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Real Talk, Real Tools – Burnout Prevention from the Special Ed Community

• Episode 212

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This week’s episode wraps up our teacher burnout series with a powerful collection of real-world advice from real special educators. In Episode 212, we hear from 14 special educators from the special education community who share their own burnout prevention strategies—no fluff, no theory, just real talk and real tools.

From setting boundaries and saying no, to reclaiming your time, creating meaningful routines, and finding ways to recharge with movement, mindset, and joy—this episode is filled with practical wisdom you can start using today. Whether you're new to the field or a seasoned teacher in need of encouragement, this episode reminds you that you're never alone in this work.

What You’ll Hear in This Episode:

✅ Setting Boundaries & Saying No
Guests: Nikki from Teaching Autism, Hallie from Speech Time Fun, Jenn from Teach Love Autism, Angela from The SpedTech Teacher, Heather from Full Sped Ahead, Alexis from The Peachy Speducator

✅ Time Management & Prioritization
Guests: Ashley from Spedtacular Days, Abby from Mrs. Moe’s Modifications, Sam from The Ed Queen

✅ Recharging Through Movement & Mindset
Guests: Lydia from Exceptional Space, Chaia from All Things Exceptional, Alicia from Delightfully Dedicated, Heather from Full Sped Ahead

✅ Simplifying with Systems & Routines
Guests: Dawn from Cultivating Exceptional Minds & Be the Exception Podcast, Caroline from Celavora.com & Sped Up Paperwork

🎧 Why You’ll Love It:
This episode is a powerful reminder that burnout doesn’t have to be your reality—and that community is one of the best tools for getting through the tough days. These stories will inspire you, validate your experiences, and help you discover a strategy or two to try right away.

🔗 Resources & Links:
Visit the show notes to connect with each of today’s contributors and explore their platforms, tools, podcasts, courses, and more:
👉 Links to each contributor’s platforms

💌 Let’s Stay Connected:
If this episode resonated with you, let Jennifer know! You can always send a message or tag Special Education for Beginners on social media to share your favorite takeaway.

📅 Next Week:
A brand-new theme kicks off in June—don’t miss it!

Writing individual impact statements based on a student’s unique disability  and needs can be a big struggle AND a big time suck.! And in case you haven't noticed...extra time is not something you have a lot of.

My IEP Impact Statements Growing Bundle will give you  the resources you need to make writing impact statements a breeze.  





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Speaker 1:

Hey there and welcome back to Special Education for Beginners. Over the past few weeks, we have been digging into the real causes of teacher burnout and, more importantly, how we can start to prevent it, From setting boundaries to shifting mindsets. We have covered a lot of ground, but today's episode is going to sound a little different. Back on episode one of this burnout series, I shared that one of the most powerful ways to combat burnout is by building meaningful community and support with other educators people who truly get it, Because, let's be honest, this job is so challenging and it can feel incredibly isolating if we try to carry it all alone. So today I'm passing the mic to a group of incredible women, special educators who have not only walked the walk, but who also dedicate their time to lifting other teachers up. Some of them are still in the classroom and some have left the classroom to support teachers like you full time. But each of these educators has their own platform, whether it's a course, a podcast, a membership or a professional development series, and every single one of them is a source of creativity, compassion and support in this field. They have generously shared their personal strategies for preventing burnout and I cannot wait for you to hear their wisdom. These aren't theories. These are real-life tips from educators who have been in the trenches and found ways to protect their energy and passion for the work. As you listen, I hope you feel reminded that you are not alone and that there is a powerful community of supportive women out there who are cheering you on and walking this road right alongside you.

Speaker 1:

Let's get to it and hear what they have to say. Hey, special educator, are you overwhelmed by the absurd amount of paperwork on your to-do list? Do you wish you had the skills to build a rock solid team with your staff? Do you find yourself scouring the internet for how to meet the needs of each student on your caseload? Well, hey there. I'm Jennifer Hofferberg, an award-winning veteran special education teacher and current instructional coach, who has walked in your shoes through each of these challenges and yes, I have the metaphorical blisters to prove it. I have cried your tears and felt your pain, and now I'm here to support you in the way I wish someone would have been there to support me.

