Why I decided NOT to become a licensed SPED teacher...

Due to the lack of jobs in my field, I've been working in SPED for the past couple of years (as a para, not as a licensed teacher). That means a 50% pay-cut every time I work, but I like it well enough that I often choose to do it anyway. Consequently, people are always asking me when I didn't become a SPED teacher ("You're so good at working with these kids, why don't you become a SPED teacher"). The answer, of course, is all the paperwork you have to do as a SPED teacher. I SUCK at paperwork, why on earth would I choose a job that requires more time with paperwork than any other job in the whole entire world? I'd be setting myself up for failure if I did that. Besides, doing paperwork all the time (all those IEPs) would mean I wouldn't have much time to do the thing that I actually enjoy about working in SPED: Working directly with the kids. So, no way! Not doing it! I'd rather just work with the kids and have a blast.

But don't take my word for it. Synthia McBride explains the SPED paperwork phenomenon far better than I ever could.

"Most of the paperwork I have to do as a speech-language pathologist is the result of some federal, state or local lawsuit. There can be 8 pages of documentation to justify summer school, 20 pages of documentation to develop a behavior plan, 15 pages of documentation to complete response to intervention data, then another 10 pages of documentation to open the student for a complete evaluation, 10 pages of documentation to dismiss a child from speech therapy. IEPs have gone from 2 pages to 13 pages. Upon completion of an average, non-complicated IEP review there can be a stack of over 40 pieces of paper. Completing the paperwork can involve getting dozens of people to provide data, including every 6-7 classroom teachers, the counselor, the co-ordinator, the regular education school nurse, the special education nurse, the speech-language pathologist, the O.T., the P.T, the regular education P.E. teacher, the special education P.E teacher, the school psychologist, the reading specialist, the education diagnostician,the principal, the child's physician and the parents..."

I'm sure you get the idea...even if you got lost back at the 2nd or 3rd sentence of the paragraph. SPED=Paperwork. Ick. No thank you.