Educational Instruction and Library
Special Education Teachers, Preschool
Teach academic, social, and life skills to preschool-aged students with learning, emotional, or physical disabilities. Includes teachers who specialize and work with students who are blind or have visual impairments; students who are deaf or have hearing impairments; and students with intellectual disabilities.
MAY 2025 · OCCUPATIONAL WAGES
A wage reference for United States.
Published wage percentiles describe a distribution within the source occupation group. They provide context for a career decision; employer packages and job offers have their own terms.
Source wage group: Special Education Teachers, Preschool
This wage group may include multiple detailed occupations. The figures are for the source group, which may be broader than Special Education Teachers, Preschool. They are not an exact-title, employer, experience or seniority match.
May 2025 · USD · United States. Annual and hourly figures are shown only when the source publishes them; neither is calculated from the other.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage data, distributed through the O*NET® OnLine service.
Median annual wage$64,830USD per year · Published 50th percentile
Annual wage thresholds
USD per year
| Percentile | Annual wage (USD/year) | Hourly wage (USD/hour) |
|---|---|---|
| 10th | $45,620 | Not published |
| 25th | $52,210 | Not published |
| 50th · Median | $64,830 | Not published |
| 75th | $91,660 | Not published |
| 90th | $130,040 | Not published |
“≥” means at least the published amount; “≤” means at most that amount. These are bounds, not exact values. “Not published” means the source did not provide that figure. Occupational wages follow the source definition and do not establish an employer’s base salary, equity or total compensation.
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THE WORK BEHIND THE TITLE
What this career involves.
Occupation definitions describe common work. Responsibilities and requirements vary by employer and specific job.
Selected title examples
Autistic TeacherBehavior InterventionistBehavior SpecialistBehavioral InterventionistBlind TeacherBraille TeacherDeaf Education TeacherDeaf TeacherEarly Childhood Special Education Teacher (ECSE Teacher)Early Childhood Special Educator (EC Special Educator)Early Intervention SpecialistEarly Intervention Teacher
Expand more title examples (29)
ED Teacher (Emotional Disabilities Teacher)Educational Intervention TeacherEmotionally Impaired TeacherExceptional Needs TeacherExceptional Student Education Teacher (ESE Teacher)Hearing Impaired Itinerant Teacher (HI Itinerant Teacher)Hearing Impaired TeacherLearning Disabled TeacherLearning Support TeacherLip Reading TeacherMentally Impaired TeacherMentally Retarded TeacherPhysically Impaired TeacherPre-K SPED Teacher (Pre-Kindergarten Special Education Teacher)Preschool Intervention SpecialistPreschool SPED Teacher (Preschool Special Education Teacher)Profound Mental Handicaps SPED Teacher (Profound Mental Handicaps Special Education Teacher)Reading InterventionistResource Room TeacherSelf Contained Special Education TeacherSevere Mental Handicaps SPED Teacher (Severe Mental Handicaps Special Education Teacher)Special Education ParaprofessionalSpecial Education Resource TeacherSpecial Education TeacherSpecial Needs AssistantSpecial Needs TeacherSPED Preschool Teacher (Special Education Preschool Teacher)Speech and Hearing Handicapped TeacherVisually Impaired Teacher
Typical tasks
- Develop or implement strategies to meet the needs of students with a variety of disabilities.
- Communicate nonverbally with children to provide them with comfort, encouragement, or positive reinforcement.
- Maintain accurate and complete student records as required by laws, district policies, or administrative regulations.
- Teach socially acceptable behavior, employing techniques such as behavior modification or positive reinforcement.
- Attend to children's basic needs by feeding them, dressing them, or changing their diapers.
- Teach basic skills, such as color, shape, number and letter recognition, personal hygiene, or social skills, to preschool students with special needs.
Expand more tasks (30)
- Develop individual educational plans (IEPs) designed to promote students' educational, physical, or social development.
- Prepare classrooms with a variety of materials or resources for children to explore, manipulate, or use in learning activities or imaginative play.
