Becoming a teacher

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So, I've started considering a serious career path and I'm thinking about becoming a special education teacher.....I know working in a social setting has its challenges but, as I see it, I have an insight into the autistic spectrum that most special ed. teachers lack, and I think it would help me make a real difference in the lives of those children also troubled by it.....do you guys think I'm on the right track here, or am I making a big mistake?

I'd recommend observing in a classroom if you can so you can get a sense for what it's like. I studied teaching for the past year and it was fine until I actually got to go in a classroom and it was pure hell for me. Though it may work out fine for you.

I think that sounds like a great idea. I work as a para-educator for autistic students, which has been part of the driving force of my recent self-diagnosis. It seems to me that autistic people don't necessarily lack social skills, but that we have a specific set of social behaviors that allow us to communicate well with eachother. Even though I am the youngest, least trained, and most recently hired para on staff, I am often left to deal with some of the most difficult situations. The other day my student Jake was having an acute panic attack after severely misunderstanding an interaction with another student. The teacher and two other paras were trying to convince him to take a time out in the "break room", but I offered to sit with him on the couch in a private room and talk to him. As is common with hyperlexic Aspies, Jake was still able to speak clearly and reason even in the midst of the panic attack, but I was the only adult in the room who recognized that. Its almost as though NTs can be blinded by other peoples' emotional states, and sometimes a lack of empathisizing is actually very helpful.

If you're not sure whether or not to go the full teacher rout, which requires at least a Master's Degree, you could try applying some places as a para. If you can find a place that's known for being tolerant of autistic traits, rather than trying to beat them out of their students, they might also be receptive to the idea of having an autistic person on staff. Your co-workers will already be trained to interact with people who communicate like you do. I've found that my current workplace is the most comfortable and receptive I have ever had.

Good luck.

I started teaching two years ago and there were a few things that I couldn't have foreseen and that are reasons I'll be leaving. There are just way too many kids per teacher. Even some of the special ed teachers in my school have classes as large as 17 - and that all different kinds of IEPs for each of those kids. My typical class size is 30 or more, including a few IEPs. I teach 5 classes a day and while the kids are good people, they are so demanding of my time and energy that I usually end up overstimulated everyday. It's in no way aspie friendly.

The county also announced this year that we wouldn't be getting raises for at least the next 3 years, possibly longer, and they didn't give any raises for the last two years which equals significant loss in terms of retirement investments, not to mention just monthly living expenses. The pay was already kind of measly, too. It, on top of the unrealistic expectations in every respect, are major reasons for me leaving.

One of my coworkers who is going to retire in two years was telling me the other day that for her retirement, she'll get a check for $1001 every month, minus the insurance payment of $488 dollars. So she's going to have to try to live on $500 a month. How is she going to afford things? $500 disappears on modest groceries and maybe, maybe, heating the house. Never mind occasional new clothes, modest gifts for grandchildren, home repairs, car maintenance, etc. What if she has unexpected expenses or need of expensive medication? you spend 25 years raising the county's children and this is what you get.

I made a terrible mistake trying this out and I'm getting out while I can still make some money and invest it. I've been extremely poor before and I don't want to end up there again. It's a very sad, repulsive place to be. No way I'm being poor again if I can help it.

I think it's a really good idea if you get to do what you train to do. I'm sure you'll be okay if you have a good work placement and the right support. I trained to teach adult literacy, and my mistake was going into a sector that already had enough specialists. The only classes I've been able to get were teaching Key Skills to disaffected teens. This would be okay for some, but it really does not suit me for various reasons.

I really enjoyed the work that involved teaching adults (a lot of whom had disabilities) and I was quite good at it. If you can get the work you want, go for it. It can be tempting to take on things you're not specialised in, but sometimes it's not worth it, because it can put you off the whole profession - especially at the start of your career.

Not Special Ed, but I'd like to reply in the postive for teaching as an Aspie in general. And maybe some of this will be helpful for you.

I was a teacher for 4 years, plus taught an evening course once, and one summer teaching outdoors at a Nature Center during college. I loved it. But I like to lecture on science and can go on for hours.

More specifically I taught college Bio 101 and 102 for 3 years, then a year of 9th grade science in a high school. The high school year was wonderful, but exhausting. It wasn't enough money so I went back to laboratory research.

Here's how I found teaching: the first year of any subject is exhausting, the second year is a somewhat familiar rerun and easier. You remember about half (like, oh yeah, I DID teach that last year!), you have your notes for the board all written down, you already have tests made up and can simply change a few things around. The third year is a BREEZE. All those lectures come back to you when you review them, no working up new speeches, you have two years worth of tests to pull material from, AND...you've heard all the questions before.

Oddly, I found the same questions were asked every year at exactly the same points in the material.
The more you do anything the esier it gets. It just takes Aspies longer. Make it your total focus.

I personally think teacher is a good Aspie job, depending on your level of disability. It was for me. People my own age are my problem, not people either much older or much younger. They don't seem to see me as so very different.

Good Luck!

I teach high school. I have been in philadelphia at the same public school for 4 years. I'm in pure hell at this point. Therapy is helping me get through the year and change in meds....I just know this situation is not for me...I only stayed this long cause I had to work 3 years in a contract that they pay for 1/2 of my masters.
I was on the brink of killing myself before i finally got someone to listen.

