Please answers these questions about special needs classrooms?

Question

WHAT IS THE TYPICAL CHILD TO TEACHER RATIO?

TEACHER BACKGROUND?

WHAT IS DIFF ABOUT WORKING WITH SPECIAL NEEDS?

WHAT IS THE SAME?

Answer 1

There's no such thing as typical when you're working with disabled students. That's why they call it Special Ed!

Where I work, most of the Special Education students are in general education classes, with their non-disabled peers most of the time. Some of them have educational assistants helping them in those classrooms, many do not. Sometimes there will be one educational assistant in a classroom to help several students with IEPs.

Some students take some subjects in a classroom that has both a Special Education teacher and a teacher for that subject. Typically, the SpEd teacher helps anybody in the class that needs help, IEP or no, but is responsible for grading only certain members of the class. This teacher may also modify certain assignments, to make sure the student can meet the benchmarks without getting too frustrated. For example, they may read a modified text written at a simpler level, or may take a different test with a different format.

Students may be in a "pullout" class with nothing but kids who have IEPs. Some of those are small, but many are just about as large as the other classes. A few kids with severe needs may be in a very small setting, but sometimes the small class just means the school doesn't have many students who need the pullout setting.

Quite rarely, students are placed in a special school or residential program designed for students with particular kinds of disabilities. Certain socially maladjusted students may benefit from an environment that is much more structured and consistent than most students would find helpful. Such a program often has a consistently administered system of points earned by good behavior choices, by which students earn freedoms and privileges.

Federal Law in the US requires schools to work with families to determine the Least Restrictive Environment for each student with an IEP. This means that as much of their day as possible is spent with their non-disabled peers. If they are not with their non-disabled peers, it's for a much better reason than "they're in special ed".

The needs of the child, and the effect of the child's disablity  on the learning of others in the class must be considered. Less restrictive environments are normally tried first to see if they work before moving a student to a more restrictive environment.

Answer 2

Well special needs classrooms are different.Some are for very severe cases of differently abled kids and some are less restrictive for less differently abled kids.My oldest son Josh was in a special needs classroom for pre-school but was mainstreamed( put into regular classes) in kindergarten,But my youngest son Dylan who is more severely autistic  is in what is called a Life-Skills class where he is learning to deal with the day to day things in life and to prepare him for life after he graduates from school at 21.It all depends how severe the disability is for the person.In my sons classroom the ratio is 1 teacher and 6 kids but there are other people in the classroom like personal care aides,TSS's,and teacheraides so the ratio(I guess) is a little lower than normal. I think working with special needs is more rewarding that regular ed kids because of the smiles you get when littleJohnny puts all the right things in all the right places is more special. Nothing is the same as regular ed.Special needs is so much more fulfilling when you see the kids graduate and knowing that you helped them to get a little better start in this world.Sharon W.

Answer 3

the typical ratio depends on the type of class-

special ed law defines the ration for each specific class

a preschool or sever needs class may have 1:3-other classes have a much higher ratio

most teachers have a bachelors or masters in special education

difference includes not following typical curriculumm in some classes-focusing on functional/life skills

May teach  standard academics using modifed techniques/assessments