Going back to school for Special Education

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD is just starting college and plans to major in special education. This weekend I saw on, I think, NBC Nightly News, that there is a teacher shortage in three primary areas: science, math and special ed.

When were were looking at schools last year, the director of the program where she is now going said the same thing and that every special ed graduate at the college the year before had gotten a job.

I am the single parent sped teacher here, and I think this is a totally different situation. Going into special ed while you are young, and you have years to go before your first kid is great. Sure your first year will be incredibly hard, but that's what the energy of youth is for. As a veteran special ed teacher with 5+ years under your belt when you have kids you can choose to stay in the classroom, which will feel more manageable at that point or move into admin,or do something related like becoming a BCBA or a tutor or a consultant.

I wouldn't change my career choice if I had a time machine, except maybe to SLP, but I also wouldn't choose to start a career in this field with elementary school aged kids.

I would have gone into Occupational Therapy, programs are too spread out and difficult to get in to.

[Anonymous]

Here is a masters program that works with Montgomery County Schools.

http://education.jhu.edu/Academics/masters/MSSpEd/part/montgomery/

[Anonymous]

This is a good, simplified explanation of some of the challenges in an inclusion program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD is just starting college and plans to major in special education. This weekend I saw on, I think, NBC Nightly News, that there is a teacher shortage in three primary areas: science, math and special ed.

When were were looking at schools last year, the director of the program where she is now going said the same thing and that every special ed graduate at the college the year before had gotten a job.

I am the single parent sped teacher here, and I think this is a totally different situation. Going into special ed while you are young, and you have years to go before your first kid is great. Sure your first year will be incredibly hard, but that's what the energy of youth is for. As a veteran special ed teacher with 5+ years under your belt when you have kids you can choose to stay in the classroom, which will feel more manageable at that point or move into admin,or do something related like becoming a BCBA or a tutor or a consultant.

I wouldn't change my career choice if I had a time machine, except maybe to SLP, but I also wouldn't choose to start a career in this field with elementary school aged kids.

I would have gone into Occupational Therapy, programs are too spread out and difficult to get in to.

I am the Pp and I am not coordinated enough to be an OT or a pediatric PT, but I agree they can be great career choices. I also sometimes wish that developmental pediatrics had existed when I was making my career choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a good, simplified explanation of some of the challenges in an inclusion program.

http://www.friendshipcircle.org/blog/2012/02/01/the-top-10-challenges-of-special-education-teachers/

[Anonymous]

Just be aware how much work you'll be doing. I was a student teacher that became friendly with a man who was doing a career switch (History Teacher). Previously he was an Asst District Attorney for a major metro city. Many years later, I even saw him on a repeat on one of those true crime shows. He said he's never worked so hard being a teacher. He said (and I agree) that in non-school jobs, you have ebbs and flows, really busy times and less busy times. But in school, you don't have that. It's always really, really busy. You always have 10,000 things that must be done NOW. Yes, you have your vacations. But vacations during the year, you'll be doing work just to stay afloat. And SpecEd Teachers are really doing 2 jobs, case worker and teacher. So twice the work load.

I'm not trying to discourage you. Just want you to be realistic. You can't become a teacher because you'd like to have summer vacation. You have to have a passion for making a difference in a child's life. You have to be willing to sacrifice yourself for your career. It will be the hardest job you will ever do. But seeing one kid "get it", finally understand something, soooooo worth it!

[Anonymous]

This is OP.

Appreciate everybody's thoughts and the article. A lot to think about. I have just a little exposure to the population. My first child has some developmental delays so have been through the IEP process. The program I'm looking at provides licensure for teaching students with disabilities that access the general curriculum so I believe that's children with more mild disabilities. I do truly enjoy working with children and conduct skills trainings and workshops as part of my current job at a university.

Giving up the flexibility of my current job is something I'm nervous about though. I'm looking for a challenge but don't want to do something that makes me feel like I can't be there for my own children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is a masters program that works with Montgomery County Schools.

http://education.jhu.edu/Academics/masters/MSSpEd/part/montgomery/

Thanks for posting this!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP.

Appreciate everybody's thoughts and the article. A lot to think about. I have just a little exposure to the population. My first child has some developmental delays so have been through the IEP process. The program I'm looking at provides licensure for teaching students with disabilities that access the general curriculum so I believe that's children with more mild disabilities. I do truly enjoy working with children and conduct skills trainings and workshops as part of my current job at a university.

