Understanding Special Education
Special education is a section on the teaching profession that is growing by leaps and bounds. More and more children are having circumstances where they need more individualized attention that what the regular classroom teacher can provide, without it taking away from the other students in the classroom. The demand for specialized and alternative schools is growing in demand, and there is a shortage in teachers that are qualified to provide this type of instruction.
First and foremost, it takes patience, compassion, and a great deal of emotional strength to even enter this field. A person must be able to adapt to a variety of scenarios with their students. For example in the same classroom one child may have Autism, while another may have Dyslexia. A person who has a strong desire to work with children with physical disabilities will do excellent in this field.
Another type of special education is alternative schools for children and teens that have behavioral and emotional problems. This could be from a teen coming from a broken home, alcohol or drug abuse, teen pregnancy, anger issues, violent outbursts, and Tourette’s syndrome, just to cite a few examples. Any minor children that have conditions that involve mental aptitude often excel at these specialized schools, because they get the one on one attention that they desperately need. A person with a background in psychology will usually be a good fit for these individuals.
Teaching in a special education can be very challenging at times. One must have a calm demeanor for kids that smart off to their teachers, defy authority, talk out of turn, disrupt the class, or raise their voice or not get along with their other classmates. A special education teacher must be consistent and unbiased by treating all students with equal priority and time, which is no easy task to accomplish, which is why there are special programs that help prepare students to become teachers that have the proper skills of dealing with special educational needs.
Since there are so many areas to this field that one can focus their interests in, there is a wide amount of flexibility and creativity in this part of teaching. You can also opt to teach special needs children in a one on one setting if they are needing a person’s undivided attention away from other classmates. No matter which route you decide to go, people that have entered in this field will say that they get a tremendous amount of satisfaction, because they feel like they are helping to make a big difference in the lives of others. Make sure that the school you enroll on is highly qualified and has an excellent education when it comes to special education because the training you receive will make such a huge difference in your knowledge.
Understanding Special Education
Resources: Learning disability and Special education in the United States
News: NC special education teacher facing charges she wanted witnesses in terror The Republic