How much harder is special education?

[mom-to-5]

Hi to all!! I'm new here and hope I can get some feedback. I'll be starting the credential program in about a year, and I'm undecided as to what I want to teach. I'm leaning towards elementary school or special ed. I've heard how challenging teaching can be, in any classroom and I'm terrified that if I choose special education, it will be too hard for me, as I'm also a mother of 5 young kids.
How difficult is it to teach children with disabilities? Is it way harder than a regular classroom? What are the best and worst points about it?
I know I'm asking way too many questions but I really need some expert advice.
Thanks in advance,
Claudia

[Chef Dave]

How difficult is it to teach children with disabilities? Is it way harder than a regular classroom? What are the best and worst points about it?


The level of difficulty really depends upon a number of factors. How large is your class? How severe are the disabilities? Do you have an instructional aide? How long do you have each child?

All of these factors will vary from class to class.

Special education teachers have a higher rate of attrition than regular classroom teachers. According to one study conducted by Whitener and Gruber ten years ago, special ed teachers leave the profession at the rate of 7.9% a year compared to regular ed with a turnover rate of 5.8%. Over 10% stayed in education as regular ed teachers. When combined with the number of teachers who were leaving the profession, special ed turnover is close to 20% per year.

Teachers of retarded children are reported to have had the highest rates of turnover.

A more recent study conducted just seven years ago puts turnover of special ed teachers at 12.3% - though this study did not include teachers who became regular ed. Teachers left due to job frustration, burn out, retirement, or the transfer of a spouse.

According to a study conducted among 4,500 special ed teachers in south Texas, the majority said they left special ed due to lack of school supplies that included such basics as textbooks and teacher's editions. Most teachers reported that severe underfunding that was so acute that they had to pay out of pocket for basic office supplies.

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-157946271.html

It is impossible for me to tell you whether you'd be better suited as a special education teacher or as a regular ed teacher. A lot of what we do as teachers is based upon our respective personalities. Teaching is a matter of the heart and not simply a matter of training.

My best suggestion to you is for you to visit a local school district. Ask for permission to observe one or more special education classes as well as one or more regular ed classes. If the school district is cooperative, try and visit a variety of schools because each school will be different in terms of your feeling for the overall school climate.

I was an elementary teacher for 17 years and am now working a high school culinary arts teacher. I have never had the patience or stamina to be a special education teacher although I have certainly had special ed kids in my regular ed classrooms.

I have been able to accommodate students with modest needs - but students with severe needs were an extreme source of frustration for me ... and I cannot imagine having a room full of similar children.

Special ed teachers are people with a special calling and temperament.

There is definitely a profound shortage of special ed teachers in the United States with severe shortages reported in urban areas. 37% of all urban special ed teachers in California are not actually certified as special ed. Turnover rates of special ed teachers in urban areas is also at an all time high with 30% leaving every year.

[tepatria]

If you are asking this question, special ed may not be the place to start your career. Chef Dave gave some great stats that should make you think. That said, as a former special ed teacher I can say that I did not find the work harder, but really different. You face different challenges, tons of paperwork and fewer grand successes. The rewards come in small, everyday triumphs, like when Jimmy puts his name on the page without being prompted, or Alice chooses her own book from the shelf and enjoys it.
Teaching is a difficult job no matter what you teach. Good luck in choosing the area you love because it has to be the most rewarding career there is!

[SpEd guy]

On the other hand, a recent article in Time Magazine indicated that special education teachers report some of the highest levels of job satisfaction. This survey included all other occupations like welders and doctors. The survey even included specific categories for highs chool, middle school, and elementary school teachers.

For me, I chose special education because I was bored teaching a general education class. I guess I was too ADD/ADHD to spend every day with the same group of students doing the same type of instruction.

[mom-to-5]

Thank you guys for all the wonderful advice.
Your feedback, along with some online info have convinced me to start out by getting my multiple subject credential first, then maybe after a few years, work on a ed. specialist credential. I'll see how it goes.
I think this is the best course for me, because suddenly, I feel relieved.
Claudia Nunes

[bella mundi]

I got my degree in special education and elementary education, although it was always special ed for me. I student taught in third grade elementary, and a self-contained primary class with student on the autism spectrum and with behavioral difficulties.

Although I loved third grade, I knew it wasn't for me. I am just not cut out for elementary education. I love special ed. Is it tougher? It depends on your personality and school. I think it's tougher to command a large class and be responsible for absolutely all their knowledge than to be responsible for meeting more specific needs in special ed, but that's just me.

