can you tell me the benefits of special education teacher?

Answer 1

If you like a challenge, love working with children, and are not overwhelmed by the paperwork, you would absolutely gain such great self-satisfaction benefits from being a special education teacher.
I have been a certified special education teacher going on my 7th year now, but worked as a paraprofessional in special education while going to college. I majored in the areas of students with specific learning disabilities, and students who are educable mentally handicapped. The school I work at incorporated full-inclusion 2 years ago. So I now teach a general education subject with a class of students, for which 1/3 make up being identified with a specific disability. Yes, I also had to obtain certification in the general education subject I teach as well.

* I specifically choose special education as my major, after seeing the great love you get from these kids. The benefits are definetly in the reward of what YOU get out of it.

P.S. I teach high school level and absolutely love seeing my students grow into young adults; attending prom, gaining employment, driving, and of course GRADUATION! : )

Answer 2

Yes, only because I was one.

Spec Ed educators are much more involved in the day to day workings of each student- not only school stuff but personal things as well. It is the educators job to know something is wrong just by looking at expressions or body english.

They follow specific guidelines developed for each student called IEPs. An IEP clarifies the students abilities and matches them to specific goals to increase their skills.

Spec ed kids do not necessarily have a learning impediment other than the idea that they have to get out of their own way... some have behavioral problems, and at this end the instructors may have additional behavioral control training to help the student get over the rough spots and learn from negative and positive actions. Cornell University has a program used by many special ed schools called "Therapeutic Crisis Intervention".

Being a spec ed instructor requires much more preparation and great effort in individualizing lessons than for a typical "normal" student, and sometimes the payoff isn't so great. But, when the job goes the way it should, there is nothing more gratifying.

This mountain of work is why "No Child Left Behind" legislation will never work.. every kid is different and they can not, and will not, be forced into conformity.

Answer 3

I couldn't work without one in my class. I have 22 students in a class. Twelve of them are identified as "special ed." There is only one of me, making it impossible to effectivly teach that class.

Even in my class of 24 with two special needs students, I feel less than adequate. A teacher may have the subject knowledge, the special ed teacher has the knowledge of strategies to work with the kids who need such help. They can show them HOW to learn the material in a way that they can grasp.

They often work along with regular ed teachers and in New York State they are required to obtain a master's degree just like any other teacher. The special ed program is not difficult. Certainly much easier than many other programs. In most school a teacher's salary is based on their years of experience and tied to their years of education BEYOND what is required by the state. Math teachers or special ed teachers do not earn more than any other equally qualified teaching professional.

I can't imagine any school district's contract that would pay more. How would a union justify that and why would they?

Answer 4

Regular teacher first must take a course on Sp.Ed. They must have a lot of patience and should know have to modify the curriculum to suit the kids with special needs. But I think it is difficult, because the regular ed. teacher has 28 odd kids in the class...with about 3 or 4 sp.ed. kids.

Answer 5

Coming from a person who spent half of her education with special ed teachers, I have to say that they are extremely helpful, determined to help you learn in any way and they don't mind going step by step with whatever subject you're learning. I was in special education until I was 12 (almost 10 years ago)...my last special ed teacher helped me get straight A's and motivated me to always work hard, and when I graduated from middle school, I wrote a letter to him, thanking him for building up my self esteem and for teaching me that there's nothing impossible to learn. Most of all, special ed teachers leave a strong lasting impression on you for the rest of your life.

Answer 6

To me the benefits of being a special education teacher come from helping students who are struggling in the regular ed classrooms become more successful, and eventually seeing them return to the regular ed classroom.

As for education, I was required to do five, eight-week student teaching placements in different grade levels and disability areas. I learned to write IEPs, behavior plans, functional behavior analyses, environmental accessibility surveys, and transitional plans. This was on top of lesson plans. I also had to become familiar with the types of assistive technology is available to help students access the curriculum. The program is not easier, just vastly different from the curriculum to become a regular ed teacher.

Many states do not require a masters degree to teach sped, although there are districts I have found that prefer a special education teacher have one. I have also found that many districts do pay higher for sped teachers, as there is a very large shortage of them and districts have to be competitive.

Please consider this field as a career. You can choose to specialize in working with a specific disability type. It takes a truly special person to work with students with cognitive disabilities, but if this is not for you, you can choose to work with students who have learning disabilities, behavior disorders, or who have visual or hearing impairments.

Answer 7

As far as being a special education teacher you can pretty much always, and I do mean always, guarantee yourself a job in any school district across the US.

Answer 8

Benefits include patience, time, they know how to utilize behavior management, better at individualizing lesson plans, etc,

The best to me is that they actually "KNOW" their kids! This proved invaluable to me recently at a conference in which a regular ed teacher refused to listen to me.

Answer 9

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Answer 10

You mean to being one? My b/f is a teacher and I know SE teachers make much more money that regular teachers! I think you have to get more education to become one.