Who is a special educational needs teacher and what do they do? The special educational needs teacher teaches children and young people who have physical disabilities of such a kind that they need special educational facilities. This includes those with visual or hearing or speech impairments. Such children may also have learning or behavioural difficulties as well but many will be highly intelligent and well behaved..
What are the activities of the special educational needs teacher job? Gives lessons at both basic and advanced levels to children and young people with physical disabilities. In the case of those with hearing or speech impairments the teacher may need to learn and use special lip-reading techniques or sign language, in order to communicate with them. In the case of those with visual impairment, the teaching media may include reading and writing in Braille. [Braille is a writing system for the blind consisting of raised dots that can be interpreted by touch, each dot or group of dots representing a letter, numeral or punctuation mark] The teacher may also teach the children themselves these special communication systems. (In some cases these systems may also be taught to adults – e.g. those who have lost their sight in later life.) In addition the teacher must be trained like any other teacher to teach the main school subjects (mathematics, literature, physics, chemistry, geography, history, foreign languages, etc.)
Where is it done and under what conditions? The work environment can be rewarding, with teaching sometimes in smaller groups than in mainstream schools, but it can also be more difficult: not all students respond positively and may have attitude problems to deal with that arise in part from their disability. In addition, it can also be a challenge for the teacher to transmit abstract concepts in sign language, for example, or without relying on visual aids.
What tools/equipment do they use? The teaching aids and equipment used by any teacher, but supplemented by additional equipment that takes account of the special needs of these students. Text readers, voice-activated software, and Braille writing and printing equipment and documents, are all examples of special equipment used.
What do you need to succeed? You should preferably have a degree in Special Needs Education. Your career may develop through further education in areas such as advanced teacher training, psychology or speech therapy.