Paraprofessionals
A paraprofessional's education may range from a few classes of college to having a bachelor's degree. Either way, your child's para needs support. Keep in mind that if you feel that your child is not being provided with proper help during the day it is possible the para has not received good training. Most studies show paras feel they do not receive enough training. Hopefully that will also be changing in the near future.
Some parents appreciate that one para is with their child throughout the entire school day, other parents don't understand why their child has a new para every week. If there are few paras in the school the para might need to be shared with other students. It is also a good idea to have multiple paras familiar with multiple students so that when a para is unavailable the student is not fixated on the fact that his para is not there that day. |
IEP Connection
Paraprofessionals functionally know your student often times better than the teacher does because of proximity and time spent with your student, so why wouldn't the para be invited to the IEP meeting? You can invite who you want to the IEP meeting. If you value your child's para it is your choice to give the para a voice and invite them to the meeting. |
Service Providers
Speech Language Pathologist, Occupational Therapist, Physical Therapist
New techniques for providing these services are being attempted. Therapies many years ago were only provided in a professional office. Most schools now have therapists visit schools and pull children out to rooms for services. A new way to provide these services is to use real situations the student is involved in, such as a student given an assignment to cut out squares and glue them onto a piece of paper. The OT would use that time in class to show the student how he can correctly use his hands or modify the task so he can complete it. This is called push-in services vs. pull-out services.
Some SLPs that have a good relationship with the general education teacher have used limited amounts of class time weekly to team-teach rather than pulling the student out. Many other children may also benefit from what the SLP has to share which is a win-win for all the students.
New techniques for providing these services are being attempted. Therapies many years ago were only provided in a professional office. Most schools now have therapists visit schools and pull children out to rooms for services. A new way to provide these services is to use real situations the student is involved in, such as a student given an assignment to cut out squares and glue them onto a piece of paper. The OT would use that time in class to show the student how he can correctly use his hands or modify the task so he can complete it. This is called push-in services vs. pull-out services.
Some SLPs that have a good relationship with the general education teacher have used limited amounts of class time weekly to team-teach rather than pulling the student out. Many other children may also benefit from what the SLP has to share which is a win-win for all the students.