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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.

Also called: Early Childhood Special Education Teacher (ECSE Teacher), Early Intervention Teacher, Exceptional Student Education Teacher (ESE Teacher), Preschool SPED Teacher (Preschool Special Education Teacher), Profound Mental Handicaps SPED Teacher (Profound Mental Handicaps Special Education Teacher), Severe Mental Handicaps SPED Teacher (Severe Mental Handicaps Special Education Teacher)

Median pay in Greater Boston
$99,440
Jobs in Greater Boston
610
Massachusetts 2024–2034
−0.1%
50 openings a year
Typical U.S. entry requirement
Bachelor's degree

Greater Boston: Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area, May 2025. Growth and openings: Massachusetts statewide projection.

Pay range in Greater Boston

Yearly pay in Greater Boston by percentile
10th25thMedian75th90th
$62,940$79,700$99,440$119,270$126,340

10% of workers earn less than the first figure and 10% earn more than the last.

What you’d do

  • 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.

AI and this job

AI exposure: how much of this job’s work AI tools can do or help with, based on national research. It is not a forecast of job loss.

Moderate exposure57 of 100

The index averages three national research measures, each shown as a percentile of all jobs:

  • AIOE 56
  • Language-model AIOE 64
  • GPTs-are-GPTs 50

Observed AI use today: Little or none (Anthropic Economic Index)

AI exposure for this job is moderate, and observed AI use is little or none. AI tools may help with student records and paperwork. Comforting young children, caring for their basic needs, and teaching behavior skills one-on-one are hands-on work that tools do not do.

Likely to change

  • Keeping student records and reports
  • Drafting plans for individual student needs

Still relies on people

  • Comforting and encouraging young children
  • Feeding, dressing, and caring for children

Written with AI from the data on this page. Check with a career coach before making a decision.

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Training near Boston

College and school programs in the Boston metro area that lead to this job, with 2023-24 completions (IPEDS).

12 programs near Boston (plus 22 graduate)

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