I continued my interviews for the paraprofessional project this last week while on spring break. One school had a very kind SPED teacher that provided 12 paraprofessionals for me to interview. It was a good mix of ED, LD and ID paras. I also interviewed two more later the same day at an elementary school. The total interviews stands at 20 and I am happy with that number to provide a basis for my greater survey.
Something that got me excited about the interviews was seeing a pattern of what paras expressed by department. I interviewed them all individually and in private so they were free to say what they wanted. No names were attached to the interviews. The ED paras were pretty much begging for more mental health training. Many of their students have horrible home environments which have contributed to their disability. The paras wanted to know more about bipolar disorders, sexual abuse and trauma. Many times they are unable to reach their students academically because of their mental health issues and yet the only help that is provided to the paras to help the student is within the academic arena. They want more skills to help the student turn to be able to focus on their academics. ID paras also had, unknowingly, all similar requests... they wanted to know more about other disabilities, not just their student's disability. Many paras in the ID arena have been working with their student for years and they are quite knowledgeable about that one disability but they expressed they knew nothing about any other disability. They are very aware that they will not have their student forever and want to be a little more prepared for their next student. Also, I think it's a great sign that paras want to learn, why not have a small workshop about other disabilities, like autism, or cerebral palsy, or down syndrome? LD paras, as a whole, mostly asked for more techniques to be able to use with their students regarding academics. One group of LD paras that worked in the same school expressed that the students have many family issues that the paras are completely unaware of and the students end up sharing these issues with the paras. The paras have had no training in how to redirect the student to someone they could speak to about the family issues and also when, or if they should report certain issues, that are not criminal, but are definitely affecting the student. Due to these needs I feel strongly that paraprofessional training, such as in-service days, should be given by department. All LD paras come together for middle and high school, all ED paras join for specific training that they need. For example, LD paras did not care about how to perform proper lifting techniques and likewise ID paras wanted training in sanitary techniques and disposing of briefs. All paras expressed that they desired training from real professionals, such as nurses, SLPs, police officers, psychologists. Nearly all paras wanted to veto using outdated video training as a mode of learning. I value every one of the views expressed by the paras and am so thankful the SPED teachers allowed me to interview them. The next phase of the project is to develop an electronic Likert survey to send to all the paras in the district.
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A larger project I just started is to find out whether paraprofessionals in our district feel they have sufficient training. The project proposal was approved and today I began the first phase. I completed five, 10 minute interviews with ID, ED, and LD paras. I had specific questions to ask that would help frame the larger future survey that will go out to the district.
Our school district is known for its great school and great teachers. However, paraprofessionals are left to fend for themselves to learn more about their job. The two ID paras expressed that they have only received information regarding the student they work with and his/her disability. The ID paras have a desire to learn about other disabilities but there is no other training provided. The two ED paras expressed that the students they work with bring an immense amount of baggage into the classroom that the para ends up triaging the students home life filled full of trauma, abuse and neglect, that their students are not able to focus on academics. Many of their students are labeled as homeless. All the paras expressed that the most favored training mode was having a guest speaker come that has real life knowledge of situations their kids are experiencing. These issues vary from medical to sexual abuse. They want to be able to learn and ask the speaker specific questions. One para expressed in seven years she only received a paper module training, at the beginning of her employment, and CPI training. The last question I asked the paras was whether they would consider a teaching profession. Only 2 out of 5 expressed they would. One of the two paras was not interested in a special education degree, but preferred an elementary teacher license. The reason the three gave for their firm no was they saw SPED teachers as overworked and underpaid. I am hoping to conduct a few more short interviews before moving into the next phase, which is producing a longer, electronic survey to disseminate to all paras in the school district. The results of the longer survey are two-fold, first to reveal what mode of training paras have received and what kind they would most like to in the future, and secondly, to provide my university with reason to look into offering a SPED program that would bridge the gap for paras already in the SPED field to attain a teaching license. My latest assignment was to choose a speech or language disorder to give a power point presentation and fact sheet. I chose Selective Mutism. It is an anxiety disorder. It can often begin when a child reaches school age. Children go from home or preschool, which is mostly play and having fun with peers, to sitting in a desk being called on to answer questions. Anxiety rises in certain children that already may be predisposed to extreme shyness or separation anxiety. The attached fact sheet I compiled will give specific treatments and interventions. The main idea to take away is a child must speak freely in at least one environment, such as their home. If they will not speak in any environment it is not Selective Mutism. Also, an English Learner does not qualify for this disorder if they are within the "silent period" learning their new language. This can be a normal period where there is an an adjustment from speaking in one language to another. Collaboration between the Speech Language Pathologist is essential for anyone in contact with the child, such as the SPED teacher, general ed, music, PE teachers. To prevent the cycle of non-verbal responses it is important to use open-ended questions and and not yes/no questions. I picked this topic because a 2nd grader in my daughter's Girl Scout troop has this disorder. I am one of the leaders in the troop, and to be honest I was perpetuating the cycle by allowing non-verbal answers. She has whispered to me about 5 words in 6 months. I do think she feels more comfortable with me now, but she will not give sentences. She is making improvements slowly with her SLP. So check out the document and pass it on if you know someone with a child who might be prone to having this disorder or already does.
I'm not talking about students in this case. Teachers are being forced to use social media to communicate and sometimes the message does not get received well. Another issue is teachers communicating with each other through social media, email, text. Collaboration is a huge facet of what teachers do. They collaborate with parents and each other daily. I'm a mom, and so far communication with my children's teachers has been going great. On my part I go out of my way to not give subliminal feelings or use the communication pathway too frequently.
I have seen in the news, every month and sometimes multiple times a month, a teacher is in the news for using social media to inappropriately communicate with students. It seems like common sense that a teacher would know the line, and not cross it, but obviously that is not the case. I asked a professor why we do not have a one credit class just pertaining to the use of social media, apps and texting. She agreed that it would be a good idea. We practice dressing appropriately for school, lesson planning, accepting diversity, time management, but there is also a huge expectation from parents to be compassionate and communicate through pathways that are still new to the teaching profession. There is also an expectation from the community that a teacher knows not to privately communicate with students, but yet these same tools are used in the classroom to learn. Teachers need instruction in ethics of technology just as much as they do for lesson planning. We cannot assume that every teacher is on the same page with standards in this regard. For instance, I recently took a class on diversity in America. I consider myself an accepting person, especially of other cultures, I'd say I am pretty good at it. Other students in my class were learning some things for the first time. We all live in America, we know people of different races, but the class is a requirement so that we are all on the same page to really understand issues of other races and disabilities. We all left that class at the end of the semester with the same foundation to accept and be sensitive to the diversity in America. Likewise, just because a teacher has a smart phone and has used Facebook for five years does not mean they understand boundaries and have clear standards for using technology. I hope this changes soon. The survey was voluntary and the link was shared only through social media. I did not receive as many completed surveys as I would have liked. The reason for conducting the short survey was to guide my research/position paper, it was not to conclusively prove medical needs. There were only 25 participants but I hope as you see the results that a majority of the parents had to do their own research to help their children. Very few parents had alternative treatments suggested by medical providers.
Question 1: What alternative treatments do you use? Answers: 42% indicated they use gluten free / casein free diets with vitamin regimens 37% indicated they use other alternative treatments such as no food dye, high fructose corn syrup, additionally took soy out with gluten and dairy. 21% Use only a specific vitamin regimen Question 2: How long has your child been on the alternative treatment? Answers: 96% have been on the diet for over 6 months 4% Less than one month Question 3: Have these dietary changes provided positive changes? Answers: 67% indicated yes 33% indicated no Question 4: Was not asked in a way that would provide multiple answers (my fault) but the question asked what symptoms lessened, if any? Parents indicated that social anxiety, tics, depression, better sleep, constipation etc. Personally for my son a GFCF diet helped relieve multiple symptoms. Question 5: Who suggested these dietary treatments for your child? Answers: Pediatrician 13% Psychiatrist/ Psychologist 4% Dietitian/Nutritionist 8% Family member 4% My own personal research 71% Question 6: Do your child's healthcare providers support the dietary changes? Answers: Yes 50% No 13% They do not believe it makes a difference 37 Question 7: Do you wish you had more support from health professionals? Answers: Yes 75% No 25% The most important items driving me from the results are that a clear majority of parents had to do their own research to get help for their children and the same amount wish they had more support from their healthcare providers. Parents are given a diagnosis of autism but afterwards help is not as readily available, which leaves parents to their own devices to do their own research. I was tasked with writing a position paper and chose the effects of dietary changes on students with autism. Specifically, gluten free/ dairy free diets and vitamin regimens. I chose this topic knowing that it is controversial, but also because we were forced to introduce a gluten free diet into our family due a Celiacs diagnosis and then further forced to subtract dairy from our diet after my son was diagnosed with high functioning autism. A prescribing doctor would not suggest any psychopharmaceuticals for depression until we had removed dairy and red food dye, along with our regimen of gluten free.
