Reply to I'm a new Para. What do you want me to know?

Forum Index » Kids With Special Needs and Disabilities

Reply to "I'm a new Para. What do you want me to know?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I recently started working part time as a para-professional, and I will work full time next school year. I REALLY enjoy working with these kids and want to do right by them. If you have a child with SN, please tell me anything and everything that you would like all paras to know!

The kids I work with are on the autism spectrum, or have ADHD, Asperger's, or Down Syndrome. They are all integrated into the GE classroom to some extent. Of course, the most common challenge I face is getting them to follow instructions or meet expectations. For example,[b] I work with a 6 y.o girl with DS. She will throw herself on the floor and absolutely refuse to go with her class when they are leaving the room for PE, recess, or whatever. [/b]Or a little boy on the autism spectrum who is capable of completing a worksheet, but often does not even pick up his pencil.  I know these are challenges that are to be expected, and I am certainly not complaining. Just giving specific examples since SN is a pretty broad category.

I do realize that paras are sometimes controversial, and I understand why some parents aren't comfortable with it. But I would prefer not to get into that.

Since I am currently just a part time sub, I have very little info on the kids I work with. I do not have access to their IEPs, and the teachers are very limited in what they can tell me. As you can imagine, this can make my job quite challenging.

Any advice from parents or Special Ed teachers would be appreciated![/quote]

Kids with ASDs often need more transition time.  She needs a 10 minute or 5 minute warning before she is expected to stop doing what she is doing and transition to another activity or locaiton. [/quote]

Her class's schedule is very consistent. She is only in the room for about 15 minutes before they leave, and they spend those 15 minutes doing the exact same thing every day. She knows her schedule very well, and is very aware of when she will leave the room. Could it be that she just doesn't get enough time in the room before she has to transition? If this is the case, that's not something I can change, but would love to know how to make it easier for her. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics