May I ask how was it like working with Special Education kids? Just curious as I'm looking into it as well
Hmm well...
In my undergrad practicum I worked with a variety- the only one I remember the most is that I worked at the Gallaudet Day Care center (whatever the name is now or if it's still there)...there was actually a mix of hearing and deaf kids- toddler group, 3 year old, 4 year old.. 5 year old. I started in the the oldest group.. that didn't go well (as luck would have it- one of the kids was the director's kid...), then I moved to the 4 year olds... somewhat better but not much. It was a challenge. Hard to create lesson plans and think on their level. I also spent some time visiting a friend of mine's classroom (degree was Child Development and taught I think 4-5 year olds?). In observing my friend was a whole lot better at it than I was.
In my graduate year (just year 1), I had practicums working with KDES kids (I think it was KDES) who were in a self contained classroom, deaf + other disability- mainly MR (okay..ID...), spring time I went to a public school that had a class for deafblind kids under 5. I actually liked that class in working with the kids individually but I had other issues going on that year that kind of interfered with how well I could have done.
Work- the kids & adults I worked with lived in a residential facility (or what one in the distant past would have called an "institution"...). With them like with school aged kids you had to set up a IPP Individualized Personal Plan (or similar)...including communication goals, behavior goals (if they had serious behaviors), self care goals and so on. A lot of times those goals can overlap as well so you have to be aware of that. Incorporate everything and also remember that every kid/adult learns in a different way and speed. Some may never but I've seen many do okay and able to improve in some areas (one memory that pops out is one profound level adult going from diapers to going to the bathroom on his own at certain times of the day, then I think later on his own when prompted or asked.
Special Education is truly a challenge and within that umbrella term you can specialize sort of in which disability you'd like to work with- deaf, deafblind, autistic, physically disabled, intellectually disabled.
I don't know if that helps or not but I can say for me I ended up getting burned out due to many reasons one of which I couldn't do more for the clients I had than I wanted to. It's taxing but one of my co-workers said that it's rewarding for her. She put it best once... said that she knew from the age of around 13 she wanted to work with that population while for me it seems like I just happened into the job (more or less true- I took it after a year of hunting). IT ended up being my passion.