Within four days of being dairy free my sons depression was gone. This is not an exaggeration. I used a feelings chart that is commonly used for children to express how they feel. Before taking dairy out my son chose descriptors such as, angry, sad, irritated on a daily basis. He cried a few times a week and could not stop or give any specific reason why he was crying. He had instances of becoming physical with us and his younger sister, spiting on us, going in circles asking "what do I do?" over and over again. Four days after removing dairy (gluten free had been initiated 6 months previously due to Celiacs) the cloud of depression was removed. He began to identify his feelings as, happy, satisfied, calm. All the prior behaviors that would not be included in a typical child have only recurred when he has been contaminated with gluten or dairy. His behaviors are not cyclical. He has been without depression for 1.5 years now. We have added a specific vitamin regimen that have been used in trial studies that have proven to be beneficial for children with ASD and have provided an even higher level of positive mental health. I have conducted preliminary interviews with parents who have also tried diets and interviewed a registered dietitian. I would love to include information from my informal, non-scientific survey in my paper. This survey is very subjective. I am interested in how parents perceive the effectiveness of diets for their child with autism. It is a very short survey with only 8 questions. Thank you for participating! www.surveymonkey.com/r/89X278L Two big events for people with special needs are coming up, Prom and Special Olympics.
A Night To Shine is Tim Tebow's foundation that provides and opportunity for students with special needs to attend their own prom. This goes against the idea of inclusion for some. One fellow student of mine commented about why we would support a sheltered prom when the whole idea is to move everyone to inclusion. That's a great point. What do you think? You can freely comment below if you'd like to. I'll bring up some issues why it might be a good thing for a special needs prom. First, many students know they are different, very aware, and do not feel like they would fit in at the regular prom. Second, some students with disabilities do not have the means to buy prom outfits (A Night To Shine does not put emphasis on this, come as you want). Here is the website if you want to see what it's about www.timtebowfoundation.org/ministries/night-to-shine In my town the prom will be held in a few weeks. There is a mandatory sensory room where students that might need a break can go hang out or be helped by staff. If you have a special needs student and are a parent reading this, I hope your student might give it a try. It is for ages 14 and up. You can even help your local prom by volunteering! Let me know if your student goes. Winter Special Olympics are also coming up! For us, it is held all day on a Friday and half of a Saturday. This will be my first Special Olympics. I will give an update after I attend. One of my professors gave us an assignment at the end of the hour to locate the Facebook page of Special Books By Special Kids and watch a few videos that are posted. This past Sunday evening I located the Facebook page and ended up watching two hours of video while crying on and off the whole time. First I will explain the idea behind the page. A former special education teacher (a man who happens to look like a model, which many of us female students couldn't ignore) videotaped certain lessons in his SPED class. He then began to interview other people with various disabilities and it caught on. He now travels the world to interview people from all over with many disabilities, some very rare. I must say that my tears were not from sadness. Many people that do not know or are not familiar with students with disabilities might have a tendency to think about how bad their life must be, feelings of pity. But if you befriend someone with a disability I am positive that pity will turn to gratitude, knowledge and friendship. Each person with a disability has talents, is capable of friendship, and wants friendship. The reason why I cried on and off the whole time was because of the siblings and friends. The love and care that is displayed between them is extremely moving. I did not sense that any of the devotion they were giving to each other was out of obligation, the sibling or friend without the disability truly couldn't imagine life without the person who had the disability. Many of the people interviewed have very rare disabilities but there are also numerous people with autism interviewed. No two people with Down Syndrome are the same, no two people with autism are the same and the interviewer really brings out the personality of each person being interviewed. I dare you to watch just one of these videos. You will probably end up like me, two hours later, completely enriched. Below is just one of my many favorite interviews. You can see the videos on youtube or Facebook. Guess Who is the name of the game we played at the community gathering for students with disabilities. Two students came to my table to play. One student appeared to be on the autism spectrum and the other student appears to have intellectual and language disabilities, both are teens. In Guess Who you have to narrow down choices as what person you think your opponent has chosen and they have to guess yours.
