Special Education Teachers, Elementary School
Teach academic, social, and life skills to elementary school students with learning, emotional, or physical disabilities. Includes teachers who specialize and work with students who are blind or have visual impairments; students who are deaf or have hearing impairments; and students with intellectual disabilities.
Also known as: Academic Interventionist, APE Teacher (Adapted Physical Education Teacher), Behavior Interventionist, Behavior Specialist, Blind Teacher, Braille Teacher, Cross-Categorical SPED Teacher (Cross-Categorical Special Education Teacher), Deaf and Hard of Hearing Teacher (DHH Teacher), ...
Annual Salary
Median annual wage (May 2024)
Job Outlook
Outlook data not available.
What You'd Do
- Administer standardized ability and achievement tests to elementary students with special needs.
- Attend professional meetings, educational conferences, or teacher training workshops to maintain or improve professional competence.
- Collaborate with other teachers or administrators to develop, evaluate, or revise elementary school programs.
- Confer with other staff members to plan or schedule lessons promoting learning, following approved curricula.
- Confer with parents, administrators, testing specialists, social workers, or other professionals to develop individual educational plans (IEPs) for students' educational, physical, or social development.
- Coordinate placement of students with special needs into mainstream classes.
- Develop or implement strategies to meet the needs of students with a variety of disabilities.
- Encourage students to explore learning opportunities or persevere with challenging tasks to prepare them for later grades.
- Establish and communicate clear objectives for all lessons, units, and projects to students.
- Establish and enforce rules for behavior and procedures for maintaining order among students.
- Guide or counsel students with adjustment problems, academic problems, or special academic interests.
- Instruct and monitor students in the use and care of equipment or materials to prevent injuries and damage.
- Instruct students with disabilities in academic subjects, using a variety of techniques, such as phonetics, multisensory learning, or repetition to reinforce learning and meet students' varying needs.
- Instruct students in daily living skills required for independent maintenance and self-sufficiency, such as hygiene, safety, or food preparation.
- Interpret the results of standardized tests to determine students' strengths and areas of need.
- Maintain accurate and complete student records as required by laws, district policies, or administrative regulations.
- Meet with parents or guardians to discuss their children's progress, advise them on using community resources, or teach skills for dealing with students' impairments.
- Modify the general elementary education curriculum for students with disabilities.
- Monitor teachers or teacher assistants to ensure adherence to special education program requirements.
- Observe and evaluate students' performance, behavior, social development, and physical health.
Top Skills
Importance scale: 1 (low) – 5 (high)
Knowledge Areas
Importance scale: 1 (low) – 5 (high)
Education Level Distribution
Percentage of workers in this occupation by education level
Technology & Tools
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In-Demand Technologies
Other Tools
Work Styles
Personality traits and work styles important for this career
Key Abilities
Cognitive, physical, and sensory abilities important for this role
Importance scale: 1 (low) – 5 (high)
Work Activities
General types of job behaviors occurring on this job
Importance scale: 1 (low) – 5 (high)
Work Environment
Physical and social factors that influence the nature of work
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Salary data: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2024. Outlook data: BLS Employment Projections, 2024–2034.
This page includes information from the O*NET 30.2 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license.