Bilingual Special Education Personnel Preparation

Abstract

There are few teacher training programs in bilingual special education in the nation. This article describes the program at George Mason University, The Northern University of the State of Virginia. It is an integrated program in which bilingual special education teachers are trained alongside their regular and special education counterparts. This integration produces two kinds of professionals: (a) special education teachers who are conversant with the issues of bilingual special education and thus somewhat better able to adapt their teaching skills to the needs of their bilingual exceptional pupils, and (b) bilingual special education teachers with specific skills in working with culturally and linguistically different exceptional children. The skills of the second group include skills in dealing with first- and second-language difficulties and with the possible negative interactions between cultural differences and handicapping conditions.