Speaker 1:

Listen in each week as my guests and I dish out practical wisdom to help you handle all the classroom curveballs that are thrown at you and learn how to laugh in spite of the chaos, to celebrate those small yet significant victories that only a special educator can understand. So are you ready? Wipe your tears and put on your superhero cape, because together we're going to learn how to survive and thrive in the ever crazy, completely overwhelming laugh, so you don't cry. Profession of being a special education teacher crazy, completely overwhelming, laugh-so-you-don't-cry. Profession of being a special education teacher.

Speaker 1:

So you are about to hear a series of short voice messages from these incredible special educators. Each one of them is going to share their personal approach to preventing burnout, whether it's a daily routine, a mindset shift or a boundary that they have learned to hold tight. So this first group is going to talk all about boundaries and saying no. In last week's episode, I shared five burnout preventing boundaries that made the biggest difference for me, but I'm not the only one doing this work, and I'm definitely not the only one who's had to learn the hard way. So let's start with one of the hardest but most essential pieces of avoiding burnout, which is setting boundaries and learning how to say no, Whether it's knowing when to leave work, at work, saying no to just one more responsibility or giving yourself permission to do things. Well enough. These educators have powerful reminders that sometimes protecting your peace is the most professional thing you can do.

Speaker 2:

One thing I do to manage burnout is set really firm work and home boundaries. So when I leave school, I actually leave school. No emails, no laminating, no guilt. I don't have my work email on my phone and I have gotten very good over the years at setting a needs to be done list and a would like to be done list. So this helps me prioritise what needs doing without getting overwhelmed trying to do all the things, and this has really helped me to cut down on taking things home with me. So if I ever get worried about not getting something done, I ask myself what is the worst that will happen if I don't get it done. And if it's nothing major, then it's really just my own worry about completing the list. So there's nothing wrong with asking for some extra time to complete things.

Speaker 3:

Hi, this is Hallie Sherman from Speech Time Fun and the SLP Coffee Talk podcast. One way that I recommend to avoid burnout, especially this time of the year, is to give yourself grace and to be okay with saying no and having those boundaries. There are so many extra activities parties, festivities, events, field days, all the things going on and sometimes you have to just be okay with saying you know what? I have too much going on, I need time for me and that is okay. Don't be so hard on yourself. It will all get done. And you have proof of it each and every time of the year when, when this time of the year comes and you do get it done. So there's proof that you'll get it done. And another thing that I like to tell myself is done is better than perfect. Yes, in an ideal world we like to have perfection, but sometimes we need to just get it done and be okay with that. Hope this helps.

Speaker 4:

And good luck the rest of school year. One thing I do to avoid burnout as a special education teacher is try to stick to specific times which I'm working and I'm not working, so my start time and my end time, which is something I previously prepare for myself in advance, and then making sure I stick to it, whether this means I have to set an alarm on my laptop or my cell phone to remind myself that work is done or it is time to move on to something else. This helps me to keep my work in a structured time and space to allow me to make time for other things as well make time for other things as well.

Speaker 5:

So I have two different tips to avoid burnout as a special education teacher. The first one is to take your days off. I know some teachers like to save their days. Sometimes they roll over. I personally like to use all my days every year because I know that I'm the type of person that just needs to step away from school for like a day just to kind of get my mental health right. So I'm refreshed and ready to go. So my advice to avoid burnout is to take your days, take your sick days, take mental health days. My second suggestion, to go in line with that, is to make sure that you get as much of your work done at school as you possibly can.

Speaker 5:

Now, I used to be somebody who would take it home every day because my reason was well, ultimately it's going to fall on my shoulders. So if I don't get it done today or whenever, it's going to fall on me. What happens is you are constantly working. You're working when you're at school and then you're working when you're at home, and that just there's no boundary there. So I say, if it doesn't get done, it doesn't get done, and then maybe you have to go to school a little bit early tomorrow or something, but draw that line. It makes an enormous difference.

Speaker 6:

One thing I do to manage burnout is to set boundaries. I know it's so hard, but I choose which days I'm going to come in early or leave late so that I can get my work done in a timely manner.

Speaker 7:

Hi, this is Alexis from the Peachy Speducator. One thing I do to combat burnout is utilize my focus settings on my phone. I'm an introverted person and sometimes I just cannot or do not want to socialize, so I make sure to use those focus settings on my phone to let other people know when they can and can't contact me. It's a great way for me to set boundaries and keep them and to teach others to respect those boundaries as well. I hope this helps.

