Working as a teacher of children with special educational needs (SEN) is undoubtedly a challenging profession but at the same time it is extremely rewarding. Working in Special Education or Therapeutic Pedagogy is not for everyone, but if you really feel that it is a job for you, you will not regret choosing it. Not everyone has the personality to be teachers of children with special educational needs, but those who can develop a very rewarding career.
TEACH THEM ON A DAY-TO-DAY BASIS WITH CHILDREN WITH SEN
A teacher of students with special educational needs generally works with children with diverse characteristics, needs and disabilities . These needs can be mental, physical, emotional or a combination of the three. Some students may also have sensory problems such as being deaf, blind or having different disorders, such as autistic spectrum disorder.
OBLIGATIONS
The work obligations of a special education teacher can vary widely, depending on the particular student you are teaching. Standard teaching assignments, such as preparing class schedules and lessons, are part of the job, as are the additional tasks. Special needs teachers can do the following things.
Perform diagnostic assessments. Work closely with parents, (which can sometimes be difficult), and other professionals to improve the learning potential of the student with special educational needs.
Develop goals and objectives according to the characteristics and capabilities of students with special educational needs.
Go to different ordinary schools where the students of the specific center do shared schooling and thus share goals and objectives with the tutors of the ordinary schools
Lifting and physically caring for students with SEN who are not able to have autonomous mobility and require a more dependent work with their caregivers
Both routine and unexpected problems will be part of every school day with students with special needs, and teachers should always be prepared.
PERSONALITY TRAITS
In addition to having the necessary teaching and professional skills, a teacher of students with SEN must have specific personality traits to thrive in this educational field.
Teachers of students with special educational needs must have a lot of patience and be able to maintain a positive outlook, no matter how frustrating the situation becomes. In addition, they should also be flexible in their teaching and know that as sometimes it is advanced, other times it goes back before advancing again with a small step. They must have important organizational skills, physical strength above average and be able to work closely with a wide variety of different professionals. In essence, a teacher of children with special educational needs must be relatively unshakable… The best thing is that the people who dedicate themselves to this profession do it vocation and really are wonderful in their daily work.
THE EDUCATION
Currently, a degree and a specialization are needed to be able to have enough training to work with children with special educational needs. In addition, there are different specializations and masters that must be chosen depending on the field of interest.
Not everyone is made to be a teacher of special educational needs. These people must be dedicated, focused and ready to devote a large part of their lives to work. If you have the devotion and desire, you are on your way to a rewarding career.
SUMMERS OUTSIDE
While it is true that teachers often enjoy longer breaks than the rest of the world, many of them devote their time to continuing their education or participating in compulsory continuing professional development courses. Many also provide extended school year services to their students.
Special education careers can be personally rewarding and, at the same time, quite demanding in terms of time, physical energy, intellectual challenges and, sometimes, emotional resilience. Many special education teachers will bear witness to the fact that there is no such satisfaction as knowing that you helped a child with special needs learn and grow.
What are Special Educational Needs?
The concept of special educational needs is made known, for the first time, in the Warlock report (1978). It is here where a paper is drawn up to assess the causes of school failure. It is at this moment that changes begin to occur and where, according to the concept of Special Educational Needs begins to focus, mainly, on the response that the school must give to this student. It is a specific student body that should be offered the best possibilities for an excellent personal and social development.
Since then, and to give these answers, the different laws in recent years, such as the LOGSE , LOE and LOMCE , welcome the term to bet on adequate training for students with Special Educational Needs.
In short, the role of the teacher is to adapt the contents and situations arising from daily practice to the needs of each student (Ortiz, 1994).
There is no equal demand to another, since we can be found from a hearing disability to the own maturation delay (Ortiz, 1994).
Activities to Work with Students with Special Educational Needs
Next, we present a list of nine techniques to carry out with students with Special Educational Needs, adapted to any educational context.
In the first place, we must emphasize that all the activities share a common goal: to integrate the student in his group, independently of the need that shows.
Second, to identify the materials to be used, we have highlighted them in green.
Thirdly, we must bear in mind that the time to dedicate in each activity is subject to the interest of the educator, since depending on the context in which they are used it will be necessary more or less time. Likewise, this same educator will determine if the objectives have been achieved through a continuous evaluation that is merely observational of the students, since they will be able to check if the objectives have been achieved and, therefore, the student is in full welfare.
We must specify that these activities are designed to be used with children in the infant and primary stage , mainly. Depending on the stage in which we use it, they must be adapted to the level deemed appropriate.
The need to have the teacher, at all times, can not go unnoticed, because for a proper development of the activities to take place, they must have their full collaboration since it is necessary for them to do a lot of work on their part.
It is also opportune to have the help of the students themselves (in this case the same). It is fundamental that for a correct inclusion of the student with SEN the group be treated in equal conditions and that among the equals themselves they help each other.
Also, the activities must be explained with sufficient clarity, in addition to using simple language and using a highly structured content.
Most of the existing activities in the literature of Special Education are based on the economy of cards and, lately, on the use of ICTs .
We have tried to use a transverse content; like values , respect and empathy ; always respecting the common goal of all tasks, promoting a playful spirit in which the student has fun while learning and getting involved.
Finally, the pupils with special educational needs, known as educational legislation as special educational needs pupils, require special attention need not be different from the rest of his teammates. The possibility of providing more specialized help to these students is within the principles of inclusive education . The main objective of this is to promote an equal education, since absolutely everyone has shortcomings and at the same time we understand education and respect as a fundamental right of the human being. For these students to be included in the equality of the classrooms, the continuous collaboration of the teachers is necessary, since in this way the students will be involved and will be included perfectly in the context of the school.
