Teaching Special Education

Special education refers to the education for the people with disabilities- it may be formal or informal. The definition of disability may vary- generally, the nature of disability may be cognitive, psychological or physical. Teachers of special education aim at imparting literacy, motivation and life skills to such people, keeping in mind the student’s individual needs. In special education, individual attention and customized teaching strategies are very important as every child has a different need and needs special care.

Children who qualify for special education programs are those who are slow learners, visually impaired, physically impaired, psychologically disturbed, or those who have speech or language problems, hearing impairments, mental retardation, multiple disabilities, autism or traumatic impairments.

Early intervention and discovery of these impairments is recommended so that the children can be treated as per their needs. It is the special education teacher’s job to diagnose and analyze the physical and psychological state of the student and design teaching strategy to improvise his/her academic and psychological well-being.

Regardless of the institute, all special education programs use individualized teaching methods which involve studying individual case and tailoring one’s teaching and curriculum to suit his/her needs. In doing so, parents’ collaboration and involvement is necessarily sought so that the individual can grow both inside and outside of school. Much of the special education teachers’ job is to coordinate and communicate with people who can help the student in progressing. For this, they communicate with psychologists, counselors, parents, therapists and school administrators.

Special education teachers’ job may be highly rewarding as they have an opportunity to establish close bonds with children and seek happiness through their happiness, but it is also a very demanding job as they need to give special care and attention to keep a record of the child’s growth. It also requires them to closely observe the child’s behavior and be vigilant.

The teachers also use specialized technology which is very beneficial in modern special education. For instance, audio tapes and computer soft wares for deaf and dumb, etc are used.