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Special Education Teaching Careers
from: Kyle BesserSpecial education teachers work with children and youths with a variety of disabilities. A small percentage of special education teachers instruct basic literacy and life skills to students with mental retardation or autism. Most students in special education have mild to moderate disabilities, and teachers modify the general education curriculum to meet the individual needs or the students. Some special education teachers work with pre-school aged children, but the majority of special education teachers work with students at the elementary, middle, and secondary school levels.
Special education teachers help students progress academically and behaviorally by helping them develop emotional awareness, conduct themselves in a manner that is socially acceptable and feel comfortable in social situations. Special education teachers strive to help their students obtain certain academic and behavioral levels to prepare them for everyday life after they complete school, such as writing a check or making a grocery list.
Special education teachers use many teaching methods to help their students learn depending on the disability. These techniques can include small-group work, problem-solving activities or individualized instruction depending on the disability. Special education teachers make sure that special accommodations are provided for students taking exams when needed, such as lengthening the time allowed to take the test or having the questions read orally to the student.
Special education teachers spend much of their time communicating with school administrators, occupational and physical therapists, school psychologists, social workers, parents and their students' other teachers. The work of teachers, teacher assistants, and other faculty, such as therapists and social workers, is coordinated by special education teachers to ensure that the requirements of special education programs are met.
There are many different settings in which a special education teacher may work. A few teach only special education students in their own classroom. Some work with general education teachers as an education resource teacher to provide individualized assistance to students with disabilities. Some team teach with general education teachers in classes comprised of both general and special education students. Some work with special education students for only part of the day in a resource room apart from their general education classes. A small number of special education teachers tutor homebound or hospitalized students or teach in other residential facilities.
Some parents who have infants with medical problems that slow or inhibit normal development will hire special education teachers to work with the child and themselves. These teachers demonstrate activities and strategies to stimulate and encourage the development of the child's skills. Toddlers with disabilities work with special education teachers at preschool where they learn to develop motor, cognitive, language, self-help and social skills through play.
Technology plays an important role in the developments of special education career schools. In special education career schools, teachers can help children learn through the use of equipment, such as audiotapes, interactive educational software programs and computers with synthesized speech.
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