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Special Education Teachers, Elementary School

Teach academic, social, and life skills to elementary school students with learning, emotional, or physical disabilities. Includes teachers who specialize and work with students who are blind or have visual impairments; students who are deaf or have hearing impairments; and students with intellectual disabilities.

What you’d do

  • Instruct students with disabilities in academic subjects, using a variety of techniques, such as phonetics, multisensory learning, or repetition to reinforce learning and meet students' varying needs.
  • Develop or implement strategies to meet the needs of students with a variety of disabilities.
  • Teach socially acceptable behavior, employing techniques such as behavior modification or positive reinforcement.
  • Modify the general elementary education curriculum for students with disabilities.
  • Maintain accurate and complete student records as required by laws, district policies, or administrative regulations.
  • Prepare classrooms with a variety of materials or resources for children to explore, manipulate, or use in learning activities or imaginative play.
  • Establish and enforce rules for behavior and procedures for maintaining order among students.
  • Provide assistive devices, supportive technology, or assistance accessing facilities, such as restrooms.

Skills that matter

  • Active Listening
  • Instructing
  • Speaking
  • Learning Strategies
  • Reading Comprehension
  • Social Perceptiveness

How to get there

Considerable preparation: most need a four-year bachelor's degree

Also called

  • Learning Support Teacher
  • Resource Program Teacher
  • SPED Resource Teacher (Special Education Resource Teacher)
  • SPED Teacher (Special Education Teacher)
  • Deaf and Hard of Hearing Teacher (DHH Teacher)
  • Emotional Disabilities Teacher

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