Southern Utah University

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Southern Utah University
Southern Utah University
Spring Semester 2026

Intervention Strategies in ELA for Students with Disabilities (Online)

SPED 4130-30I

Course: SPED 4130-30I
Credits: 3
Term: Spring Semester 2026
Department: TED
CRN: 10788

Course Description

This course provides students with a comprehensive overview of the curricular and instructional needs of students with mild/moderate disabilities in the areas of reading and writing. This course is a practicum course; a background check through SUU must be completed prior to registering for this course. Placement requests must be made before the drop date, otherwise students will be dropped from the course. Questions about the practicum experiences or background checks can be directed to coehdpracticums@suu.edu. (Fall, Spring) [Graded (Standard Letter)]

Required Texts

McLeskey, J., Maheady, L., Billingsley, B., Brownell, M. T., & Lewis, T. J. (2022). High-Leverage Practices for Inclusive Classrooms (Second Edition). ISBN 9780367702304 

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

  1. Identify what constitutes an evidence-based practice in special education.
  2. Define and apply each of the high leverage practices to targeted individual student needs.
  3. Determine appropriate goals and design developmentally appropriate lessons based upon those goals.. 
  4. Identify appropriate instructional materials based on student need and instructional intensity. 
  5. Assess student progress toward meeting instructional goals and adapt instruction, as needed.

Course Requirements

Course Assessment Table


Course Assessments
Course OutcomesDiscussions | 1, 2, 4
Activities/Assignments | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Final Presentation | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Practicum Hours

Because this is a laboratory class, you will be responsible for setting up a practicum with Caitlin Ravanelli,  caitlinravanelli@suu.edu.  You will be paired with a teacher for the semester. In that classroom, you will complete all assignments and get practical experience regarding in classrooms.  Most weeks will have an activity to complete that helps you apply the new skills you’ve learned. Directions will accompany each individual activity. A minimum of 1.5 hours or more per week, enough to complete assignments totaling 20+ hours). Please make and share your schedule with both the instructor of the course and the cooperating teacher within the first few weeks of the course. 
While at the Practicum site, you must wear your badge to identify yourself. Remember, your conduct is a representation of SUU. You will spend time both observing students (hands-off) and working ( hands-on) with students under the direction of your cooperating teacher. This is structured this way as we are learning about behavior, and hands-off observation provides the opportunity to learn documentation skills and techniques.

Assignment Outline


Student Assessment and Intervention

You will identify a student who struggles in math, reading, or writing in your practicum placement or instructor approved student. You will identify their weaknesses using informal assessment, write a PLAAFP based on the information collected from your informal assessment, and from that data determine a course of action. This will include:
  •      Write 1-2 appropriate IEP goals to correspond with the PLAAFP and directs your plan for intervention.
  •      Choose an appropriate strategy from class to use as an intervention with the student (based on PLAAFP and IEP goal).
  •      Make sure you are using the appropriate leveled material 
  •      Develop/choose progress monitoring tools to track data

Small Group Lessons

You will create and teach at least 2 small group lessons in a school using strategies learned in class. The lessons will correspond with areas of need identified by you.  

Journal Article Discussion Participation

IDEA 2004 is very clear in stating that special educators need to use peer reviewed/evidence-based strategies for helping children with disabilities. For this reason, we will have weekly journal articles to read. Please come to class with previously assigned articles read and be ready to discuss in detail. The number of articles and titles will vary each week.

Final Project Presentation

There will be a graded final project presentation. Your Final presentation will be a 5-10 minute overview of:
  • The Assessment and Intervention assignment information (do not include students real names)
  • The 2 lessons you completed in your practicum,
  • How you made the decisions you made (why did you choose your topic?, what data led you to believe your student would respond to this instruction? etc.),
  • Provide DATA showing what the final outcome was (did they learn what you taught and how do you know?)
  • What your next steps would be based on your data.
This presentation is also your “final exam” and you will hand in your presentation in Canvas.