Speaker 1:

Next, we're talking about time and how to use it wisely. In this segment, teachers share how they've learned to prioritize the tasks that truly matter, how to focus on what must get done instead of chasing unrealistic to-do lists, and how to stop bringing everything home with you. Angela from the SPED Tech teacher, reminded us of how powerful it was to take the time that we are given, whether that means using your contracted hours more intentionally or honoring your days off without guilt, and Nikki from Teaching Autism shared a helpful mindset shift Instead of trying to do it all, ask yourself what's the worst that will happen if this doesn't get done today. Sometimes, giving yourself that grace is the key to staying grounded. Let's hear what a few other teachers have to say about time management and prioritization.

Speaker 8:

Avoiding burnout in special education is something that I initially struggled with as a new teacher. 13 years in, I have figured out to prioritize things that need to get done. I'm a to-do list maker, and things that I will do is make what do I need to do each month, week or day, and then quarterly and yearly, I prioritize. It doesn't always have to be Pinterest perfect or Instagram worthy, as some people think. Your worksheets can be written with Sharpie. They don't always have to be beautiful. So prioritizing what actually needs to get done and what is necessary for your classroom and your students is what's best. That's how I avoid the burnout.

Speaker 9:

Hey, I'm Abby from Mrs Mo's Modifications and my tip for burnout is not the normal one. So people always say, draw boundaries, don't do work at home, and I have to say that never worked for me. I always and continue to do work at home and it works for me because I do put parameters around it. I think about what's really important to me, which is family time, but I also really love to be prepared. I love to take extra time to make worksheets and activities more fun for my students, and I know it takes me a little bit more time, but I enjoy doing that at home. So I do parameters by.

Speaker 9:

I refuse to do work when my kids are up. They never, ever, ever see me with my laptop up. They never see me talking to parents. They never see that. I do do it sometimes in the evening, but I also do not do it every night. I don't do it late into the night and I try not to do like IEPs at night, because that's what irks me. I do things that I enjoy IEP writing I do during the day. I always do it during my planning and I also work during my lunch, but that's what I need to do for myself. So I don't love the putting really tight boundaries on when to work, because that honestly gave me more anxiety, knowing I couldn't work outside of those. So that's mine is that it's okay to work outside of your contractual hours, just putting boundaries and parameters and around what is really important to you.

Speaker 10:

Two things that have helped me prevent special education teacher burnout. One is prioritizing my tasks. I feel like as a special education teacher, we have a never-ending task list, and so I really focused on categorizing tasks from high to low priority with the color code system. That really helped my brain focus on those high priority tasks that might have a timeline or I need more collaboration, and then those lower priority tasks. I could really get done maybe 10 minutes before staff meeting or whenever I'm waiting to meet with a colleague about something.

Speaker 10:

The second thing I've done to prioritize preventing special education burnout is thinking about my time away from work. Intentionally, early on in my career I used to get so overwhelmed and be doing all the tasks and then I'd have a day and I would think, wow, I'm so burnt out and I'm just going to rot away on the couch all weekend, and so what I started doing was thinking about how am I going to prioritize myself proactively? So, for example, I have every Monday I look forward to a workout class that I really enjoy going to, and then two other times of the week I'm either walking or running outside, because it's something that I really enjoy. So really just thinking about my time away from work about how I'm investing in myself to prevent that long-term teacher burnout.

Speaker 1:

The next segment is all about recharging and, as Sam from the Ed Queen mentioned, along with time management, exercise and movement are powerful tools for managing stress and maintaining your energy throughout the day. So now let's talk about what keeps us going, both physically and mentally, which is movement, mindset and moments of joy. These next educators remind us that taking care of our bodies, incorporating small pieces of fun and choosing grace over guilt are just as important as setting boundaries and time management.

Speaker 11:

Sometimes, as a special ed teacher, I really focus on all my evaluations and all my progress monitoring and all my data collection and it's very easy to lose focus of the flexibility of having fun. Giving yourself some grace at the end of the school year or whenever you're feeling that teacher burnout, giving yourself some grace to go back to that. More flexible teaching and having fun in your classroom has helped me tremendously.

Speaker 11:

Sometimes I like to incorporate a theme of the week, whether it's watermelons or lemonade or social media for older grades or something like that, where every activity or every center is around a theme. So students are, you know, kind of interested, because it's something I wouldn't normally do throughout the school year or I wouldn't put so much focus on it. But it kind of gives you the freedom to have a little bit of fun, put play back into your class a little more often and a little less focused on all those evaluations and all those tests that we often focus on the most during the school year. So try out a theme of the week or a theme of the month, maybe getting ready for summer. Have them do some bucket lists or something like that where they can goal set and have something to look forward to have a little fun with it.

