How Can Educators Help Children With Special Needs?

Are you an aspiring teacher looking for ways to help educate children with special needs? Would you like to learn a few tips and general interventions to teach differently-abled students? How about understanding the crucial steps to becoming an inspirational educator for special children? 

If you answered yes to any of these questions, we’ve got you covered. Providing special education requires you to advocate for and lead these children toward success. 

Approximately 7.3 million students in America have special needs. However, 78% of public schools found it hard to hire special education teachers. Similarly, 45% of school districts reported vacancies for special education teachers.

This shortage arises from improper education and a high turnover rate. According to ABC News, inadequate compensation, a lack of diversity, and underwhelming recruitment efforts are the most common obstacles. 

In this blog, we will discuss the education avenues for teachers, general interventions, tips, and more. 

Why Is Getting the Right Education Important?

After graduating high school, aspiring special education teachers should get a bachelor’s degree in education. Consequently, they can opt for a state-approved certification program to get their teaching license. 

They can also apply for an MEd in Early Childhood Special Education (non-licensure) program. It would be best for educators who want to advance their teaching careers in the special needs education specialization. With this degree, you can work in parochial and private organizations that do not require certifications. 

However, you will not get initial teacher licensure from this course. Even then, this program lets you help small children grow to their full potential. You can become an expert advocate, leader, and educator. 

Learning from such non-licensure programs equips you with the best methodologies and expertise to teach students with special needs. This degree will help you strengthen special education programs and classrooms. Additionally, you become well-versed in the early childhood needs of specially-abled students. 

5 General Interventions for Special Education

Special education degrees teach you early childhood development and growth. Hence, you can focus on community or family advocacy and classroom engagement. It teaches instructional methodologies like language, arts, literacy, behavioral interventions, and social studies. 

Even then, you must follow some general interventions, like:

1. Use multisensory tools and learning methods to demonstrate and break information into smaller units
2. Focus on cooperative learning and use a developmentally appropriate approach for tutoring 
3. Find out a student’s interests to use that as a learning channel and provide a continuous reward system 
4. Keep the vocabulary consistent and use simple phrases to teach new skills and encourage learning 
5. Give your students the voice they need to justify their thoughts and use solution-driven tasks or open-ended questions 

These will help special educators accurately deal with their responsibilities. You must monitor, assess, and track the young child’s educational journey. Moreover, you should advocate for student’s philosophical and professional growth. 

5 Tips to Teach Differently Abled Students 

Every special needs student will react to an individual teaching style. Therefore, having three to four unique teaching methods for one classroom is common. Of course, this teaching specialization is demanding and requires you to give 100% daily. 

That is why you must follow these tips to succeed as a special education teacher:

1. Keep the classroom organized and accommodate their needs
2. Provide opportunities for success by giving creative tasks 
3. Put your relationship with the student before academics 
4. Focus on team collaboration and have a support network 
5. Keep the academics manageable and simple 

The Challenges You Need to Overcome

According to Zippia, there are only 667,914 special education teachers in America for millions of differently-abled students. Statistics suggest that 50% of special educators leave the job due to difficulties and stress. Some challenges include the following: 

• A lack of support from parents and unrealistic expectations 
• Extra documentation, workload, and minimal appreciation 
• Inability to foster independent learning abilities in the student
• Inaccessible classroom for specially-abled students 

To counter these challenges, you must foster a caring culture. Teachers will succeed in this field only with empathy and proper knowledge. You must be ready to make modifications and accommodations for the students. 

Furthermore, you must be vocal and advocate for your student’s needs. Peer monitoring will also help overcome the challenges. 

The Bottom Line

Differently-abled students need your help. As an aspiring educator, you must bring out your student’s academic potential, irrespective of their physical and psychological limitations. Your advocacy will change their lives for the better. Hence, remember to follow the tips and overcome the challenges mentioned in this blog. 

Jahsha Tabron, from Delaware, taught special education for over two years. One of her non-verbal students can now speak simple sentences. These instances are the reasons why you should not quit. She cherished every moment, and so should you.

But first, you must get the correct degrees and certifications. Doing so will help you provide the best education that these children deserve. You get to create a unique teaching methodology that helps them achieve success.