By Richard Finegan

         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.

autism · autism spectrum · classroom aides · general education · Inclusion · one-on-one · paraeducator · Paraeducators · paraprofessionals · qualifications · Richard Finegan · role · special education

By Richard Finegan

         I am a para-educator; specifically, a Spec Ed Tech; a special education classroom aide whose job exists only because of a legal document (the Individualized Education Plan or IEP) that says one or more special education students in the classes to which I am assigned need additional classroom support. 

         That is, they need more help than can be provided by the classroom teacher alone.

         In my particular case, I “shadow” one student to all his classes.  He’s in general education 100% of the time, because his difficulties are not academic.

         We used to be called one-on-one aides but our school district, in its infinite wisdom, declared “There are no more one-on-one aides!”  This was loudly announced in a large public meeting of para-educators I attended two years ago, even while I was assigned full time to one student, which continued until the end of that year. 

          For most of last year, I was again assigned full time to one student.  So far this year I have been assigned full time to one student.  And the person who loudly declared in a public meeting of para-educators that “There are no more one-on-one aides!” is still working as some mid-level administrator for the same school district. 

         Go figure.  She doesn’t even know what the hell is going on in the classrooms of the schools she administers. But she knows the party line!  Bet she’s a Republican. (Did I just say that?  Sorry.)

So anyway, where was I.  Oh, yes…

         I don’t really care what they call me.  Or whether the principal of the school I’m assigned to even recognizes me as a member of his or her staff.  (I’m convinced more than one thought I was a substitute teacher which is why they kept seeing me on campus.)

         Now in my seventh year, at my fifth school and almost all in general ed classes, I pretty much operate under the radar, usually reporting infrequently to one vice principal (we have three in our high schools) and otherwise being left to fend for myself.

         I learned early that the very last person from whom to seek advice about what your role is as a para-educator in the general education classroom is the general education teacher.  They will frequently think:

• You’re there to make their copies.
• You’re there to accompany kids to the office when they give them a referral for some misbehavior.
• You’re there to take attendance.
• You’re there to post grades.
• You’re there to keep the “special ed kids” quiet so they can teach the other students.

         While this is not a universal attitude by far, it is certainly common.  Here’s my advice if you are new to this and don’t exactly know what you should be doing: 

1)  Never forget that you only have a job because a certain kid (or kids) in that classroom have IEPs.  Get copies of the IEPs  to learn precisely what additional supports which children need.  If they aren’t routinely provided to you, insist on them.  You cannot do your job if you don’t know what particular support you are supposed to provide to each child.

2)  Once you have identified those kids with IEPs and what they need, then you proceed to help any kid in that class who needs help.  You do not unnecessarily segregate your kids from the rest of the class and single them out (unnecessarily) from everyone else.  Ideally, the kids without IEPs should not know who you are there to help, or perhaps even why you are there at all.

3)  Remember that you are not the teacher’s personal assistant.  Sometimes easier said than done, but if a general ed teacher is treating you like a “girl Friday,” then you should contact your supervisor and express your concerns, always in terms of what you are not able to do for your kids because of what you are being asked to do for the teacher.

         We may not be certificated, but we are professionals with a legal role to play (much like the speech pathologist or the occupational therapist) determined by the students’ IEPs. 

         We deserve to be treated as co-workers in the classroom, not as go-fers.

classroom aides · general education · IEPs · Inclusion · one-on-one · paraeducator · Paraeducators · paraprofessionals · role · special education

By Sara Finegan 

           Some students are so far behind that they cannot keep up with a general education class.  Some students process in a way that requires more time, more space, more opportunities for practice, and a slower pace in order to master new concepts. 

           Some students need a small group – less noise, less activity, less chaos – in order to learn.   Some need instruction provided in ways that aren’t commonly found in a general education room – more visuals, more guided work, more modeling, more incremental. 

