The Complete Guide to Becoming A Special Education Teacher, Preschool

Chapter 1: What Does a Special Education Teacher, Preschool Actually Do?

When people hear that you're thinking about becoming a preschool special education teacher, they often picture one thing: playing with small children. And that's true about ten percent of the day. The other ninety percent is a structured, demanding, paperwork-heavy job where you are simultaneously an educator, a therapist coordinator, a documentarian, and a fierce advocate for families who are often scared and confused.

Let's start with the basics. A preschool special education teacher works with children aged three to five who have been identified with developmental delays or disabilities. These can range from speech and language delays and autism spectrum disorder to physical disabilities, intellectual disabilities, hearing or vision impairments, or a combination of these. You are not a medical doctor and you are not a therapist, but you are the person who translates what the therapists and doctors recommend into a functional, daily learning plan for a small child.

Your primary tool is something called an Individualized Education Program, universally referred to as an IEP. This is a legal document, mandated by a federal law called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). It spells out, in detailed, often very clinical language, exactly what services a child will receive, what their current level of performance is, what your goals for them are, and how progress will be measured. If this sounds like a lot of legal and administrative weight to carry, that's because it is. The IEP