Special Education Teachers, Secondary School

Teach academic, social, and life skills to secondary 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.

O*NET reports this occupation under titles such as: Education Specialist; Emotional Disability Special Education Teacher (ED SPED Teacher); Exceptional Student Education Teacher (ESE Teacher); Handicapped Teacher; HS SPED Teacher (High School Special Education Teacher); Learning Disabilities Special Education Teacher (LD Special Education Teacher); Learning Support Teacher; Special Day Class Teacher (SDC Teacher); SPED Resource Teacher (Special Education Resource Teacher); SPED Teacher (Special Education Teacher)

Tasks

• Establish and enforce rules for behavior and policies and procedures to maintain order among students.
• Maintain accurate and complete student records, and prepare reports on children and activities, as required by laws, district policies, and administrative regulations.
• Confer with parents, administrators, testing specialists, social workers, or other professionals to develop individual educational plans (IEPs) for students' educational, physical, and social development.
• Employ special educational strategies and techniques during instruction to improve the development of sensory- and perceptual-motor skills, language, cognition, and memory.
• Establish clear objectives for all lessons, units, and projects, and communicate those objectives to students.
• Prepare materials and classrooms for class activities.
• Teach socially acceptable behavior, employing techniques such as behavior modification and positive reinforcement.
• Confer with parents or guardians, other teachers, counselors, and administrators to resolve students' behavioral and academic problems.
• Develop and implement strategies to meet the needs of students with a variety of handicapping conditions.
• Teach personal development skills, such as goal setting, independence, and self-advocacy.
• Prepare students for later grades by encouraging them to explore learning opportunities and to persevere with challenging tasks.
• Modify the general education curriculum for students with disabilities, based upon a variety of instructional techniques and technologies.
• Observe and evaluate students' performance, behavior, social development, and physical health.
• Confer with other staff members to plan and schedule lessons promoting learning, following approved curricula.
• Meet with other professionals to discuss individual students' needs and progress.

Knowledge

• Education and Training
• English Language
• Psychology
• Customer and Personal Service
• Therapy and Counseling
• Administrative
• Computers and Electronics
• Mathematics
• Administration and Management
• Sociology and Anthropology
• Public Safety and Security
• Law and Government

Skills

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

Abilities

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