Teacher Consultant
Teacher consultants (TC) are
teachers who are trained to work with students
with a variety of handicaps. The teacher
consultant must have a Masters Degree. They must
have worked in special education for a minimum
of three years.
Teacher consultants may work
directly with students who are eligible for
special education services, consult with special
and general education teachers or work in a
prevention capacity by conducting Child
Study Meetings with parents and staff to
evaluate student’s who are suspected of having
a handicap. Many teacher consultants work with
students and staff in all of these capacities.
Many teacher consultants also
have a specific area of expertise such as
autism, hearing, vision, or physical
impairments. Due to the lower incidence of
students with these handicaps, these teachers
often serve children from several school
districts through consultation with special and
general education teachers.
Resource Room Teachers
Resource room teachers are trained as
classroom teachers with a specialty in
working with students with handicaps. The resource
room teacher works with students with a
variety of disabilities in the resource
room. The students are seen in the
resource room for remedial academic instruction in
the area (s) in which the student
qualifies for services. In some instances,
the child may be eligible for services due
to significant emotional-behavioral
problems, a hearing, vision, a motor impairment,
or autism.
The resource room teacher works with a
variety of small groups of students
throughout the school day. At the secondary level, resource room
teachers may also team-teach in a general
education classroom and work with a
variety of students who require assistance.
Paraprofessionals
(Aides) in the Classroom
Classroom aides may
perform a variety of duties including
classroom wide assistance or one-on-one
support for children with severe
disabilities. Some of the ways classroom
aides may help the classroom teachers
are by: 1) providing small group
instruction, 2) monitoring school-home
links through maintenance of assignment
books, 3) implementing classroom wide or
individual behavior management programs,
4) adjusting assignment requirements for
individual students, 5) implementing
peer mediation programs, 6) providing
communication between special and
general education staff, and 7) helping
student’s develop independent work
habits.