There is a real need for special ed teachers, so you're much more likely to get a job with special ed. Trust your instincts. Good luck!

~Bella

[maridee]

Mom-to-5,

Good luck! I came to SpED not exactly by choice, although that was what the BOE hired me for because I'd had experience in doing that prior to graduating from college.

As Chef Dave says: "According to a study conducted among 4,500 special ed teachers in south Texas, the majority said they left special ed due to lack of school supplies that included such basics as textbooks and teacher's editions. Most teachers reported that severe underfunding that was so acute that they had to pay out of pocket for basic office supplies."

That was my most severe problem! I was working with materials that were really ancient--books 30-40 years old; no curriculum coordination with what grade-level teachers were doing in their classrooms.

And, sometimes, just dealing with the everyday vagaries that bother these SpED kids is enough to try your soul: Mom and Dad had a fight last night; I didn't go to sleep until 1 a.m.; I overslept and didn't get breakfast; I have to wear yesterday's clothes because the water got turned off yesterday for non-payment of utility bills; I got sick last night because we don't go no heat. {BTW, these kids will tell you EVERYTHING! Even if you don't want to hear it--even if you almost can't believe it--and many times, they lie just because they can't deal with the truth. And after a while, it's hard to tell if they're lying or not.}

I think you've made a good choice to go with regular ed first. That experience may help you decide down the road that you want to get into SpED--or NOT!

SpED isn't for everybody--the gains you make with students can be miniscule, or [ray of sunshine] major. It's demanding, frustrating, and exhilarating simultaneously.

I wish you the best!

Maridee

[mopar]

Special education is a great place to start as that is where the jobs are. The students are trying but they are often some of the best students. Their are some that will hit cords deep within you but there are also those that want as much help as possible to succeed. You choose your battles and celebrate all successes.
Special education is different in every district and school you can imagine. I have had a self contained class, pull out resource, total inclusion with co teaching. It takes on many forms, you must just find which form fits you and which schools offer that form.

[DrLou]

Hi,

If I may...allow me to offer another perspective.

So far as I am concerned, EVERY teacher is a special education teacher. While we may have had the luxury, some years ago, of more homogenous age/grade groups, the cognitive, developmental, behavioral, and social variability in the new 'typical' classroom means that every one of us has to know how to teach to the widest range of learner. I have wandered through many, many classrooms over the years and have been hard pressed to identify one which was 'typical!'

I would argue that we need to break up the largely artificial line between supposedly regular and special educators since by training in only one of these areas, professionals often loose out on a lot of needed information and skill sets. More often, regular educators tend to focus on content, curriculum, and lesson planning while special educators may be more oriented around structure, classroom programming and remediation. Just think about the added professional punch of the educator with a degree from a combined training program.

This is one of the big reasons why many professional teacher licensing programs are increasingly offering a dual reg/sped license. And folks with a dual certification are not necessarily headed towards a self contained special education type of classroom. While the 'SPED' room will always have its place, they are, properly, becoming less and less common all of the time. One thing this means is that the so called 'inclusion' room will (and should be) EVERY classroom.

So whether your particular emphasis is regular/general education or special education, dual certification and combined training is an important direction for the field. But, you know, I have been in disability services for a very long time and special education for over twenty years now...and wouldn't have it any other way. Lots of professionals with whom I have taught and worked with who started in general/regular education and found themselves in special education for one reason or another, well, never looked back.

The only real difference when teaching kids with disabilities is that goals and such tend to be more individualized and may focus on more personalized areas of need to include communication, social, and self management. But the teaching, itself, is still not all that different. Good teaching is good teaching and good teaching works for ALL kids whether or not they have explicit disabilities. And most children, and most of us, have unique learning needs even if they are not formally labeled.

[mopar]

I believe this is the way of the future but how far in the future I cannot say. If you get a dual degree be prepared to teach special education. Districts want special education teachers...there are lots of applicants for one regular education teacher.

[Bananas]

Special ed teachers have interesting relationships with the parents of the students. I see an increasing number of helicopter parents. They run the entire spectrum from those who will not answer the phone to those who expected email responses from you would take your every free minute. I believe that the general ed teacher also sees an increase in the parental interactions or lack thereof. A lot of the parents are terrific to work with and are there for the meetings and do their best on the home front to work hand-in-hand with the school. Others do not show and you reschedule the three times to do your best to meet their needs.