I've been wanting to write about my job for awhile.
I am a para-professional in a STEPS classroom (Structured Teaching forEducational Progress and Success) at M.E. Pearson Elementary School. I work in the 3rd-5th grade classroom, but have only 3rd and 4th graders. My students have autism, all at various degrees along the spectrum. Yeah, autism is not only a disorder it's been upgraded to a spectrum disorder. From what I have gathered that means that people that have been diagnosed autism have a wide array of disorders that make them autistic.
What is autism? Basically, you have your own social rules in your head that no one understands except you and you do not care for/try to live by the world's social rules at all. The problem comes because of a lack of communication. The person with autism goes through a majority of their life largely misunderstood because they are socially awkward or socially reprehensible. In many ways they can not communicate to you want they want/need for you to know and understand about them and their behaviors/moods/desires, etc. In my opinion it is the worst disorder you could ever have, but it is also the most fascinating disorder you could ever have.
It is never a dull day working with my students and encountering the seven students in the K-2nd grade class. Everyday the moods are different. Every half hour the moods are different for that matter. Walls get kicked, people scream, people get bitten, scratched. Butts need to be wiped, urine needs to be cleaned off of chairs, noses need to be blown, feet and halitosis constantly invade your nostrils...it's a blast. My job constantly teaches me humility. There is no earthly glory in it.
Yet I feel so rewarded for every connection that I make with my students. Every smile, every correct answer, every concept grasped, it's a small step for me as an educator, but a giant leap for my students. I wish many times the educational process could go faster, but patience has to be learned and befriended.
I have six students. They run the gamut of ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder). One is high functioning enough and can go out into General Education classes. The student doesn't like to, but the teacher and I agree that it's probably only because the student has been babied along so much. Obviously they are ready to make the leap into General Education and could thrive, if only given the chance. Another is severly autistic and communicates only in phrases they have been taught or through pointing and screaming. This produces enormous hurdles for me as an educator.
That's the fine line that you tread in Special Education I'm finding out. You must really know your student well in order to set any goals for them at all. I mean my students have academic, behavioral, and social goals. Most teachers only have to work on academic, and hope the student naturally absorbs the correct behaviors and social norms along the road. Not so easy with my students. They have to be structurally drilled into the minds of my students, because their social rules differ greatly from ours.
Next year I'll be a teacher in the STEPS program at Rosedale Middle School. I've already been warned extensively about the school and one student in particular. This student has made people quit. I hope I'm made of tougher stuff. I hope I can be used by God in order to reach inside this kid and help them in some way.
To make a true and profound difference in the lives of others.
What more could you ask for?
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