Special Education Online – Take the giant leap

What is an Online Special Educational Program?

An online special educational program offers the requisite training for dealing with the developmental phase of special children. Special education teachers turnout to be the lifeline of children with both mental and physical disabilities due to their specialized skill sets. Children with mental retardation, speech impairment, learning disabilities, hearing or visual defects, autism and emotional disturbance need special care together with patience and perseverance in order make them learn some of the important and critical skills of life. The good thing here is that now such courses are offered online with quality education increasing the career opportunities to those who wish to become special education teachers.

Special Education Program is similar to the teacher’s training program K-12 up to certain level beyond which they are trained with specialized skills required for dealing with special children. The Bachelors and masters degree in special education is available online enabling both an entry and change of discipline to professionals, continuing their current employment.

What are the Eligibility Criteria to become a Special Education Teacher?

In order to become a special educational teacher it is important that you fulfill the following requirements:

* A bachelor’s degree in special education is a minimum entry qualification together with the coursework and classroom training under the guidance of a certified and experienced teacher.
* Master’s in this field which will take an additional two years to complete, is the ideal qualification for a special education teacher.
* Those teachers who have a bachelor’s degree in other field can also consider doing their master’s in special education in order to become special education teachers.
* In addition to a bachelors and masters degree in special education, the teachers are required to get a special state license for practicing special education teaching.

What kind of training is offered under Special Education Program?

The students are offered training in the areas of

* Disruptive behavior management
* Handling children with physical disabilities
* Analyzing the needs of children individually
* Helping children with behavioral disabilities to make an attempt towards learning
* Technology oriented education.

In addition to the above training students are allowed to specialize in the following areas

* Behavior and Psychology
* Educational Psychology
* Special Education and Legal Issues
* Methods in teaching children with disabilities
* Growth and development in children
* Dealing with emotional problems in children

Finding a Career as a Special Education Teacher

Choosing special education as a career option is indeed a giant leap from the taking up any regular teaching course. It not only involves trying a new career option, but also a high level responsibility contributing to the growth of special children. Remember their future is entrusted in your hands as a teacher. One of the most preferred professions with a promising growth rate of 15%. It is definitely lucrative as far as earning goes. They make somewhere around $51,000 to $53,000 according to the Department of Labor. With growing demand and increase in the students opting for such courses more and more benefits are sure to be offered.

Readers of this blog! If you know someone in this field please do let us know about their experience and any suggestions they would like to share with aspiring students.