What it takes to work with children with special needs

An Educational psychologists is someone who helps these individuals to succeed in a school environment on a day to day basis. If you ever wanted to pursue a career in this field, here's how.

Keegan Frances

November 2, 2017

The qualifications

To become a registered educational psychologist with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), you will need either:

1. A four-year bachelor of education degree (B.Ed). This can be obtained through any recognised university. Thereafter you will have to complete an honours degree in education (learning support or school counselling), and then a masters degree in educational psychology MEd (Ed. Psych). Total study time is seven to eight years.

2. A four-year BPsych degree (which includes an honours degree). Thereafter, completing a masters degree in educational psychology MEd (Ed. Psych). Total study time is again, seven to eight years.

Also read: KaMagugu Inclusive School, giving special-needs children the best start in life

Each university has specific requirements for acceptance into both the honours and masters programmes. You can search for these requirements on each university’s website or contact the relevant departments.

The personality traits

To become a great educational psychologist you need to have certain innate characteristics.

Claude Engelbrecht,the resident educational psychologist at Pro Gratia, said that those looking to enter the profession need to be kind, patient, resilient, and loving.she also said that you need to be firm, emotionally stable, and consistent, so that the learners can respect and accept guidance from you.

Also read: Schools for kids with disabilities – where are they?

Engelbrecht elaborated, “Any person working with learners with special educational needs to be, to a significant degree, a selfless and intuitive individual”.

What the job entails

This will differ depending on the environment which you find yourself working in. In a special-needs school environment, the main focus will entail

Tending to the emotional and behavioural difficulties of the learners.
Identifying and diagnosing the learning, developmental, and psychopathological problems which each learner experiences so as to develop Individualised Learning Plans (ILP) for each learner according to their needs and strengths.

In private practice, on the other hand, the focus of the educational psychologist will differ according to their specific field of interest. In this setting the tasks of the educational psychologist can include:

Individual assessments and resulting therapy/guidance in the areas of learning, emotional, and behavioural difficulties
career development and,
subject choice guidance.

Information provided by education psychologist Claude Engelbrecht.

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