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.

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?

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?

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.