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Interview With Special Educator: Section 1) INTRODUCTION
Interview With Special Educator: Section 1) INTRODUCTION
Section 1) INTRODUCTION
Special Educator is important role player in developing children with special needs as per tailored teaching plans and outlines. The purpose of interview with Special Educator is to identify their jobs and responsibilities along with their working environment. There are specific requirements to pursue career as Special Educator and it is different from other teaching jobs.
It is certain there are challenges for Special Educator but employer and working environment should be suitable that they will overcome these issues and problems. This paper will analyze throughout interview analysis of feedback about challenges and recommend ways to overcome it. It will be responsibility of employer or educational institution to provide suitable working environment for Special Educator and this will help in definite improving of student.
Section 2) DESCRIPTION
2.1)
The employer of interviewed Special Educator is Dubai Center for Special Needs. Their location is in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
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The types of children with disability they are treating are hearing impairment, ADHD, Downs syndrome, learning disabilities, autism, Cerebral Palsy, among others. There are over 130 students attending this centre ranging from 3 years and up to 24 years old. The teaching is by dividing children as per their ages and disabilities. There are 8 to 10 attendees of students per class and there are two teachers supervising in every class.
Dubai Center for Special Needs is providing their services with specific features and facilities that special need individual requires and showing well built to serve the purpose of their existence. There are Arabic classes but there curriculum is in English. The development of programs is according to American System of Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) (Dubai Center for Special Needs, 2001).
Dubai Center for Special Needs is one of the leading and competing educational institutions in the UAE that is providing high quality level of service and facilities for special needs individual or children. They are aiming at improving and educating children.
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Special Educator will be working and educating children and youngsters facing differentiated disabilities. They are handling and educating more than one student at a time with special care and specific needs for improvement and development. They are educating levels from mild to moderate types of children. They are using general education curriculum and special as per modification to meet specific children needs. Special Educator will be serving as backup for any educator at Dubai Center for Special Needs and they are educating from infants to secondary level of students.
The are developing special education programs that includes speech or language impairments, emotional disturbance, orthopedic impairments, specific learning disabilities, mental retardation, multiple disabilities, hearing impairments, combined deafness and blindness, autism, other health impairments, visual impairments and traumatic brain injury.
Special Educator is working with specific groups that will ensure development and improvement of children. Their important role and responsibility is to identify special needs within specific child and it is important to identify within less time. They are using various techniques and skills that are promoting learning.
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Special Educator will be developing and leading classes as per customized needs of group to individual. They will have to study individual cases and cannot deliver standard method of teaching. They are helping and supporting to develop Individualized Education Program (IEP) at Dubai Center for Special Needs for each special needs student. There will be personalized goals to develop and to improve each students skills and abilities. The personalized goals for each student and customized and tailored to meet their individual needs and developing their disabilities to abilities.
Special Educator will be having outline that will guide them to implement program in steps helping preparing students of special needs. It can be high school level or middle school level program. The program reviewed Special Educator and parents along with educational institution administration for acceptance and they will make sure whether it is appropriate for implementing to get effective results. They are responsible to work with student and parents closely to get better results and
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Special Educator will be recommending and proposing learning techniques to apply at home because education does not end after leaving school. This is important so that child with special needs will definitely improve and develop. Special Educator is responsible to teach and design with appropriate teaching methods that are suitable for student on daily basis and they should correct and grade papers and assignments daily basis. This is to meet specific needs and requirements on daily basis because there will be different schedule later on.
Students will obtain help emotionally from Special Educators and they will be involving themselves in development of students behavior, academic and social activities and needs. Students should feel good and comfortable while socializing, which is major needs of development in most of the students. This is to make students socially acceptable by their community and society.
Special Educator will prepare students to face daily life with daily activities even after graduation from Dubai Center for Special Needs. This is an important aspect of their job and this possible by supporting them in career counseling and learning abilities and skills that will give a balance in their life.
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2.3)
There is challenge and competition in the working environment of Special Educator. They enjoy teaching with different methods and techniques and changes makes it for them more enjoyable rather than boring due to regular similar activities. They will be establishing good and meaningful relationship with children in special needs. Special Educator is not just working but they are creating learning environment helping students, which is rewarding for them. They involve physical and mental involvement in their working environment. They are having excellent mental status that is resulting in good working environment for themselves along with good learning environment for students.
Special Educator is facing challenges due to changing working environment and heavy workloads. They are facing teaching challenges and heavy administrative workload tasks. There is demand for
documenting on daily basis report on every student that they are teaching about their progress, which should be comparing with their previous performance. If there is incorrect information, Special Educator will face Page 6 of 15
Special Educator will face problems in their working environment burdening with more challenges and handling cases carefully and closely. There are many Special Educators leaving their jobs or changing career due to challenges and problems they face in their working environment (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2007). Due to this reason, there are very less professionals willing to join or continue as Special Educator.
The working conditions and requirements should be suitable that will motivate and encourage for more Special Educators in the UAE and this will increase opportunities for special needs children to develop with professional learning and improving environment.
2.4)
In order to become Special Educator, the candidate possesses certain requirements. They should be aware and know Behavior
Modification Methods. This will enable changing behavior of children with special needs education. They should be able to develop educational plans on individual basis and not group. Special Educator should possess generating reports that is professional and comprehensive meeting Page 7 of 15
The qualifications they should possess are Bachelors/Masters Degree in Education along with previous experience in classroom of around 2-4 years. They should be in their midcareer level with specialist knowledge for children in special needs (Dubai Center for Special Needs, 2001). The requirements and specifications are depending upon centre or educational institution needs but the mentioned requirements are general and specific to Dubai Center for Special Needs.
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The recommendation for Special Educator is to continue their job and career in teaching and developing children with special needs because there are opportunities that they will gain even though there are tough challenges. There is no career and advancement without challenges and change in career will affect their advancement because they have to start different career from scratch that is getting the right education, qualification, and experience.
Educational institution should support and provide appropriate facilities and necessities for Special Educator to perform well in their job area rather than burdening with extra work. They should be able to develop programs and methods that will develop and improve students quickly. Due to this reason, this will contribute as success for educational institution and Special Educator.
Employers
recommended
to
provide
assistance
for
Special
Educators administrative work and they should have more time in developing and improving plans on daily basis that will ensure children improvement on fast pace of learning. The administrative work is timeconsuming and this is possible to prepare by anyone working inline with Special Educators. Therefore, this will encourage Special Educators to
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Special Educator is teaching student with special needs and requirements. Their teaching method and techniques are different and they have side workload to handle such as reports and administrative tasks. They are performing their tasks and responsibilities higher than any regular educator is. Their activities include teaching on individual basis rather than group and program development is on individual basis and needs. It is like multitasking in teaching techniques that not all individual will possess.
According to the learning, Special Educators career is challenging and aggressive that needs many efforts mentally and physically, which is for helping children with special needs and it is not just teaching but helping and supporting them. The absence of appropriate facility and environment will affect Special Educators to continue their career or to perform better in their current job and activities. Therefore, while working together Special Educator, educational institution, children and their parents will create competitive environment of learning where the leader will be Special Educator.
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Dubai Center for Special Needs. 2001. Special Education Teacher. [WWW] <URL: http://www.gulftalent.com/home/Special-Education-Teacher-
Job Bank USA. 2009. Job Descriptions, Definitions Roles, Responsibility: Teachers Special Education. [WWW] <URL:
National Middle School Association. 2005. Sample Interview Questions and Approaches. [WWW] <URL:
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2007. TeachersSpecial Education. [WWW] <URL: http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos070.htm> [Accessed 1 October 2009.]
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