The rule of thumb for imparting special education to children with special educational needs is to accept the child on an “individual level” and design an educational program that fits the individual’s strengths.
In order to achieve this goal, it is essential for parents, caregivers of children with special needs and heads of special schools to appoint good special needs teachers who will be instrumental in achieving the all-round development of the learners.
Learning about the five essential qualities of a good private teacher brings you that much closer to your goal of hiring the best candidate: read on to find out what they are!
1. A good special needs teacher must possess industry certifications in order to plan, implement and improve group teaching and 1:1 teaching programs, according to school needs or individual curricula, as the case may be. Thus, a licensed or experienced Special Education Needs (SEN) teacher will have the knowledge and qualifications required to build an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) framework on the child’s current level of learning and to set the correct goals for the learner in their care, which is required to facilitate optimal training programmes.
2. Good SEN teachers focus on assessing the social skills, learning behavior, and positive reinforcers that help a particular child with special educational needs acquire the functional skill sets relevant to education that are individually required to become a capable and well-adapted individual.
3. A good private teacher will take care of all aspects of a child’s special education needs, including performance in motor skills, self-help, socialization, and language skills along with improving school performance. To develop these functional skills to a satisfactory level, the dedicated SEN teacher will work in a consistent manner to help the special child achieve these skills to the best of their ability, before moving on to developing pre-professional and vocational skills according to observations they have made about the child’s interests, competence and skill levels.
4. Empathy, enthusiasm and experience are must-have personality traits in a private teacher. Therefore, regardless of the above qualities, look for a SEN teacher (or intelligent teaching assistant who can be groomed to be a good SEN teacher with appropriate training or in-service program) with a keen interest in analyzing the school’s teaching methods, records of child achievement and behavior patterns as well as IQ test results. A good private teacher will combine these aspects with the priority needs and interests of the child and work to design a child-centered education plan.
5. Finally, it is very important to choose a professional who encourages and uses parental involvement to help the learner with special needs get closer to a specific goal as much as he values innovation and uses a variety of strategies to develop an IEP that benefits the child with special needs.
