Hi,
I am just wondering if there are any special education teachers out there who have a learning disability themselves? I will graduate in the spring and I am specializing after that…so after I finish my formal education I have another month of intense special ed training and practicum. I think I already have a job offer for a resource room room/special ed teacher…but I am not sure if I shoudl take it. I am goign through testing myself right now and we are sure I have a learnign disorder (I’ll find out more when the testing is complete…in a couple of weeks)…so I am wondering if I am goign to be abel to teach others with special needs. ANy ideas?
Never was tested......
I really don’t know if I have a learning disability or not.
I explain to my students that my short term memory is so short that I cannot remember the telephone number from the book to the phone. :wink:
Frequently I am used as an example how ADHD children can grow up and lead successful lives. :?
In college the joke was that most of the special education department could not pass algebra but all did very well in geometry (learning styles?).
But I find it very helpful in explaining to my students what a learning disability is- and how it affects their learning.
Re: spec ed teacher success?
It is really natural for someone who has come to terms with a learning disability to want to make things better for others, but sometimes the learning disability really makes teaching a very challenging career (as if it isn’t for anybody :-)) — and wanting to be good at something and working hard at it does not guarantee that it will happen. Issues such as disorganization, or being able to be a flexible thinker, or being able to figure out different ways to present information, can be harder — or, to be honest, impossible — to attain if a disability is severe enough. There are an awful lot of ways to be successful and to help folks with LD without being a teacher — being successful at whatever you do and going in to be a guest speaker in schools, for one.
That said, yes, there are folks with LDs who are teaching and teaching well. There is *no* reason to assume taht because a person has an LD they should not think about becoming a teacher, or enter any other specific career; in this country it’s great to be able to figure out what you want to do and how to make a living doing it :-)
go for it
I think you should go for it! :!:
These kids need someone who will truely understand and be able to empathize with the struggles they are dealing with.
As a future teacher myself, I have felt the same way. I often question my ability to teach special ed. :? But overall I know it’s going to be worth it, not only will I have an impact (hopefully) on the kids, but they will have just as much, if not more of an impact on my life.
[b]So I say Go For It; they need you :!: [/b]
My son’s old resource teacher had a learning disability. She told the children upfront about it and my son came home telling me about it. I think they saw it as inspiring. I am sure that some aspects of her job were more difficult for her because of it but she was wonderful. She has since moved….
Beth