I played on the team with the student with language disabilities. I have heard she talks quite a bit at home but in public you're lucky if you get a one word response, so I knew she would need help to play with the other teen. She would point to a person and I would ask, what do you want to ask about? She might say, eye or hair, or point to the face for facial hair. I said the first part of the sentence for her such as, she wants to know if the person has white _______ (hair). I waited for her to fill in the word that was missing. The student with autism did not need any assistance during the game, he is quite well spoken and opinionated but he did need help feeling a part of the group when he first came in. He was not about to approach someone to sit with. I overheard his conversation when he first entered the building. I could tell if he could leave he would have. Simply asking if he wanted to sit at our table completely changed his demeanor. Something that was really touching to me was that the student with autism said on more than one occasion that he could help explain the rules and assist the student with intellectual and language disabilities. He was more than willing to be patient and help. We also eat dinner with each other prior to our activities. This ranges from donated catered meals to frozen store bought lasagnas. So to put it bluntly, sometimes it's quite messy, especially depending on a student's disability. We were eating baked potatoes loaded with whatever you asked to be added on top. Quite a few of the students ended up using their hands to get at the potato. Part of why we are asked to volunteer isn't just to be extra hands for activities but also to be models of proper social behavior. Last night would have been a good night to reinforce to the whole group the use of napkins to wipe mouths! Some nights things like body care is discussed, which is really necessary to make and keep friends. In case anyone reading this is wondering how this group functions... a social worker is in charge and has a few others that help and then each semester students and professors from my university's special education program volunteer. I have asked a handful of parents I know to share their stories. The first parent has a middle school child with intellectual disabilities and cerebral palsy. She is someone I have known for many years, before her son was born. Through the years I know there have been countless doctor appointments to even diagnose her son. He nearly qualified for a few different diagnoses, but not quite. This alone is frustrating for parents. Knowing what a child is facing can allow parents to attack symptoms and treatment with full force, but until that point the unknowns are daily struggles. Below is a small portion of this mom's heart for her child. ________________________ I am thankful for the culture that we live in where the schools are required to provide my child an appropriate education where I have heard that in many other cultures a special needs child may be considered a drain on society and/or the resources aren’t there to help the child. I know that most everyone my son has had on his team cares about him and that they are limited by the resources they’re given. But I have enough of a fight without feeling like I need to fight my son’s team as well. I have felt that there wasn’t a respect of my input. When I told my son’s team that he doesn’t understand a standard education, they didn’t really take into account my observations of my son’s ability to learn and so the next two years were not at all ideal for meeting his needs. Only after the third year, did his team fully accept what I said and only then did he have a good educational year... all that time lost where he didn’t hardly understand anything that was going on and only because they had to see for themselves that I knew what I was talking about. I understand both sides of the coin: I understand mine most of all, but I do know that educational teams fight a hard battle as well. They have over-demanding parents who don’t respect them and over-advocate for their child as if without any sense of the juggling act that they face with the resources they have verses the needs of their students. And there is the reverse where there is no parental support and little involvement by the family in their child’s education. They have a hard job; I’ve seen people on my son’s team yelled at and hit by their pupils and unappreciated by the parents while all they do is done under a microscope. In an ideal world, they would be respected and I would be respected. There are no easy answers because humans on both sides are imperfect people trying to do their best. I think we should commit to respecting each other and helping to make both sides’ job easier. I should be listened to and my input respected while I should be kind to my son’s team and give them the benefit of the doubt that they are trying to meet the needs of my child. If there were the mutual respect and trust, it could make this hard job of loving and providing for my special needs child just a little easier. __________________________ |
AuthorSpecial Education major in a university teaching program. Substitute teacher, previous homeschool mom, wife. Archives
September 2019
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