- Meet with parents or guardians to discuss their children's progress, advise them on using community resources, or teach skills for dealing with students' impairments.
- Modify the general preschool curriculum for students with disabilities.
- Observe and evaluate students' performance, behavior, social development, and physical health.
- Read books to entire classes or to small groups.
- Confer with parents, administrators, testing specialists, social workers, or other professionals to develop individual education plans (IEPs).
- Instruct and monitor students in the use and care of equipment or materials to prevent injuries and damage.
- Establish and enforce rules for behavior and procedures for maintaining order among students.
- Provide assistive devices, supportive technology, or assistance accessing facilities, such as restrooms.
- Monitor teachers or teacher assistants to ensure adherence to special education program requirements.
- Administer tests to help determine children's developmental levels, needs, or potential.
- Teach students personal development skills, such as goal setting, independence, or self-advocacy.
- Employ special educational strategies or techniques during instruction to improve the development of sensory- and perceptual-motor skills, language, cognition, or memory.
- Encourage students to explore learning opportunities or persevere with challenging tasks to prepare them for later grades.
- Confer with parents, guardians, teachers, counselors, or administrators to resolve students' behavioral or academic problems.
- Arrange indoor or outdoor space to facilitate creative play, motor-skill activities, or safety.
- Serve meals or snacks in accordance with nutritional guidelines.
- Organize and supervise games or other recreational activities to promote physical, mental, or social development.
- Establish and communicate clear objectives for all lessons, units, and projects to students, parents, or guardians.
- Coordinate placement of students with special needs into mainstream classes.
- Prepare reports on students and activities as required by administration.
- Attend professional meetings, educational conferences, or teacher training workshops to maintain or improve professional competence.
- Organize and display students' work in a manner appropriate for their perceptual skills.
- Collaborate with other teachers or administrators to develop, evaluate, or revise preschool programs.
- Prepare objectives, outlines, or other materials for courses of study, following curriculum guidelines or requirements.
- Plan and supervise experiential learning activities, such as class projects, field trips, or demonstrations.
- Present information in audio-visual or interactive formats, using computers, television, audio-visual aids, or other equipment, materials, or technologies.
- Prepare assignments for teacher assistants or volunteers.
- Control the inventory or distribution of classroom equipment, materials, or supplies.
Skills used in this work
- Active Listening
- Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Critical Thinking
- Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- Learning Strategies
- Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
- Monitoring
- Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Reading Comprehension
- Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
- Social Perceptiveness
- Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
Expand more skills (29)
- Speaking
- Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Active Learning
- Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Instructing
- Teaching others how to do something.
- Writing
- Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Service Orientation
- Actively looking for ways to help people.
- Complex Problem Solving
- Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
- Coordination
- Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Persuasion
- Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
- Systems Analysis
- Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
- Systems Evaluation
- Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
- Time Management
- Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Negotiation
- Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
- Management of Personnel Resources
- Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
- Mathematics
- Using mathematics to solve problems.
- Operations Analysis
- Analyzing needs and product requirements to create a design.
- Quality Control Analysis
- Conducting tests and inspections of products, services, or processes to evaluate quality or performance.
- Science
- Using scientific rules and methods to solve problems.
- Management of Material Resources
- Obtaining and seeing to the appropriate use of equipment, facilities, and materials needed to do certain work.
- Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
- Technology Design
- Generating or adapting equipment and technology to serve user needs.
- Troubleshooting
- Determining causes of operating errors and deciding what to do about it.
- Management of Financial Resources
- Determining how money will be spent to get the work done, and accounting for these expenditures.
- Programming
- Writing computer programs for various purposes.
- Equipment Maintenance
- Performing routine maintenance on equipment and determining when and what kind of maintenance is needed.
- Equipment Selection
- Determining the kind of tools and equipment needed to do a job.
- Installation
- Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or programs to meet specifications.
- Operation and Control
- Controlling operations of equipment or systems.
- Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the needed tools.
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