Special Education Teachers, Preschool

Also Called:

Early Childhood Special Education Teacher (ECSE Teacher),

Resource Teacher,

Special Education Teacher,

Teacher

What they do: Teach academic, social, and life skills to preschool-aged 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.

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Education & Training

Career Cluster

What do they typically do on the job?

  • Employ special educational strategies or techniques during instruction to improve the development of sensory- and perceptual-motor skills, language, cognition, or memory.
  • Teach socially acceptable behavior, employing techniques such as behavior modification or positive reinforcement.
  • Communicate nonverbally with children to provide them with comfort, encouragement, or positive reinforcement.

Personality

People interested in this work like activities that include helping people, teaching, and talking.

Optimism

Sincerity

Adaptability

Perseverance

Empathy

Stress Tolerance

Interests

Career interests describe the perspectives and interests of people who enjoy the type of work involved in this career.

Discover what your interests are by taking the Interest Profiler Quiz

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Social

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Artistic

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Investigative

Knowledge

People who want to pursue this career have knowledge in these areas.

Arts and Humanities

  • English language

Education and Training

  • Teaching and course design

Math and Science

  • Psychology

  • Sociology and anthropology

Safety and Government

  • Public safety and security

Abilities

Whether you have received formal training or not, these types of abilities are helpful in this career.

Verbal

  • Communicate by speaking

  • Listen and understand what people say

Ideas and Logic

  • Notice when problems happen

  • Use rules to solve problems

Attention

  • Pay attention to something without being distracted

  • Do two or more things at the same time

Skills

People who want to pursue this career have skills in these areas.

Basic Skills

  • Talking to others

  • Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions

Social

  • Understanding people's reactions

  • Looking for ways to help people

Problem Solving

  • Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it

Work Values

Work values describe how your core beliefs align with those commonly needed for this career.

Relationships

Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to provide service to others and work with co-workers in a friendly non-competitive environment. Corresponding needs are Co-workers, Moral Values and Social Service.

Achievement

Occupations that satisfy this work value are results oriented and allow employees to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment. Corresponding needs are Ability Utilization and Achievement.

Independence

Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to work on their own and make decisions. Corresponding needs are Creativity, Responsibility and Autonomy.

Does this sound like something you'd like to do?

1. Do some research
  • Identify how your interests, values, and strengths match this occupation
  • Talk to someone who works in this field or spend a day job shadowing
  • Use the colleges and training directory to explore programs related to this career
2. Plan your next move
  • Talk to your college and career counselor or school admissions staff
  • Visit Idaho Launch
  • Search for available Special Education Teachers, Preschool jobs on Idaho Works

Data for NSI career cards comes from the following: Idaho Department of Labor, US Bureau of Labor Statistics, O*NET, MyNextMove, and Career OneStop