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Teaching Assistants, Special Education

Assist a preschool, elementary, middle, or secondary school teacher to provide academic, social, or life skills to students who have learning, emotional, or physical disabilities. Serve in a position for which a teacher has primary responsibility for the design and implementation of educational programs and services.

What you’d do

  • Provide assistance to students with special needs.
  • Teach socially acceptable behavior, employing techniques such as behavior modification or positive reinforcement.
  • Supervise students in classrooms, halls, cafeterias, school yards, and gymnasiums, or on field trips.
  • Provide students with disabilities with assistive devices, supportive technology, and assistance accessing facilities, such as restrooms.
  • Carry out therapeutic regimens, such as behavior modification and personal development programs, under the supervision of special education instructors, psychologists, or speech-language pathologists.
  • Tutor and assist children individually or in small groups to help them master assignments and to reinforce learning concepts presented by teachers.
  • Employ special educational strategies or techniques during instruction to improve the development of sensory- and perceptual-motor skills, language, cognition, or memory.
  • Enforce administration policies and rules governing students.

Skills that matter

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

How to get there

Medium preparation: usually vocational school, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree

Also called

  • Paraprofessional (Para)
  • SPED Aide (Special Education Aide)
  • SPED Para (Special Education Paraprofessional)
  • SPED TA (Special Education Teacher Assistant)
  • Assistant Instructor
  • Co-Teacher

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