies you learned in this course will specifically benefit that student as you put your plan into action.

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