          All students with learning disabilities need at least one, if not most of these things in order to learn how to learn.  Notice that I didn’t say they  need them in order to learn everything.  Only to learn how to learn. 

 Full inclusion after rigorous preparation

         I favor inclusion of students with special needs in the general education classroom – after they have been given the appropriate, rigorous instruction and practice in the basics that will allow them to function on a par with everyone else.  I do not favor inclusion where the child enters too far behind to ever catch up and spends the rest of his or her school career vainly trying to do what the other students do.   

Our goal as special educators is to help our students bridge the gap between where they are and where they need to be in order to be able to follow along in a general ed classroom, at a general ed pace and in that kind of environment.

         In order to push our kids up to that level, we may have to enfold them in a Special Day Class or separate classroom environment for some or all subjects for a period of time.  In the best of all possible worlds, this would take place in the elementary school level, and by middle school, the vast majority of  kids with IEPs  who had spent time in a Special Day Class would be out in the general school population for most classes. 

How quickly depends on the child and on us

         How quickly we can bring kids up to the appropriate skill levels depends on each child’s areas of need and strength, and the level of rigor we infuse into our classrooms.  A demanding classroom will firmly and lovingly raise students who use their brains like a muscle in a gym, stretching, pressing, and moving from strength to strength.

I’ve had students arrive from other schools or lower grade Special Day Classes who lack the ability to do independent work, who have become so dependent on the assistance of aides and teachers that they are unable to problem-solve and try out new skills.

I’ve seen special education classrooms which rely on endless series of packets and worksheets, done quietly at student desks, where no questioning takes place and compliance with behavioral rules takes precedence over learning. 

And I’ve worked with many colleagues who become so frustrated with their students’ challenges that they lose sight of what we’re working toward and begin to teach so far below grade level that nobody will ever catch up. 

         None of this is going to move our kids from our classrooms into the general education population with any success.  All of this will perpetuate the deficits our kids arrive with. 

Keep in mind what we want for our students

         If we want kids with in our special education classrooms to move from deficit to ability to competence, we must be relentless in our rigor of instruction, and stand firm in our expectations of learning. 

          We must keep our eye on the ultimate goal, which is that we will shoo our students from our learning nest into the big wide world and watch them fly, fly into their lives as learners.

             Rigor is not the equivalent of harshness.  A demanding classroom is a nurturing environment where students are not expected to learn and function on their own, but where scaffolds and supports are in place and are gradually removed or reduced as mastery takes place. 

          A demanding classroom is one whose staff is attentive to the small signs of growth and need, and adjusts instruction accordingly. 

          A demanding classroom is one where students themselves, at all ages,  work with staff to set reasonable, achievable goal and celebrate success. 

          A demanding classroom is one where the teacher’s motto is “yes, you can, let’s work to find out how…” and where failure is seen as an opportunity to try again. 

          A demanding classroom is one where a student who doesn’t get it just hasn’t been taught it the right way yet – and where the staff is committed to finding the right way for that child. 

           A demanding classroom is one where laughter, curiosity, and determination are reflected in the faces and work of the children, and where academic behavior is as important as social behavior.

When we demand of our students…

           When we demand excellence of our students and fail to show them how to achieve it, we are not providing rigorous instruction.

           When we demand competency from our students and don’t support them in their learning, we are not providing rigorous instruction.

          When we require compliance from our students without understanding and ownership, we are not providing rigorous instruction.

           And when we reduce expectations to accommodate learning deficits, we are certainly not exhibiting any rigor at all in our own work.

 If we want our students to be able to do general education work in a general education classroom, we have to teach general education skills, not special education habits.

          We must demand of our own instruction and planning the same thing our colleagues in the general education classroom demand of themselves and their students.  To do less is to abdicate from the position as teacher.

demanding classroom · high expectations · Inclusion · learning disabled · proficiency · rigor · rigorous instruction · Sara Finegan · special day class · special education · standards