Special Education Teachers, Preschool

Teach academic, social, and life skills to preschool-aged 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.

O*NET reports this occupation under titles such as: Early Childhood Special Education Teacher (ECSE Teacher); Early Intervention Teacher; Exceptional Student Education Teacher (ESE Teacher); Preschool SPED Teacher (Preschool Special Education Teacher); Profound Mental Handicaps SPED Teacher (Profound Mental Handicaps Special Education Teacher); Severe Mental Handicaps SPED Teacher (Severe Mental Handicaps Special Education Teacher); Special Education Resource Teacher; Special Education Teacher; Special Needs Teacher; SPED Preschool Teacher (Special Education Preschool Teacher)

Tasks

• Develop or implement strategies to meet the needs of students with a variety of disabilities.
• Communicate nonverbally with children to provide them with comfort, encouragement, or positive reinforcement.
• Maintain accurate and complete student records as required by laws, district policies, or administrative regulations.
• Teach socially acceptable behavior, employing techniques such as behavior modification or positive reinforcement.
• Attend to children's basic needs by feeding them, dressing them, or changing their diapers.
• Teach basic skills, such as color, shape, number and letter recognition, personal hygiene, or social skills, to preschool students with special needs.
• Develop individual educational plans (IEPs) designed to promote students' educational, physical, or social development.
• Prepare classrooms with a variety of materials or resources for children to explore, manipulate, or use in learning activities or imaginative play.
• Meet with parents or guardians to discuss their children's progress, advise them on using community resources, or teach skills for dealing with students' impairments.
• Modify the general preschool curriculum for students with disabilities.
• Observe and evaluate students' performance, behavior, social development, and physical health.
• Read books to entire classes or to small groups.
• Confer with parents, administrators, testing specialists, social workers, or other professionals to develop individual education plans (IEPs).
• Instruct and monitor students in the use and care of equipment or materials to prevent injuries and damage.
• Establish and enforce rules for behavior and procedures for maintaining order among students.

Knowledge

• Customer and Personal Service
• Education and Training
• English Language
• Administration and Management
• Psychology
• Administrative

Skills

• Reading Comprehension
• Active Listening
• Speaking
• Critical Thinking
• Learning Strategies
• Monitoring
• Active Learning
• Writing

Abilities

• Oral Comprehension
• Written Comprehension
• Oral Expression
• Problem Sensitivity
• Deductive Reasoning
• Speech Clarity
• Written Expression
• Inductive Reasoning
• Speech Recognition
• Information Ordering
• Near Vision
• Fluency of Ideas
• Originality
• Category Flexibility
• Selective Attention
• Time Sharing