Introduction
(A) Department History
1.1979—The beginning of the department, then divided into the mental and physical disability sections.
2.2000—Founding of the Graduate Institute for the Education of Individuals with Disabilities
3.2002—Founding of the Special Education Master’s Program
4.2003—Founding of the Graduate Institute of Creative Thinking & Giftedness
5.2004— Founding of the Graduate Institute of Communication Disorders Education
6.2006—As the school was changed to become the Taipei Municipal University of Education, our unit at the time consolidated several graduate institutions to become the present department and master’s program, which was divided into three sections: the Mental and Physical Disabilities Section, the Communication Disorders Section, and the Creative Thinking & Giftedness sections
7.2007—The master’s program’s Communication Disorder Section was changed to the Communication Disorders Master’s Program; it is expected that it will be reincorporated into master’s program’s Language Therapy Section for the 2014 academic year
8.2008—The master’s program’s Creative Thinking & Giftedness Section was changed to the Giftedness Section
9.2013—As the consolidation of the Taipei Municipal University of Education and the Taipei Physical Education College was achieved to form the University of Taipei, our department became the jurisdiction of the School of Education
(B) Our Aims
1.Inter-discipline, inter-university, and international cooperation allow our curriculum to give equal consideration to theory and clinical practice, and allow our students to grow an international perspective.
2.Our diverse faculty, in addition to full-time teachers, is staffed by specially-hired medical professionals to assist in teaching, such as those specializing in rehabilitation, otolaryngology, and language therapy.
3.Promoting interdisciplinary cooperation and working-professional and continuing education, we support regional services in special education.
(C) Educational Vision and Goals
1.Mental and Physical Disabilities Section, Giftedness Section
‧To dedicate ourselves to interdisciplinary research and research in education for the gifted or those people with mental and physical disabilities
‧To train researchers for education in the mental and physical disabilities and giftedness fields
‧To raise the level of educational research ability in working teachers and administrative personnel
2.Language Therapy Section
‧To assess and treat communicative disorders of all types and for all ages
‧To assist in acclimating those individuals with communicative disorders to living in their families, societies, or institutions
‧To possess and adhere to professional ethics, to work well in groups, and to have communication skills
