Early Interventions in Autism and Sensory Impairments, MA

33-42 credit hours

This is offered as an online degree.

The Master of Arts in early interventions in autism and sensory impairments program targets interested professionals in the fields of child development, early childhood special education, non-profit administration, psychology, early childhood, speech and language, sign language, hard of hearing/deaf, vision impairments and social work.

Potential candidates for this program include teachers, parents, speech and language therapists and related services professionals, certified pre-K-12 teachers, certified VI teachers who want to learn more about autism and sensory impairments, sign language professionals with a BA, early childhood professionals. As Mo DESE does not require teacher certification to work in the early interventions field teacher certification is not included nor required for this program. The Council for Exceptional Children developed the Early Intervention, Developmental Disabilities and Autism Spectrum Disorder Skill and Knowledge specialty sets that drive the curriculum content of the program.

Graduates of the Lindenwood Early Interventions in Autism and Sensory Impairments program serve as family service coordinators, First Steps Early Intervention specialists and team members, Parents as Teachers educators, non-profit agency administrators and service providers, and pre-school and early childhood teachers. This program provides training to partner with parents and early intervention professionals of young children who have learning needs in the area of autism and/or sensory impairment. Our program includes opportunities for observations with Early Intervention practitioners in the field through home-visits and models the shared philosophy of “holistic” therapies, family-centered practices, and the opportunity to work with families on home visits through a research study. The program distinguishes itself as including study of characteristics of vision and deaf/hard of hearing impairments for early detection and delivery of therapy in the natural environment. As an online degree, nation-wide experts with clinical therapeutic experience teach their specialty area to offer the latest evidence-based practices for early diagnosis.

Consistently, University Rankings rates Lindenwood’s MA in early intervention in autism and sensory impairments program among the nation’s top ten programs for a masters’ degree in Early Interventions.