There are several general and standard qualifications in becoming a special education or special needs teacher that is usually followed and applied throughout the United States regardless of the particular state where the aspiring teacher wants to practice his profession. If you are planning to pursue a career as a licensed or professional special needs teacher, you should know the qualifications for achieving that goal.
Today, the educational qualifications needed for a special education teacher is a four-year bachelor's degree in special education and obtain an accredited teacher training programme that preferably focuses or specialises in specific area of special needs such as developmental or learning disabilities, emotional disturbances, physical disabilities, and other specialisations in special needs education. In addition, many states in the U.S., require the special needs teachers to have master's degrees in special needs education.
The next qualification is taking and passing the state professional certification examination administered by the state so you could become a certified special education teacher in the state where you would practice. But it is also important that you should possess the other qualifications needed to become a special needs education teacher, which are the personal qualifications involving personal characteristics and traits.
As a special needs education teacher, you should have an endless amount of patience and understanding for managing children with medical, mental or psychological disabilities. You should be motivating, adaptable, creative and innovative, and withstand the pressure of working under extreme stress in communicating and negotiating with your students. You should also think out of the box when you think that the conventional approach is not enough for your students. You should also be comfortable and have the patience for doing the large amount of red tape or paperwork required in doing your job such as progress reports, referrals, curriculum changes or revisions, etc.
