Having spent the last two years as a special education technician in high school (mostly one-on-one with students with autism; partly in the Independent Living Skills class) and the previous three years in middle school (also one-on-one) I believe this must be my year to reboot.

I’ve gone back to kindergarten! I’m at a school new to me, with a general education teacher new to me, and a real sweetie of a kid. It has been a great start and I look forward to a great year.

There is a drawback, however. That modified lotus position kindergartners assume on the rug for large portions of the school day (and someone insisted on calling “criss-cross applesauce”). Beyond a certain age, which I reached long ago, sitting like a pretzel for long periods is not recommended.

         What are the qualifications of a good special education paraeducator, especially one working with children on the autism spectrum?

         Abby Twyman has a masters in education and publishes a blog called Autism Community.  She wrote a few months ago about her experiences in hiring a new paraeducator for her classroom:

http://www.autism-community.com/paraeducator-qualifications/

         Here’s Abby’s bottom line:  education, experience, motivation, and creativity are good qualities in a para, but are not sufficient…

…the person also must have HIGH expectations of children with autism no matter how impacted they seem to be, they must be SELF-ASSURED and assert themselves with the child in a kind and caring way, they must be overly ORGANIZED and have a plan before working with a child, and they must know how to ADJUST to the ever-changing demands of children with autism and public school.

         I could not agree more.  You should expect  the child to achieve just as much (if not more) as the child beside him who does not have autism .  You must be self assured in dealing with the child (who will quickly recognize any uncertainty or inconsistency).  You must also be self assured in dealing with other adults in the classroom, including the teacher(s).  You should be organized and help the child to become organized.  And you should be able to adjust, on the fly, in the heat of battle as it were, because the world of a child with autism is dynamic and ever-changing.

            Our Readers with Autism blog focuses primarily on the work we do in my classroom to support comprehension in reading fiction. 

            But that, of course, is not the sum total of reading instruction required to bring our kids to grade level.  From time to time, I will share ideas and instructional units and strategies that can be found in the most demanding classrooms.  I invite you to share your ideas and practices too, so that we can all become better at what we do.