The Autism Intervention concentration consists of comprehensive and evidence-based practices in the field of Autism Spectrum Disorders to prepare leaders and educators with core values that exemplify excellence, integrity, collaboration and impact in the field of Autism.

The Master's Degree in Special Education with concentration in High Incidence Disabilities provides high quality preparation in the identification of, and educational programming for, students with high incidence disabilities; specifically, learning disabilities and/or emotional/behavioral disorders. Emphasis is on characteristics of students with high incidence disabilities, academic and behavioral assessment, and academic and behavioral programming. Graduates will be equipped as master teachers or instructional/intervention specialists and will be well-versed in collaboration with community agencies. This degree concentration requires a minimum of 33 hours of coursework. Those without a Texas special education teacher certificate may work to obtain one simultaneously by enrolling in the IMPACT certification program, in which case coursework will count toward the degree and the certification, simultaneously.

This concentration is designed for students who want to be employed as an Educational Diagnostician or for teachers who are interested in assessment issues in the classroom. You will learn to assess and diagnose the special learning needs of students using a variety of standardized assessments and curriculum based assessments as well as provide consultation and prevention and intervention strategies within an educational setting. Upon completion of the degree requirements, students will be certified to administer standardized tests including the WISC-IV, Stanford Binet V, KABC, WJ-ACH, WIAT-III and various other individual measurements.

Students seeking this degree have good organization skills; an ability to relate well with parents, administrators, teachers and students of all ages; ability to resolve conflicts; and ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously. With this degree, you can collaborate with a team of professionals from several different backgrounds and use your expertise to make the best educational decisions for placing students with special learning needs. Many students work in independent school districts as educational diagnosticians..

This concentration prepares students for a variety of leadership roles in schools, including as a teacher of the gifted (if the student already holds a teaching certification), program coordinator, curriculum specialist, and state education agency director, among others. This degree prepares students to sit for the Texas Examination of Educator Standards Gifted and Talented Supplemental Certificate and also provides students with a Graduate Academic Certificate in Gifted Education (GACT-GATE) if requested and applied for. Graduates will also be prepared for doctoral coursework in this area, should they decide to continue their education.

Students in the Concentration in Learning and Development are provided foundational knowledge regarding growth and change across the lifespan (i.e. physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development.) Graduates seek careers in educational environments, federal, state, and local government agencies, nonprofit organizations, community-based social service agencies, businesses, and research institutions. In this concentration, you will also learn strategies for motivating individuals to acquire information, and to examine learning across all contexts, whether in a school setting, family setting, or addressing community learning and change. You learn how to measure change in performance and understanding.

This concentration prepares students for a multitude of careers including cooperative extension workers serving family, youth, and communities; non-profit program coordinators and administrators for groups that serve individuals and families; program evaluators, child and family advocates and policy administrators in government, non-profit and private-sector organizations. Students are encouraged to join the National Council on Family Relations and seek certification as Family Life Educators.

The master’s degree option in research and evaluation (R&E) prepares graduates to work with public or private organizations. For those employed by educational institutions (such as school districts, higher educational institutions, or non-profit organizations) as administrators, or desiring to become administrators either in K-12 as evaporators or in higher education as institutional researchers, the R&E master’s degree will help you understand how to design evaluations, collect data to determine the efficacy of programs or initiatives, properly measure outcomes to assess important features. For those working in the development of research programs and implementing grant proposals, the master’s degree in R&E will position you to evaluate and provide information to policy makers and other stakeholders so that they can make important decisions about funding, continuation of programs, changes that need to be made to improve educational efforts based on empirical data analysis and interpretation.