This list of best resources for special education teachers is very important for both special education teachers and parents of children with learning disabilities. Here they can find some very useful materials to cope with the battle they fight every day. According to research, there is at least one child with some type of disability in literally every classroom. It is estimated that there are more than six million students with some learning disabilities in the US. Autism is the most common disorder detected among school children, but there are also other disorders that cause smaller or bigger problems with learning to students. Besides autism, we need to mention the Asperger’s syndrome, ADHD, problems with reading, dyslexia or various handicaps.
Students with learning disabilities completely rely on their teacher. The teacher has to be smart, creative, well-informed about his students’ problems and empathic, but at the same time it is necessary that the teacher performs all regular duties in the classroom on a daily basis. To work with children with special needs, it is not enough to be a good teacher only. You have to adjust your approach to each child’s needs, you have to find out as much as you can about their disorders and then find the proper way to fight them. You have to know each child’s problems and barriers in the process of learning and then come up with the best strategy to work with these children, which requires making a considerable effort. You are not only a teacher; you are a full-time employee who does most of the preparations for work at home and spends a lot of time on finding the best materials to help students with learning disabilities.
Photographee.eu/Shutterstock.com
The good news is that the teacher is not the only person who is in charge of helping children with learning disabilities. Elderly people used to say that it took a whole village to raise a child. We must admit that a teacher cannot do much without the support and help from a child’s family, society, government and a legal system with clear and stable regulations. Consequently, cooperation among all these parties is necessary to bring this difficult task to an end. Teachers need to be provided with the appropriate teaching materials and resources, so that they can make a slight progress in teaching children with special needs every day.
Although the internet is full of some very useful resources, like blogs and websites with materials and interactive games, there are many other resources where special education teachers can find important information. There are numerous books, guides and flyers, usually printed by the government, a medical college or people with long experience in special education. It is very important to catch up with all the new findings in this field, which are also considered to be valuable resources for teachers. Additionally, being informed about new discoveries in medicine helps teachers cope with and control different stages of a given disorder. It is expected that teachers know and use special education resources, curriculums and classroom materials. They must visit conferences where teachers share their experiences and get informed about new literature on this subject.
Being a special education teacher is both challenging and rewarding, so many countries in the world have invested in the education of these people. If you are considering changing your state, maybe the list of 20 best states for special education teachers can help you choose the state you want to move to. The same help and advice can be found on our list of 11 cities with the highest demand for special education teachers, too.
It seemed logical to start with the internet and websites in order to find names of organizations and groups recommended as best resources for special education teachers like Online Sju, Top Education Degree, Blog Sun Belt Staffing and Csnlg. We have combined those lists with recommendations from Google which offered single sites as valuable resources for teachers. Having collected all these resources, we organized them according to the field they are related to and made our list of the best resources for special education teachers.
9. Resources with interesting activities and games
Sometimes, the best way to learn and acquire new skills is through a game, that is one of best resources for special education teachers. Special education teachers know how important it is to find easy, interesting and funny games to use while teaching children with special needs, so having a good learning game is a real treasure for them. We recommend Do2Learn, a site with some interesting games, songs, crafts and seasonal arts. Not only do these games help children learn, but they also improve their social skills, communication, and behavior.
BestPhotoStudio/Shutterstock.com
8. Membership programs, organizations, social media
When you are a special education teacher, you know how important it is to be in contact with people who have more experience in teaching or have a child with special needs. Sharing the information and experience could be the best learning method, so do not hesitate to ask these people for advice. If there is no such association where you live, search the internet and social networks. Facebook and Twitter could be a good starting point to do a research and contact other teachers and parents. Do not be afraid of sharing your fears or questions with them, you are all there to help one another and improve your teaching.
Antonio Guillem/Shutterstock.com
7. Resources with curriculum and class techniques
It is very important to have a good curriculum, with plans and strategies on how to organize a school year and make some changes if it is needed which is why we put it on our list of best resources for special education teachers. Every child is different, and children with special needs are not exceptions, so teachers sometimes think that planning is not possible for the whole year in advance. However, with good resources to help you in making a good curriculum, you can organize your lessons the way you want. A perfect resource for this purpose is a website called Teacher vision, where they share strategies, plans and techniques for better teaching in classrooms. There you can also find books, charts, new information and research results on disorders children have.
Pixabay/Public Domain
6. Resources with teaching materials
As we have said above, a special education teacher is not a simple teacher in a classroom. These teachers work in classrooms designed, decorated and adapted to suit children with special needs. For this purpose, teachers use pictures, educational toys, interactive games and some special desks with removable decorations that rank 6th on our list of best resources for special education teachers. If you want to try something similar in your classroom, start with Pinterest and more than 100 pictures with interesting ideas there, and then you can continue to some other websites like Learning disabilities online, for example.
Olesia Bilkei/Shutterstock.com
5. Resource guides
Working with children with disabilities is not easy, even for an experienced teacher, and it is surely extremely difficult for a beginner in a classroom. That is why The National Education Association exists. They provide materials, information, and guides for both new and experienced teachers in the classroom, as well as links to some other resources which can help you. Some of them are standardized and can be found on their sites and ordered as papers, like Truth in Labeling: Disproportionality in Special Education, Twice Exceptional Dilemma, The Puzzle of Autism and IDEA and NCLB: Intersection of Access and Outcomes.
Lordn/Shutterstock.com
4. Official information
One of the best resources for special education teachers is about acquiring official information, as sometimes it can be very complicated to find the right data which can be crucial. Hence, you should join a special organization called The National Association of Special Education Teachers (shortly NASET), which organizes information and news from different fields connected with special education. They also provide charts, games, innovations in teaching, as well as online courses and e-books.
Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock.com
3. Research
If you want to know everything about the children in your classroom, you should understand their disorders. The easiest way to achieve that is to follow organizations and resources which collect all research results in one place. The Education Commission of the State is a special organization which provides the information on special education laws issued by the state, research results and the latest findings in medicine. And now, let’s see the top two entries on our list of best resources for special education teachers.
Undrey/Shutterstock.com
2. IEP and 504 plan
As we have said, the government and the education system are organized in the way that no teacher works alone with children with special needs. Not only do the states have their special plans, but there is also the Individualized Education Program for all children with disorders, which is a great starting point for teachers. The only problem is that the material has to be adapted for every child separately. You will find this plan in The National Center for Learning Disabilities.
Garnet Photo/Shutterstock.com
1. Camps
Experienced special education teachers say that you need to think out of the box and observe each child separately if you want to be a successful special education teacher. You need to improve and increase your knowledge constantly not just by reading books, but by spending as much time as you can with children with special needs outside the school as well, by making friends with their parents and by spending summer holidays at special camps for children with disorders. Those camps are perhaps one of the best resources for special education teachers we know about.
wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock.com