The only obvious down side I can see is that most people with AS have difficulty connecting to people.

An effective teacher must be able to connect with their students. Yeah, there's a lot of crappy teachers out there that get jobs, but if you want job satisfaction, being able to connect with your students will be a key issue.

So, how well do you connect with people in a teaching environment? Will any difficulty prevent you from being effective and/or employable?

Just as a warning, I teach music for Special School District in St. Louis, MO. My students pretty much cover the ground of any developmental disability you could think of, from MR to AU to physical disabilities like FAS and spina bifida. I do phenomenal work with my students, but in my work environment, it isn't enough to impress my boss. She wants me to excel at 'office politics,' and shows favoritism to some teachers and bullies others. I don't have a clue as to how to get on her 'good side,' I have done basically anything she asks and some discretionary effort over-the-top as well, including finding ways to fund programs for students when the school budget couldn't afford it. I feel like I'll never be able to prove myself to her, and that her approval of me is almost totally out of my control.

No class I took in college prepared me for office politics, or for how to deal with a bad boss. There are about 5 ladies in my building that I can tell won't ever like me or appreciate me, and unfortunately one of them is my supervisor. I don't seem to have any trouble with 90%-plus of the staff in my building, and have no trouble communicating with my students.

I am by no means saying that every principal would be like this, but since there is at least one, watch out! Be up front with your AS diagnosis from the get-go, and make sure you are at least seeing a licensed counselor to back up your diagnosis. It is your boss's job to facilitate your needs as a teacher and help you to be a better one, and that includes ensuring that you get to speak with someone who knows AS well. I had to go through a special process for my insurance to ok me to see a counselor because the district offers basic in-house psychiatric care at little or no cost to them. Aspies don't fall under basic criteria, so I was allowed to see someone else on the district's dime. Also, if you see a counselor, ask them for an Adult ADD screening as well. In my experience, I have noticed that many aspies also deal with Adult ADD, which can make it hard to focus at work when you have IEP deadlines to meet! If you're going into special education, you'll need to pay attention to deadlines a lot because of IEP writing. My school district offers teachers a 'paperwork release day' at their request for one day out of the year because it is such a severe amount of work.

Here are some tips that have helped me a lot as a young teacher:

1. Don't eat lunch with staff, eat at your desk alone. This is good advice for anyone, not just aspies, as the topics of staff lunch conversations tend to violate board policy every lunch hour.

2. Make it a point to set-up professional meetings with the staff you work with on a regular basis, perhaps every 4-6 weeks or so. You should be the authority on your students, including with their performance in electives like music, art, pe, etc. Talk to the other teachers your students work with. Ask them what is and what is not going so well in their classes, and what you can do in your class to ease the transition. Write these ideas down and implement them! If you have classroom staff, you should meet as a team weekly and on an individual basis every two weeks. Same principle, find out what works and what doesn't work, gathering new ideas to implement and write them down and implement them! Remember the statement 'actions speak louder than words?' This is key here... many school buildings are filled with staff who blow a lot of hot air about student achievement but don't follow up on what they preach. If you were to do this, you would help your co-workers and earn their utmost respect at the same time. This helps if your character ever gets called into question due to an aspie mis-step in a NT environment.

3. Don't make friends at work with your co-workers. Of course I don't mean you shouldn't try to have good relationships with them, but your job and their job is about the kids first. Never have a conversation about personal matters in front of any student, regardless of the student's disability or ability. Avoid such personal conversations when students are NOT present, most are unnecessary, however some are very relevant and appropriate to be discussed, just find a way to be sympathetic to staff's personal lives in a short, concise professional way... "That sounds terrible that you are dealing with that situation. If it were my situation, I would consider seeking the help of a counselor or someone more qualified to help. You and your family will be in my prayers." Of course, it needs to be sincere, if you really don't feel that way you should just nod or find some neutral way to acknowledge the issue and move on.

4. Enjoy the kids! Everywhere I look, I see a reason to come back to work the next day. It's my students, I love them to pieces even when they want to be brats. They make putting up with my boss and other 'permafrown' staff members all worthwhile. Teaching is a great job for aspies because of the teaching part of it! You will struggle in your first year in the classroom for sure, don't try to avoid that as you should learn a lot by experience. Just try not to expect too much or too little of them and you will be fine. When you do assess learning in the classroom, take pride in that they have learned something you taught them. Teaching is so wonderful for raising my self-esteem, and I love working with the kids.

5. This is kind of a sum-up of 1-4, but... LIVE ABOVE REPROACH. Be intentional about not putting yourself in positions to make a verbal mistake or exacerbate a social dilemma. Just do your job with the kids, meet with the staff that are relevant to your students, and if something ever arises that smells fishy, go straight to your principal and ask for help. That is their job, to listen to you and facilitate your needs. I've been in trouble a couple of times for trying to handle a situation on my own when I should have at least mentioned the situation to my principal before I acted on it. They won't like being left out of the loop in problem situations, so when a need arises don't hesitate to involve them.

Good topic! Hopefully you will excel as a teacher and work under a much better principal than I do.

""No class I took in college prepared me for office politics,"" .yes, that's true, and the toughest teaching task I had was recess and lunch in the staffroom..but teaching a classroom with even a small proportion of disruptive students can send your blood pressure through the roof.