Special Education Instructor Interview Preparation Guide

Download PDF

RTI stands for response to intervention. It is basically a data based process of diagnosing and assessing learning related disabilities and to determine the appropriate instructional style to which the student responds well. In other words it is research based intervention to enhance and facilitate the process of learning among children with special needs.

There are no right or wrong answers to this special education interview question.

Research shows the common reasons for becoming a special educator include coming into contact with someone with special needs when growing up. This encouraged the educator to value and understand the challenges faced by children with special needs and to want to help.

How do you set your teaching goals for special education? How have you monitored the progress of each child? How would you define success in special education teaching? Tell us about success/failures stories. Speak about articles you have read, and techniques you have observed. Of course, include your own – especially the more fascinating examples.

I think collaboration benefits the quality of instruction and supports for students with disabilities. Resources are combined to strengthen teaching and learning opportunities, methods, and effectiveness. Each member of the team brings their individual skill set, training, and unique perspective to ensure that the individualized needs of each student are met.

Ongoing communication with the family fosters a supportive relationship. This includes providing a clear explanation of the student's IEP, regularly sending out IEP report cards on student progress towards set goals, management of expectations by providing clear measurements, keeping accurate records of interactions with parents and really listening to parents.

I have worked with physical handicaps, ADHA patients, children with autism, mental retardation, Down’s syndrome and children with learning disabilities.

One of the most challenging courses for me while obtaining my degree was Statistics. Because I am more therapy and behavioural based by nature, it was difficult for me to fully embrace the factual parts of this course. I did find a tutor for that class and was able to pass it with a good grade.

Show how you determine where each student is and prioritize learning accordingly. The focus may be on developing basic social skills or on task completion.

Highlight your ability to use different teaching styles and resources to meet diverse needs.

The individuals with disabilities act is a federal law that governs and dictates the policies applicable in early age interventions for children with special needs.

When I first started my career, I wasn't as focused on a speciality and ended up spending a lot of time working with students who had more low-incidence disabilities. I wish I had been introduced to more specific work, with individuals affected by Autism, sooner in my career.

Demonstrate your knowledge of federal and state special education regulations, current trends and research in the field of special education. Give examples of your commitment to ongoing professional development through attending workshops, seminars and courses.

As a special education teacher, your duties will go far beyond managing and promoting good behavior; you will be providing an education that stays with your students for their entire lives. As such, your interviewer will ask about your methods for assessing your students’ progress. The school at which you are applying may have its own standards that you will be expected to follow, but you should mention some of your own assessment techniques as well as the ways in which you have adapted them to meet the needs of your students. You should also mention the ways in which your methods address each student’s strengths and weaknesses—and provide specific examples.

Your ability to motivate students will be carefully evaluted with special education teacher interview questions. Student motivation to complete tasks can be enhanced through making positive changes to the learning environment, increasing the interest of the activity, analyzing the task to identify areas of concern, responding to individual limitations and strengths and providing appropriate reinforcers or rewards. Provide a specific example to support your answer.

It is unfortunate that despite skills and experience, one cannot possibly help every student in rehabilitating. There was a student who had an emotional disorder and his parents were sure he didn’t need a psychologist so he was brought to the institute where I worked. After six months of constant therapy, the child had a breakdown because he was unable to cope with how we were handling him. His parents finally agreed to psychological counseling but it did leave me upset for a while.

Highlight your role on the team as an advocate for your students. Emphasize your ability to work collaboratively with other teachers and support staff to help your students succeed including regular consultation regarding progress towards educational, social, emotional and physical goals.

Demonstrate that you act as a valuable resource for the general education teachers by providing specialized activities, modifications, IEPs for your students.

It is a given that special education is nothing like regular education which means that all lesson plans designed for a special education class need to cater to the individual needs of students. For me, differentiated instruction is the route to success here. I rely highly on adaptation methods such as modified materials, possibly with pictures and ensure that these are incorporated into lesson plans for efficacy.

Effective classroom management depends on providing the structure and routine required by special education students.

The students need to know what rules and procedures apply to them. Specific and clear communication of these rules and procedures is key. Each student needs to know on a daily basis exactly what is expected of them.

Highlight your expertise in differentiated instruction when answering special education teacher interview questions. Discuss development of individual educational plans (IEPs). Give specific examples of modifications, group work, assessments and explicit communication techniques.

Show your understanding of the different classifications such as speech disorders, ADD, emotional disorders and language processing difficulties. You will be expected to have basic knowledge of a wide range of disabilities.

I had an 8 years old ADHD child in my classroom once. Rest of the children were having different problems and did not disrupt the lesson. He would make loud and sudden noises that disturbed the other children and also upset some. I developed a strategic short term plan based on negative reinforcement that worked wonders for the child and his behavior became under control within a month.

The multi-tiered approach is a teaching model that enables the teachers to pay attention to needs of all the students in the classroom. The approach divides the needs onto three tiers in shape of a pyramid, beginning form universal needs, moving up to the second tier offering group targeted interventions to enable better learning. While the top tier addresses intensive individual needs and call for individual interventions through IEPs. It is usually implemented when resistance to intervention surfaces.

Be honest. What indeed did motivate you? Perhaps it was a need to work with those that have the biggest need. Maybe the impact you could have, watching transformations of personality and ability. Or was there someone in your life who benefitted from a S.E. teacher, which inspired you? Express yourself enthusiastically.

This is one of the few special education interview questions that has one consistent answer: differentiated instruction. No matter what level of special education and age group you will be working with for the given position, differentiated instruction will be a huge component of the job. Be prepared to talk about specific adaptation methods, such as creating modified materials with pictures, and how you will incorporate these materials into various types of lesson plans.

After assessing each child thoroughly by applying various evaluation techniques I develop a lesson plan utilizing differentiated instruction which covers the learning styles of majority of the students. I then also develop IEP’s for some students as needed.

Focus on your planning and organizational skills. Provide an example of the time management techniques you utilize. Demonstrate your understanding of the need for the large amount of administration (including Committee on Special Education meetings) and paperwork involved and your willingness to take accountability for the process.

Well, I've wanted to be a teacher since I was five. I can still remember playing games with my sisters when I was younger and always wanting to play teacher. My decision to be a teacher started in high school when I began exploring more job opportunities working with children. I did a lot of babysitting and tutoring, and it was then that I decided I wanted my career to be working with children. I developed a love for special education when I was junior in college during student observations and student teaching experiences where I found myself being drawn to students that required more support. "here is truly nothing more rewarding than watching a struggling learner finally grasp a concept that had been difficult. I love being able to do that every single day.