Giving up the flexibility of my current job is something I'm nervous about though. I'm looking for a challenge but don't want to do something that makes me feel like I can't be there for my own children.

I would caution that these jobs are typically not as easy to get as other jobs in special Ed. I'm not trying to discourage you, but usually the shortages that are talked about are in Autism/Severe/Emotional disabilities. In the last district I was in (non-local, medium sized) all the mild/moderate openings went to internal candidates trying to stave off burnout after working with the other populations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is OP.

Appreciate everybody's thoughts and the article. A lot to think about. I have just a little exposure to the population. My first child has some developmental delays so have been through the IEP process. The program I'm looking at provides licensure for teaching students with disabilities that access the general curriculum so I believe that's children with more mild disabilities. I do truly enjoy working with children and conduct skills trainings and workshops as part of my current job at a university.

Giving up the flexibility of my current job is something I'm nervous about though. I'm looking for a challenge but don't want to do something that makes me feel like I can't be there for my own children.

I would caution that these jobs are typically not as easy to get as other jobs in special Ed. I'm not trying to discourage you, but usually the shortages that are talked about are in Autism/Severe/Emotional disabilities. In the last district I was in (non-local, medium sized) all the mild/moderate openings went to internal candidates trying to stave off burnout after working with the other populations.

Appreciate the info. That makes sense. I could look into the adapted curriculum option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is OP.

Appreciate everybody's thoughts and the article. A lot to think about. I have just a little exposure to the population. My first child has some developmental delays so have been through the IEP process. The program I'm looking at provides licensure for teaching students with disabilities that access the general curriculum so I believe that's children with more mild disabilities. I do truly enjoy working with children and conduct skills trainings and workshops as part of my current job at a university.

Giving up the flexibility of my current job is something I'm nervous about though. I'm looking for a challenge but don't want to do something that makes me feel like I can't be there for my own children.

I would caution that these jobs are typically not as easy to get as other jobs in special Ed. I'm not trying to discourage you, but usually the shortages that are talked about are in Autism/Severe/Emotional disabilities. In the last district I was in (non-local, medium sized) all the mild/moderate openings went to internal candidates trying to stave off burnout after working with the other populations.

Appreciate the info. That makes sense. I could look into the adapted curriculum option.

Volunteer a bit and see what you prefer, you won't enjoy the job if it's not a good fit.

[Anonymous]

I think my plan is to take intro to special ed next semester as a non degree student and take it from there. Luckily, I do have tuition benefits through my employer.

Do schools allow volunteers that aren't parents of a student in the classroom?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think my plan is to take intro to special ed next semester as a non degree student and take it from there. Luckily, I do have tuition benefits through my employer.

Do schools allow volunteers that aren't parents of a student in the classroom?

If you're enrolled in a class it shouldn't be an issue, privates might be more accommodating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think my plan is to take intro to special ed next semester as a non degree student and take it from there. Luckily, I do have tuition benefits through my employer.

Do schools allow volunteers that aren't parents of a student in the classroom?

Sure, especially if you are taking a special ed class. Either your school could arrange it or you could call the Department of Special Ed at your local school system to see about setting up an observation or shadowing someone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a school psychologist and would caution you to really think about it. I think it is an impossible task to be really good at all the paperwork that is required and be really good at teaching. There just aren't enough hours in a day. I have met many special education teachers who are amazing at paperwork and presenting at IEP meetings yet are really weak teachers when I see them in the classroom or they are great teachers but their paperwork often doesn't reflect that (because they are so busy teaching). I wish my district could pair up these teachers. Some teachers are mediocre at both and some wonderful teachers can somehow manage to be fantastic at both. These teachers are rare and as a reward are often give the most challenging students and /or students with difficult parents. It really is luck of the draw sometimes what students you will have. Some years things are calm then the next year there are several cases where parents have advocates and/or attorneys (some cases I really feel the parents are justified; other cases not so much). Sometimes you want to do the right thing but you are told from a supervisor that it must be a certain way. At some schools IEP's are after school so you need to stay after school and can't leave.

This. And also, districts are starting to move to later start times for high schoolers (see FFX County). I would not count on being able to pick your kids up from elementary school. FWIW, I am a regular ed teacher in a middle school and I usually pick my kids up from day care/ after care around 5 PM every day. Yes, most days I can jet out right after school if I absolutely need to (appointment, etc) but if I did that on a regular basis I would never be able to keep up. Plus, there are staff meetings after school.