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There is a nationwide shortage of special education teachers (SETs) due, in part, to unmanageable workload expectations, which has reached crisis level. SETs are expected to modify, adapt, and accommodate general education curriculum to meet the needs of their students, communicate and collaborate with parents and general education teachers, and progress monitor on IEP goals, to name a few. SETs, especially those in more restrictive self-contained settings, report spending almost half of their time completing non-teaching tasks. One emerging and innovative solution to help SETs accomplish these tasks is using Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI powers many popular educational tools, such as predictive text, adaptive learning platforms, and digital assistants. The launch of ChatGPT, Bard, and other generative pre-trained transformers (GPTs), provides an opportunity to support SETs with some of the paperwork requirements. This is due to the GPTs ability to craft human-like responses via drafting essays, emails, lists, and the like. In this article, we provide step-by-step directions to use ChatGPT. Additionally, we illustrate how GPTs can be used to operationalize, automate, and streamline many of the SET's non-teaching tasks through specific examples of its use in (1) collaboration; (2) adapting readings; and (3) developing progress monitoring assessments.

With this position paper, we advance the case for reformation of U.S. special education law and praxis. These have undergone mostly incremental changes over the five decades since their inception despite a substantial body of evidence amassed over this period, which points to a major gap between extant policy and praxis, and contemporary cultural ethos and mindset of stakeholders engaged in the mission of special education. We review evidence supporting the need for change, with a particular focus on the continuing practice of segregating students with complex educational support needs. We examine this practice's contributions to ongoing racial segregation within special education, including intersectionality. We consider the inclusion movement and reasons for its failure to rectify problems with implementing the least restrictive environment mandate in current law. Furthermore, we discuss the importance of mindset and nomenclature as they pertain to students with support needs in considering reformation. Finally, we review relevant theories of systems change and their potential contributions to the process of reformation. We conclude with a suggestion that alternatives to the next reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) be considered in the public policy arena, including a possible conversion of policy and funding to a Title program as one option.