Special education teachers work with children and youths who have a variety of disabilities. special education teachers work with children with mild to moderate disabilities, Special education teachers design and teach appropriate standards, assign work geared toward each student's ability, and grade papers and homework assignments. All States require a bachelor's degree and completion of an approved teacher preparation program with a prescribed number of subject and education credits and supervised practice teaching. Special education teachers must be patient. Teachers must be creative and apply different types of teaching methods to reach students who are having difficulty. Median annual earnings of preschool, kindergarten, and elementary school special education teachers in 2000 were $40,880.