Speaker 12:

One of the things that I do to prevent burnout is to make sure that I do something nice for myself every day. On the weekends it is a little longer, but during the week it may be like 30 minutes of one of my favorite TV shows uninterrupted. On the weekend it may be going for a walk by myself or checking in with a friend. Either way, I try to incorporate something for me every single day. Time doesn't necessarily always matter, of course. On days that were harder I try to increase that time a little bit. But I try to promise myself at least 30 minutes a day of something for me.

Speaker 13:

The best advice I could give to a teacher that's burning out is to be active. Find something you enjoy doing that moves your body, whether that's walking around your neighborhood with your kids and pushing them in the stroller, or playing pickleball, or lifting weights at home, or going to the gym or joining a yoga class any of those things that move your body. They can do wonders for not only your body physically keeping you healthy and active but also for your mind and allowing you to just enjoy life again.

Speaker 6:

One thing I do to manage burnout is to make time for myself. I go for a walk, I read my books, I exercise, I do something. Each burnout is to make time for myself. I go for a walk, I read my books, I exercise. I do something each day for me.

Speaker 1:

The final segment is all about simplifying what you're doing with systems and routines. Burnout hardly ever comes from the big problems. It builds from a thousand little ones. These next educators are here to tell you how using templates, routines and repeatable strategies can take the pressure off of your day and reduce decision fatigue. When you streamline your paperwork, minimize repetitive tasks and take the guesswork out of your week, you create more space for what really matters your students, your team and your own peace of mind.

Speaker 14:

Hey there my name is Dawn Ellis, a current self-contained special education teacher, host of Be the Exception in Special Education podcast and creator behind Cultivating Exceptional Minds. After 15 years of being in the special education classrooms, let me tell you burnout is a real thing and it sneaks up on you fast if you're not careful. Here's what's helped me over the past few years. Careful, here's what's helped me over the past few years. First, systems save sanity, whether it's IEP templates, routines that run themselves, having go-to tools, that reduces the constant feeling of what's next. Those are key. And then second boundaries they're not bad. I stopped answering emails after certain times and actually scheduled joy during the week. I'm talking walks, coffee reading, not just IEPs, data collection and collaboration. Just know you're not failing because you're tired. You're just a human doing a lot of hard work and lots of multitasking. Remember you've got this. Keep showing up, but also give yourself space to rest.

Speaker 15:

Hey there, this is Caroline Kaler at Calivora Education and mastermind behind the sped up paperwork. Membership for savvy, data-focused special educators. One thing I do to manage burnout as a special education teacher is to keep my system simple and repeatable. I rely on tools and templates that save me time and help me stay organized, especially when it comes to my IEPs, behavior tracking and documentation. When I don't have to reinvent the wheel every week, I can put more of my energy into connecting with my students and celebrating their progresses. That mindset shift, focusing on what's sustainable and what truly matters that has made all the difference, and honestly, giving myself permission to not do it all perfectly has been just as powerful.

Speaker 1:

I just want to say thank you so much to each of you who shared your comments and suggestions to help with burnout. Your voices, your honesty and your support mean more than you know and to the listeners. I hope that hearing these stories reminded you of something important you are not alone in this. Whether you are just starting your journey as a special educator or you have been at it for a while, there is a community of passionate, creative and supportive educators who get it and who are here to help you and lift you up.

Speaker 1:

Every woman you heard from today has built something, whether it is a podcast, a course, a membership or resources. They have built something to help you make your work easier, more effective and a whole lot more manageable. And while each educator's burnout prevention strategies may look a little different, the message is still the same you matter, your well-being matters, and it's okay to find an approach that fits you and your needs. You can find the links to all of their platforms and their resources in the show notes, so be sure to check those out and follow the educators who spoke to your heart today. Surrounding yourself with a supportive community is one of the most powerful burnout prevention tools we have. This wraps up our burnout series, but I hope the conversations, tools and reminders stay with you long past this season and then pull them out again in the fall, when things get rough and when you need a reminder that you can love your job and still protect your peace at the same time. Talk to you next week with a new theme for June.