Grade Scheme

The following grading standards will be used in this class:
GradeRange
A | 100 % to 94.0%
A- | < 94.0 % to 90.0%
B+ | < 90.0 % to 87.0%
B | < 87.0 % to 84.0%
B- | < 84.0 % to 80.0%
C+ | < 80.0 % to 77.0%
C | < 77.0 % to 74.0%
C- | < 74.0 % to 70.0%
D+ | < 70.0 % to 67.0%
D | < 67.0 % to 64.0%
D- | < 64.0 % to 61.0%
F | < 61.0 % to 0.0%
Per college policy, grades below a C will not count for credit in the teacher education program as part of your degree.

Course Outline

Module 1: Determining Evidence-Based Practices (Week 1)
Module 2: Using Student Assessment Data (Week 2)
Module 3: Using Data to Write PLAAFPs, Determining IEP Goals and Systematic Instruction (Week 3)
Module 4: Adapt Curriculum, Tasks, and Materials for Specific Learning Goals (Week 4)
Module 5: Intensive Intervention HLP 20 (Week 5)
Module 6: Maintaining and Generalizing New Learning (Week 6)
Module 7: Scaffolding (Week 7,8,)
Module 8: Explicit Instruction (Week 9)
Module 9: Using Feedback (Week 11)
Module 10: Active Student Engagement (Week 12)
Module 11: Cognitive and Metacognitive Strategies (Week 13)
Module 12: Assistive Technology (Week 14)

Instructor's policies on late assignments and/or makeup work

No late work will be accepted without prior instructor approval. It is at the instructor's discretion if an assignment or activity will be accepted late.

Attendance Policy

Online courses require you to login and participate throughout each week. To be successful in this course, you should log into the course multiple times per week and participate beyond the minimum requirements.

Course Fees

View all of SUU's Program and Course Fees

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools

AI tools (such as ChatGPT, Grammarly, or similar programs) may be used as part of the learning process in this course. All submitted work must follow a “human in, human out” standard—this means you may use AI for brainstorming, idea refinement, or drafting support, but you must critically engage with, edit, and meaningfully transform the output into your own original work. Direct copy-paste from AI without significant human revision is not permitted and will be considered a violation of academic integrity. You are responsible for the accuracy, originality, and citation of all content you submit, regardless of the tools used in its creation.

Student Resources

The Student Outreach and Support (SOS) Office at Southern Utah University provides support, non-clinical interventions, advocacy, and referrals for students experiencing challenges in their personal and academic lives. The team is comprised of non-clinical case managers who meet with students to gain an understanding of their needs and to identify personal strengths, as well as withdrawal support to understand options during difficult times

Accommodations: Disability Resource Center is committed to helping all students be full participants in university programs, regardless of their abilities. Reasonable accommodations are available for students each semester. 

Thriving Thunderbirds: Mental health is essential for your academic success. If you are struggling with mental health issues, SUU provides resources, support, and services to help you. Please visit https://www.suu.edu/mentalhealth for access to these valuable resources.
If you need assistance navigating any of the resources, please contact Counseling and Psychological Services, the Dean of Students’ Office, or the Health and Wellness Center.

Writing Center: The SUU Undergraduate Writing Center invites all students to the Writing Center in Braithwaite Center 101 where qualified peer tutors are ready to help with any stage of the writing process. Fall hours start September 3: M-Th 8 am–9 pm, F 8 am–5 pm, and Saturday 11 am–3 pm. All appointments are free, and both in-person and Zoom appointments are available. To schedule, visit our website at https://www.suu.edu/hss/writingcenter.

Canvas Information: Canvas is where course content, grades, and communication will reside for this course.
For Passwords or any other computer-related technical support:
For Canvas help:

ADA Statement

Students with medical, psychological, learning, or other disabilities desiring academic adjustments, accommodations, or auxiliary aids will need to contact the Disability Resource Center, located in Room 206F of the Sharwan Smith Center or by phone at (435) 865-8042. The Disability Resource Center determines eligibility for and authorizes the provision of services.

If your instructor requires attendance, you may need to seek an ADA accommodation to request an exception to this attendance policy. Please contact the Disability Resource Center to determine what, if any, ADA accommodations are reasonable and appropriate.

Academic Credit

According to the federal definition of a Carnegie credit hour: A credit hour of work is the equivalent of approximately 60 minutes of class time or independent study work. A minimum of 45 hours of work by each student is required for each unit of credit. Credit is earned only when course requirements are met. One (1) credit hour is equivalent to 15 contact hours of lecture, discussion, testing, evaluation, or seminar, as well as 30 hours of student homework. An equivalent amount of work is expected for laboratory work, internships, practica, studio, and other academic work leading to the awarding of credit hours. Credit granted for individual courses, labs, or studio classes ranges from 0.5 to 15 credit hours per semester.

