College of Education and Human Services

St. Charles, Mo. / St. Louis, Mo.
Early Intervention in Autism & Sensory Impairments (MA)

St. Charles, Mo. / St. Louis, Mo.
Early Intervention in Autism & Sensory Impairments (MA)

College of Education and Human Services NAVIGATION

Master of Arts (MA) offered in On-campus and Online formats.

The Lindenwood University Master of Arts in Education with an emphasis in Early Interventions in Autism and Sensory Impairments program provides training to partner with parents of young children who have learning needs in the area of autism and/or sensory impairment. The need for specialized teacher training in early interventions is evidenced through the increasing prevalence of children born prematurely with low birth weights with co-occurrence of one or more developmental disabilities.

Many of our candidates have backgrounds in non-profit agencies, child development, psychology, social work, communication disorders, and special education. Graduates of our program include pre-grade 8 teachers, paraprofessionals, parents, speech and language therapists, and related services professionals, certified VI teachers who want to learn more about autism and sensory impairments, sign language professionals with a BA degree, and 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.

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 degree in Early Intervention in Autism and Sensory Impairments Program among the nation’s top ten programs for a masters’ degree in Early Interventions.

To complete this degree, nine hours of core credits and 24 hours of early interventions coursework are required, totaling 33 hours. 

For questions, please contact Dr. Rebecca Panagos at (636) 949-4959.

Curriculum & Instruction - Teacher Ed