Requirements for a special needs teacher?

Question

I am a confused college undergrad, i guess I am feeling as if i am not getting enough info.

Answer 1

Take early childhood education courses and student-teach in special needs.

Special needs teachers are in great demand and there's no indication that will let up in the next few decades.

Answer 2

I'm sure your state has some sort of Department of education website where you can look up the specifics, because it varies by state to state.  I live in NY, I'm a teacher in graduate school working on my professional certification in Special Education/Adolescent Education in Biology (grades 7-12).  

That being said, in almost every state you have to be certified somehow.  You have to go into an Education program, and concentrate in Special Education.  If your school doesn't offer this you may need to transfer to a school that has the program.  If they only have general education, and you don't want to transfer you could always major in regular education, or another education similar to what you want to teach.  After you graduate, you would just take a separate test in Special Education as well (in NY the CST for students with disabilities), maybe you would need some extra coursework (a few extra credits during your masters), and voila!!-- you'll be dual certified in special education and regular*

::phew:: hope this helps~

Answer 3

Additional certificate or diploma beyond the PGCE unless the PGCE included elements of Special Needs. In my days it was an Additional Certificate but you can get a degree in Special Needs in addition to your PGCE. A very worthwhile career.

Answer 4

You would be surprised how many teachers are teaching children with special needs without training or experience.

Answer 5

You have to go to a college or university that offers the Special Education Teacher education program. Just put the name of the state in which you want to go to college and type that name and special education teacher program in the search engine.

The tricky part is this. You must be highly qualified to teach many special education subjects. This is due to No Child Left Behind. Many universities offer dual certification in special education and elementary education that leads to both the special ed certification and the highly qualified status.

If you choose to teach quite severe special needs kids, this will not be the case. You can just get the special education certification. This includes Life skills, Autism and Profound.