Academic Freedom

SUU is operated for the common good of the greater community it serves. The common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition. Academic Freedom is the right of faculty to study, discuss, investigate, teach, and publish. Academic Freedom is essential to these purposes and applies to both teaching and research.

Academic Freedom in the realm of teaching is fundamental for the protection of the rights of the faculty member and of you, the student, with respect to the free pursuit of learning and discovery. Faculty members possess the right to full freedom in the classroom in discussing their subjects. They may present any controversial material relevant to their courses and their intended learning outcomes, but they shall take care not to introduce into their teaching controversial materials which have no relation to the subject being taught or the intended learning outcomes for the course.

As such, students enrolled in any course at SUU may encounter topics, perspectives, and ideas that are unfamiliar or controversial, with the educational intent of providing a meaningful learning environment that fosters your growth and development. These parameters related to Academic Freedom are included in SUU Policy 6.6.

Academic Misconduct

Scholastic honesty is expected of all students. Dishonesty will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent (see SUU Policy 6.33). You are expected to have read and understood the current SUU student conduct code (SUU Policy 11.2) regarding student responsibilities and rights, the intellectual property policy (SUU Policy 5.52), information about procedures, and what constitutes acceptable behavior.

Please Note: The use of websites or services that sell essays is a violation of these policies; likewise, the use of websites or services that provide answers to assignments, quizzes, or tests is also a violation of these policies. Regarding the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), you should check with your individual course instructor.

Emergency Management Statement

In case of an emergency, the University's Emergency Notification System (ENS) will be activated. Students are encouraged to maintain updated contact information using the link on the homepage of the mySUU portal. In addition, students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the Emergency Response Protocols posted in each classroom. Detailed information about the University's emergency management plan can be found at https://www.suu.edu/emergency.

HEOA Compliance Statement

For a full set of Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) compliance statements, please visit https://www.suu.edu/heoa. The sharing of copyrighted material through peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, except as provided under U.S. copyright law, is prohibited by law; additional information can be found at https://my.suu.edu/help/article/1096/heoa-compliance-plan.

You are also expected to comply with policies regarding intellectual property (SUU Policy 5.52) and copyright (SUU Policy 5.54).

Mandatory Reporting

University policy (SUU Policy 5.60) requires instructors to report disclosures received from students that indicate they have been subjected to sexual misconduct/harassment. The University defines sexual harassment consistent with Federal Regulations (34 C.F.R. Part 106, Subpart D) to include quid pro quo, hostile environment harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking. When students communicate this information to an instructor in-person, by email, or within writing assignments, the instructor will report that to the Title IX Coordinator to ensure students receive support from the Title IX Office. A reporting form is available at https://cm.maxient.com/reportingform.php?SouthernUtahUniv

Non-Discrimination Statement

SUU is committed to fostering an inclusive community of lifelong learners and believes our university's encompassing of different views, beliefs, and identities makes us stronger, more innovative, and better prepared for the global society.

SUU does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, citizenship, sex (including sex discrimination and sexual harassment), sexual orientation, gender identity, age, ancestry, disability status, pregnancy, pregnancy-related conditions, genetic information, military status, veteran status, or other bases protected by applicable law in employment, treatment, admission, access to educational programs and activities, or other University benefits or services.

SUU strives to cultivate a campus environment that encourages freedom of expression from diverse viewpoints. We encourage all to dialogue within a spirit of respect, civility, and decency.

For additional information on non-discrimination, please see SUU Policy 5.27 and/or visit https://www.suu.edu/nondiscrimination.

Pregnancy

Students who are or become pregnant during this course may receive reasonable modifications to facilitate continued access and participation in the course. Pregnancy and related conditions are broadly defined to include pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, lactation, related medical conditions, and recovery. To obtain reasonable modifications, please make a request to title9@suu.edu. To learn more visit: https://www.suu.edu/titleix/pregnancy.html.

Disclaimer Statement

Information contained in this syllabus, other than the grading, late assignments, makeup work, and attendance policies, may be subject to change with advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor.