I never would have got into teaching special needs students if it were not for personal experiences. You see, my sister was in a residential autism program when she was a kid, and I found out first hand how big a difference special education can make. When she first went in to the program, I was very mad at my parents. I did not want them to take my sister away. She had pretty high functioning autism ? as these things go ? and I wanted her to stay with us.
My parents tried to convince me that it was all for the best. It was supposed to be one of the best special education programs in the country, and the people who ran it practically guaranteed that we would see here improve by leaps and bounds within the first year. I was more than a bit skeptical, of course. I was very protective of my sister, and I did not believe that anyone could do a better job than we were doing at home.
That is why I was so surprised when she got back from a year of special education classes. I had never seen her doing so well, and that is no lie. She was more at ease, happier, and healthier than before. She had learned a lot too! Her academic performance was almost up to grade level when she got home from that year of classes. That is when I decided to teach special education.
A lot of people assume that teaching special needs classes will be easy, but it is not. As a matter of fact, special education is one of the most demanding and specialized of all the teaching fields. You have to be able to work with autism, mental retardation, and a whole long list of different learning disabilities. Let me tell you ? it is no small task! Still, if you are really passionate about what you are doing, it will all be worth it in the end.
I finished up my special education training well on the way to one of the most rewarding careers that I could imagine. I would be able to spend every day in the classroom, working with a variety of different students, helping them to overcome some very challenging problems. You can not imagine how rewarding that is. Each day is a challenge, but each challenge is its own reward.
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