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.
29,510 people do this job in the US. $64,830 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 26%
- 5%
- 69%
Measured, from Anthropic's usage data (2025). Counts help on part of a task.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 4.4 h long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 11%. Today's estimate: 15%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
The tasks
Sorted by . 36 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Develop or implement strategies to meet the needs of students with a variety of disabilities.Done daily by most who do it. | 7% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Monitor teachers or teacher assistants to ensure adherence to special education program requirements.Done daily by most who do it. | 6% | 50 min17 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Develop individual educational plans (IEPs) designed to promote students' educational, physical, or social development.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 6% | 5 h2.5 h to 1 work day | 23%Half by Dec 2026 | |
| Modify the general preschool curriculum for students with disabilities.Done daily by most who do it. | 6% | 1.7 h25 min to 5 h | 51%Half by now | |
| Teach socially acceptable behavior, employing techniques such as behavior modification or positive reinforcement.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 6% | 38 min13 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Employ special educational strategies or techniques during instruction to improve the development of sensory- and perceptual-motor skills, language, cognition, or memory.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 50 min17 min to 2.1 h | Stays with people | |
| Teach basic skills, such as color, shape, number and letter recognition, personal hygiene, or social skills, to preschool students with special needs.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 38 min17 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Teach students personal development skills, such as goal setting, independence, or self-advocacy.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 33 min13 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Prepare objectives, outlines, or other materials for courses of study, following curriculum guidelines or requirements.Done more than weekly by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 4% | 2.5 h50 min to 6.7 h | 46%Half by Oct 2026 | |
| Prepare classrooms with a variety of materials or resources for children to explore, manipulate, or use in learning activities or imaginative play.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 38 min17 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Organize and supervise games or other recreational activities to promote physical, mental, or social development.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 38 min17 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Plan and supervise experiential learning activities, such as class projects, field trips, or demonstrations.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 2.5 h1.3 h to 5 h | Stays with people |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Special Education Teachers, Kindergarten19% now, 23% by 2028
- Special Education Teachers, Elementary School27% now, 36% by 2028
- Special Education Teachers, Middle School20% now, 32% by 2028
- Special Education Teachers, Secondary School22% now, 31% by 2028
- Kindergarten Teachers, Except Special Education8% now, 12% by 2028
- Teaching Assistants, Special Education5% now, 5% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).