Undergraduate Minor: Mild Disabilities (MDIS)

The Mild Disabilities minor is designed to provide students with background knowledge in teaching students with mild/moderate disabilities and to allow students to begin coursework applicable to Virginia teacher licensure.

Students who complete the minor and continue in the graduate teacher licensure certificate program Students with Disabilities Accessing a General Curriculum may waive 15 credits of graduate coursework in the licensure certificate program, enabling them to complete the graduate licensure certificate program with 18 versus 33 graduate credits. Additionally, the 18 graduate credits taken as part of the graduate certificate program are applicable to the Masters in Special Education. Students who intend to pursue graduate coursework in Special Education following completion of the minor should contact an advisor before beginning the undergraduate minor to discuss options for continuing their coursework in the graduate program. Students must meet one of the following criteria to add the minor:

Official Praxis I scores with a minimum composite of 532 must be on record.
Completion of 24 credits of undergraduate coursework with a minimum GPA of 2.8
Completion of at least 6 credits of EDSE coursework with a minimum GPA of 3.5 in EDSE courses
A GPA of 2.75 in the last 24 hours of undergraduate coursework

Undergraduates students who wish to add the minor as a program of study should submit a Change/Declaration of Academic Program form to the Special Education advisor.

Coursework (15 credits)

There are no pre-requisites in the coursework, but students are strongly encouraged to complete EDSE 401 and EDSE 440 before registering for EDSE 402, EDSE 403 and EDSE 428.

EDSE 401: Introduction to Special Education (3 credit hours)
EDSE 440: Characteristics of Students with Disabilities Who Access the General Curriculum (3 credit hours)
EDSE 402: Classroom Management and Applied Behavior Analysis (3 credit hours)
EDSE 403: Language Development and Reading (3 credit hours)
EDSE 428: Elementary Reading, Curriculum, and Strategies for Students Who Access the General Education Curriculum (3 credit hours)

Suggested additional courses:

Students may request permission to take additional Special Education graduate courses for undergraduate credit or for reserve graduate credit. Students who wish to complete more than 15 credits of coursework in Special Education as part of their undergraduate program should contact an advisor to discuss the option that best meets the needs of their educational and career goals.

Tuition Assistance and Grant Funding

LIFE Assistantships: The Learning Into Future Environments (LIFE) Program is an innovative post-secondary program at Mason for young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities who desire a university experience in a supportive academic environment. Students focusing on special education have an opportunity to work as instructors, resident advisors and mentors in the LIFE program which provides them with field experience in a supportive, supervised setting.