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The differences between early childhood specialists and special educators can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a special educator has an average salary of $53,565, which is higher than the $35,575 average annual salary of an early childhood specialist.
The top three skills for an early childhood specialist include professional development, technical assistance and staff development. The most important skills for a special educator are autism, student learning, and math.
| Early Childhood Specialist | Special Educator | |
| Yearly salary | $35,575 | $53,565 |
| Hourly rate | $17.10 | $25.75 |
| Growth rate | 15% | 4% |
| Number of jobs | 33,451 | 62,545 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 59% | Bachelor's Degree, 61% |
| Average age | 40 | 43 |
| Years of experience | 2 | - |
An early childhood specialist is responsible for managing the activities of young learners, monitoring their learning development, and designing engaging activities to observe their personal and social behaviors. Early childhood specialists assist the parents and the teachers of a child with administering programs that would expose their skills and their ability to solve basic problem-solving tasks. They coordinate with the parents to provide them progress updates and adjust learning strategies as needed depending on the child's performance.
A special education teacher's role is to facilitate learning for students with disabilities. The responsibilities of a special education teacher typically revolve around identifying the needs of students, devising lesson plans and strategies to meet their needs, developing test structure to assess their learning, and assisting them in areas of difficulties. It is also essential to coordinate with families and guardians, reporting to them should there be any problems. Furthermore, as a special education teacher, it is necessary to monitor the students' progress and behavior, maintaining a safe and healthy learning environment for them.
Early childhood specialists and special educators have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Early Childhood Specialist | Special Educator | |
| Average salary | $35,575 | $53,565 |
| Salary range | Between $25,000 And $50,000 | Between $38,000 And $75,000 |
| Highest paying City | Harrison, NY | Oceanside, NY |
| Highest paying state | New York | New York |
| Best paying company | Edmonds Community College, Lynnwood | Capistrano Unified |
| Best paying industry | Professional | Government |
There are a few differences between an early childhood specialist and a special educator in terms of educational background:
| Early Childhood Specialist | Special Educator | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 59% | Bachelor's Degree, 61% |
| Most common major | Early Childhood Education | Special Education |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | Northwestern University |
Here are the differences between early childhood specialists' and special educators' demographics:
| Early Childhood Specialist | Special Educator | |
| Average age | 40 | 43 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 12.8% Female, 87.2% | Male, 21.3% Female, 78.7% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 8.7% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 17.2% Asian, 5.6% White, 63.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9% | Black or African American, 9.2% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 11.4% Asian, 3.6% White, 71.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 5% | 8% |