Personal Narrative: A Career As A Special Needs Educational Assistant

“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.” – Henry B. Adams. For as long as I can remember, I have always wanted to play a big part in children’s education, which is why I have decided to enroll for an education course. I believe that educators have a lifelong impact on their students and on the development of resilience. Thus, I aspire to inculcate my love for learning into the next generation, by influencing and inspiring children all through their formal education.

Tuesday was my first day in my general education classroom. When I arrived, there was a substitute in my classroom for the first half hour of the day, because Ms. Keane was in an IEP meeting. The substitute and the paraprofessional showed me around the classroom and told me about some of the students. There are 20 students in the classroom, and two of them are English language learners.

I was adopted by my Grandfather, David Crawford, when I was 11 years old. Along with me (is) my two younger brothers, Nick age 15 and Caleb age 14. Nick has autism and every August through October Saturdays for the past 5 year the whole family has participated in Challenger Baseball, an non profit organization set up in different towns around the United States that provides a positive environment for children with disability to play on a baseball team against other challenger teams. My grandfather actually set up the Bond County district after finding a love for it when Nick played in Edwardsville, Il. Aside from the players there are buddies that help each individual play, buddies help their player bat, run around the bases, play catch, and

Unlike reading, when writing, it is important that grammar, spelling and vocabulary terms are used correctly, therefore restricting me from writing in the way that I would prefer. The most stressed phrase while in high school was, "It is not the content of the essay, but rather the mechanics of grammar and speech that are most prominent." Unfortunately, I have never been one to enjoy the art of writing. In fact, I was recently given a diagnostic test, determining at which level I write and whether or not I should be upgraded to a higher achieving English class. Unfortunately, I did not pass the test with flying colors. This was not due to the fact that I am incapable of writing a good paper, but rather that I am unable to write in a limited amount of time, using the emphasized principles of correct; grammar, vocabulary and spelling. In the reading, Shitty First Drafts, by author Anne Lamott, it is a fact that in order to write a brilliant paper, a first draft must be created. According to Lamott, "The Only way I can get anything written at all is

In first grade, I had started reading, or that is what I recall as my first time. My stuttering problem was always there, but I was a “great reader” according to my teacher Ms. Brown. She was a kind elderly woman, who wanted to see everybody in her class succeed in reading a whole book. Then second grade came at the snap of a finger. There, I wrote my first paragraph full of “mumbo jumbo”. Even though I wrote my first paragraph in second grade, I did not learn about the writing process until high school. After I left high school, I learned that we had barely touched on the writing process due to a significant place in my life… College! In my first English class (Eng 180), my professor went over the ideas of rhetoric, the writing process, and discourse community. Since my old professor did not go in depth on these topics, meant that they were still fresh in my head with no place to stay. In English 280, we went into full detail on these topics and understood more about the meaning and purpose of them all. I know that the writing process includes brainstorming, researching, proofreading, revising, and etc.; however, I felt like I have been doing it all wrong for years. I have made many improvements to my writing due to English 280, but the skills that I improved in the most were researching and synthesizing.

A few months ago I worked as an attendant to a 12-year-old boy with autism. I would go to his house and help out his family with anything that had to do with him. Some of the things that I would do were pick him up from school, prepare food him, and help him complete daily tasks. He did not speak at all, so it was really hard for me at first, but as the weeks went by I learned his facial expressions, his chart, and his sign language. Although it was difficult to work with him, I would like to continue working with special needs kids but in another setting.

I interviewed several service providers in my school, Stephen Knight Center for Early Education, that included the psychologist, special education teacher and a general education teacher. I interviewed Ms. Iris, the school psychologist, Ms. Kathy, the special education teacher, and Ms. Hilary, a general education teacher. Ms. Iris’ responsibilities include working with students who have social emotional needs. This can include behavior challenges, learning new social skills, managing grief, etc. She works directly with parents and teachers to provide resources regarding the child’s well-being, and ensure good attendance by setting up plans. Ms. Iris works with children in general education, counseling groups, and one-on-one situations, including special education minutes. Ms. Hilary is a general education classroom teacher. She is responsible for the well-being of her students academically, socially, physically and developmentally. Ms. Hilary also advocates for families and students to receive the support that they need to feel successful in their first years of school. Finally, Ms. Kathy is the staffing

On my search for a full-time job, I came across this ad. This ad led me to a career option, that I had not be aware of. I had never heard of an occupational therapy assistant. The picture demonstrated what they did, and it moved me. In fact, I wish I had known about them when my mom was ill. We were looking for a physical therapist, and they had said that it would not be a good fit for her. She was ill, but she wanted that independence. Perhaps, an occupational therapist would have been able to help her with that.

Venus is a Special Education Assistant (SEA) in the Minneapolis middle school for the past 5 years. She has worked in a different district with early elementary for one year. She has a high school diploma. She is currently teaching writing to the higher functioning group during 5th period in the self-contained classroom. The students work on writing their name, spelling Dolch sight words and practice writing in between the lines. She rides the bus to school every day with student Jay. Venus provides one to one assistance to different students at different times. She takes them to music, life skills, reading and writing.

English is a hard language to learn, for there are numerous elements of effective usage and writing. Many people, including me, struggle in writing because of a lack of knowledge. Since middle school, English was not a strong suit of mine. I struggled with the simplest of tasks often taking a considerably longer time to complete a task than the other students. Unmotivated teachers and a lack of interest resulted in remedial writing skills. To put it simply, I had little confidence in my writing and I dreaded taking the class because of the writing involved. In spite of my fears, I took the course and I was able to perfect and challenge my mediocre writing skills.

I always loved working with kids, but I always felt a certain way when I got the chance to work with kids who had some sort of special needs. I don’t know what it was I just felt happier when I got the chance to help someone who could not help them self. So when I saw the job posting for a house parent at the New Haven home for kids with special needs I jumped on it.

The last job I had before relocating to the United States was teaching at Charles F. Broomes Elementary in Barbados. I taught 5-6 years-old for the first two years in general classroom before being assigned to the Special Education department. In the general classroom the class size was approximately 35 and in the self-contained special education room they were 15-20 students and two other teachers. Students had educational disabilities that prevented them from being mainstreamed - mainly moderate to severe levels of autism. My last job as a foster re-ignited my desire to teach. Most of my foster children attended New Georgia Elementary and because of my active involvement their education the principal and many of the teachers know me well.

I have been working for Centralia Elementary School District for the past 18 years, as a school psychologist, as well as the lead psychologist and the liaison to the Assistant Superintendent of Student services. Prior to that I was the Program Director and the Adult Program Coordinator for United Cerebral Palsy of Orange County. I have also worked in a long-term psychiatric hospital, drug and alcohol program, and I have owned my own business.

At age sixteen, I had no idea what I wanted for my future. I was hoping something would come to me randomly one day. However, it was the last few weeks in August of 2016 when I discovered what I want to pursue. The manager at Seven Hills Pediatric Center in Groton saw me volunteering on the grounds during their picnic and asked if I was interested in working in the dietary department. I astoundingly said yes as I started my journey toward discovering my true passion of becoming a Special Education Teacher.

Throughout my senior year of high school, I spent a good chunk of my time writing out essays. Some of them were specifically for my English class, others were for my college applications. Even though I do truly enjoy writing, it has always been something I struggled with. I wouldn’t say it’s because English isn’t my first language, but I just seem to find it very difficult to put my