I want to teach mentally disabled children?
I want to be a teacher for the mentally disabled---elementary age. What do I have to do? What do I have to major in? I don't want, what we call in California a moderae/mild degree in special ed. That's what my cousin has and she's stuck teaching flunk-outs who are just in there because they don't care about school. I want to teach kids with serious mental disabilites.

Best answer:
Okay.

When you get a degree in Special Education (at least in the state of Illinois) you possess a degree which allows you to work with children who have learning disabilities, behavioral disabilities, and cognitive impairments age birth-21.

What you do with the degree is based on the job that you obtain.

I don't mean to get snippy, but if you want to work with children who have special needs you need to learn how to refer to them with respect for the person they are. If your cousin is working with students who have failed out, odds are they have a mild learning disability that may or may not have gone undiagnosed for years. Children should never be referred to by their disability first- always their abilities first. They aren't mentally disabled children, they are children with mental disabilities. You need to put the child and their individual needs before the disability. Any special education teacher will tell you to learn that and probably issue you a grade on that.

If you want to teach children who have multiple/severe disabilities you need to look around to find a job that suits you. It might benefit you to go back for your masters to receive a specialized degree in working with children who have Multiple Disabilities.

But seriously dear, you need to gain some respect for all students before you should look into a degree in Special Education. Like I said, I do not want to be rude, but people who go into this field need to have caring and compassionate attitudes towards all learners.

« back