This blog is a collaborative effort between my wife Sara and me.  She does most of the writing.  I do all of the editing, formatting, illustrating (mostly clip art), layout, etc.  Since neither of us had ever blogged or had a website before, it has been a new and rewarding experience.

I am a Special Education Tech in a large Southern California school district where I have worked for several  years, usually assigned in general education classrooms working one-on-one with students on the autism spectrum.  My assignments have included one elementary, two middle, and two high schools and even the school to which  they remove students  for zero-tolerance violations.

I have a degree in journalism, a law degree, and am only a few hours short of being certified as a mild-moderate special education teacher.   So why am I working as a para-educator/classroom aide?

Because I like being able to focus on the students.  Only on the students.  Not grading 150 of yesterday’s five-paragraph essays, or preparing tomorrow’s lessons, and especially not tolerating all that frustrating, annoying administrative stuff that teachers are expected to deal with.  (As an hourly classified employee, I rarely even have to attend staff meetings!)

The role of para-educator

Helping the teachers, of course, is part of our job description but we are not there for the teacher’s benefit (to make copies, or grade homework, or mop the floor, though I’ve done all those things).  We are there only because one or more of the kids in that class has an IEP that says they need extra classroom support.

Don’t be shy about telling the teacher when and why you can’t do something they ask you to do if you truly feel  it intereferes with something one of your students needs from you.

So what is the role of the special education classroom aide in a general education classroom?

To help the child with an IEP become more independent.

When a child no longer needs me, I have succeeded.  When a child continues to depend on me for something other children do without assistance, I have failed.  I have asked in the past not to continue  with a particular student because I thought they had progressed as far as they needed to go with me.

Tip: I rarely sit next to “my” student.  Though I may be in a particular class only because Brandon, or Susie, or Juan is there, I do not want the other kids to know that unless it seems necessary that they know that.  I watch my student from a distance, take notes, move in with advice or assistance and move back out again.  Meanwhile, I’m helping other students all around the classroom.  No student in the classes where I am assigned feels any stigma because I step over and talk to or assist them.  Most of them couldn’t tell you why I’m there.

Children on the autism spectrum can be great to work with as an aide.

I worked with a sixth grader who was fascinated by Alfred Hitchcock (they often have intense interests) and wrote an essay about the filmmaker discussing several of his movies.  An eighth-grade student on the spectrum was a math whiz who read ahead in his algebra book for fun (and also composed on the piano).  A ninth-grader who rarely spoke required almost no help in completing earth science worksheets, finding answers from the textbook.

Yet all of these students, capable as they were in certain areas, had difficulty following even simple plots when reading fiction.  I don’t know that they had hyperlexia, but I would think it highly likely.  Often this particular reading deficit is not specifically identified.

What can you do to help a child who understands the vocabulary but still can’t follow the story?

Well, you can read Sara’s two posts on this blog about Autism and Hyperlexia.   And whether or not your teachers know about or focus on anaphoric cuing, you can use what you learn about it to help any student comprehend narratives, particularly fiction.

Simply put, anaphora are words that refer to other words.  Most of us know almost instinctively who “his” refers to when we read:

“Bob slung the backpack over his shoulder and followed Julio.”

A child with autism will often be unsure who is carrying the backpack.

So first, we have to identify the anaphora that may confuse a child.  These include more than just the obvious pronouns :

• I
• we
• us
• ours
• you
• yours
• he
• his
• she
• hers
• they
• theirs
• them
• it
• its

but also such words as:

• there
• then
• can
• do

When the child encounters these words in reading, we can ask (and teach them to ask themselves)

• Where is “there”?
• When was “then”?
• What is “it”?
• Who is “he”?
• Whose is “theirs”?
• “Can” what?
• “Do” what?

Reading connections that most of us make almost automatically the child with autism may need coaching and repeated practice to learn how to make accurately and regularly.

If you, the para-educator, can help a struggling reader learn this seemingly simple reading strategy, you may just open the door to a lifetime of reading enjoyment.  It is worth the effort.

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PS: I love this slogan “When children can not learn…It’s time to change the way we TEACH” They offer more than 40 products with this alone, and have dozens more autism-related designs.  We make not a dime off this endorsement, by the way.    http://shop.cafepress.com/design/17338377

Our Goal:  Providing help for struggling readers on the autism spectrum.

Related posts:

1. FAQs about anaphoric cuing and reading comprehension
2. Hearing the story in your head: The role of expressive reading
3. Autism and hyperlexia, part 1: Anaphoric cuing?

While the issues rarely arise in reading class…Children on the autism spectrum often need a facilitator when working with a partner or  in a group.  “Teamwork”  is a difficulty for many of these students.

...is difficult for many with autism

Working in groups may feel unnatural and uncomfortable for a child with autism.  They may…

• Call out other members of the group who are not following directions
• Be distressed when others are not playing by or violate “the rules”
• Antagonize other members of the group by their seemingly hostile or unfriendly attitude
• Imagine that others in the group are harassing or picking on them (when they aren’t)
• Actually be harassed or picked on by other members of the group
• Completely tune out the group and work on the project independently
• Be uncooperative when the group elects to do something differently than they would choose to do it
• Seek an intervention by the teacher or aide to compel the group to do things their way rather than trying to negotiate a compromise or make a concession to the group
• Refuse altogether to work on the project

The teacher rarely has the luxury of spending much time monitoring any  particular partnership or group to be the moderator, make the  suggestions, resolve the disputes, calm the frayed nerves, etc.  This is where the classroom or one-on-one aide  can step in to facilitate.

As I’ve said before, I very rarely sit elbow to elbow with a child with autism to which I am assigned.  I will, however, stay within earshot when group or partner work is taking place.  When cooperation is occurring, I step far back and let it happen.  When it isn’t, I give them a few minutes to see if they will resolve the issue.  If not, then I will step in, make a suggestion, and step out again.

This won’t always work, but you must give the child with autism a chance to learn cooperation skills.  You don’t help the child who has social interation difficulties by imposing a resolution on every partner or group dispute in which you find them.

When the activity is over, you should make time to debrief with the student:

• How did that go?
• Were you able to resolve the issue about ___?
• How?
• Will you try that solution again the next time you work in a group?
• Can you think of a way to avoid that kind of disagreement?

One related tip: Many kids with autism will NOT choose a partner or a group they are not assigned to.  When asked to form groups of a particular size, or to choose a partner, they will stand up and wander around aimlessly until an adult asks if they have a partner or have joined a group and then assign them to it.

My impulse (as an advocate for my students with autism) is always to assign groups or partners.  But this, of course, is not helping the child learn to create social cooperative groups.  And I have found that there is a correlation between how confident a child is about the activity and his or her willingness to initiate a partnership.

On a new activity, the child may need help.  On an activity the child understands well, stand back and see if a partnership or group forms naturally before stepping up and helping him or her join a group.

We would love to hear from other paraprofessionals willing to share what does and doesn’t work when working with a child with autism. There is room below for your Comments.

Related posts:

1. Why I object to the term shadow
2. FAQs about anaphoric cuing and reading comprehension
3. Autism and hyperlexia, part 2: Helping Bobby read