Personal Narrative: Working With Special Needs Children

By the way of introduction, I am Aleem Punja's cousin and he suggested I reach out to you to explore possible opportunities at the Children's Aid Society of Toronto.

I was diagnosed with Autism when I was 2 years old and it has affected my entire life more than anything else I have experienced. It has impacted the way I socialize and communicate with people, the way I think and understand the world,and it also affected my speech and development when I was younger. Autism also affects the way other people see me and I’m often misunderstood. I don’t remember everything about my life at that time, but I do know that I struggled a lot to get to where I am today. I’m also aware that it will impact my future and force me to work harder than my peers. Even though I have Autism, I will always know that it doesn’t define who I am and that I will improve no matter what.

As you view my resume you will see that I possess a combination of education, training, and hands on experience that will be a great asset to your company. I have been working with children and their families for the past twenty seven years. I have worked in both fields of regular and special education. I have worked with children between the ages of infants to the age of twenty three years of age. I started working with children as a tutor when I was in high school. Then, when I had my last child in kindergarten I started working as a bilingual instructional assistant for Downey Unified School District. Within the same school district I was promoted to Senior Instructional Assistant Behavior Challenge. My responsibilities in this capacity were to assist Early Intervention

When I first found out my brother had autism, I didn’t know what to think. At first I blamed myself because I spent a lot of time with him ever since he was born, showing him how to use iPads, computers, and other electronics and I thought these things had something to do with it. Even after people have been telling me that there is no clear cause for autism, to this day I still can’t help but think that I had something to do with my brother’s disorder. As his older brother though I promised myself that I would do whatever it takes to help my brother live with his disorder and still become a functional member of society. My family started by placing my brother under Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy. The therapy sessions took place at

I have been working with the Coweta County School System since August of 2000. I began as a paraprofessional working with students with Autism through the Emory Autism Program. I enjoyed working with special needs students so much that I entered the TAPP program to obtain my teaching certificate. I began working at East Coweta Middle School in the fall of 2002 and am still currently working there as an interrelated special education teacher. I have taught resource, collaborative, and co-teach classes. I have even had one year where I worked one-on-one with a student that required specialized instruction.

The Human Service area that I am most interested in is Family and Child Services. After I graduate, I will be going to the nursing field so I feel that Family and Child Services is related to nursing. I instantly asked my roommate if she know anyone because she is currently going to school to become a Speech Pathologist and she works with children that have disabilities. I had the opportunity to interview Ariel Rogan, who is the Manager of Autism Behavioral Technicians, at Centria healthcare. She oversees five Autism Behavioral Technicians that conducts applied behavioral analysis therapy for children with autism spectrum disorder. She also interact with the clients from time to time. Children with autism are usually integrated with children that have typically development, which results in a high level of bullying amongst the children with this disability. I believe this organization is special because it help children with disabilities cope and improve with developments.

Having been presented with the opportunity, I have worked with multiple children and have fallen in love with their intelligence and determination. The first group of kids I worked with was a group of summer campers and my job was to lead the campers on a few trail rides around camp. Then I worked with a special needs girl, who after a few months took part in the Special Olympics. Currently, I am working with a special needs school group, with grooming and tacking their own horses, and basic riding skills. Additionally, I am teaching a little 5 year old to ride a horse, the only hindrance is a language barrier. When I first started working with this little girl she could speak no English. For the next 2 months both of us had to learn each other’s languages, and now she can speak a little English and I can speak enough Spanish that we can

Developmentally appropriate practice as already influenced my career in relations to working with children. I have worked with special needs children from different cultural backgrounds for several years and have always been able to modify any work presented to me to that of the child’s ability plus adding a little more challenge to the work at hand after they have mastered the basics of the work presented.

I called the constituent, he stated needs a house. He stated is currently in wheelchair. I asked where is he currently living, he said with her ex-wife.

On Monday, January 11 2016 my fall break was over and I found myself back in at internship at Leland elementary. After almost three weeks of vacation time I must say I was not ready for the event that was about to take place that day. Around noon in one of the classrooms I was alerted of the disruptive behavior of some of the students in that class. As I walked in the class I noticed to young ladies in each other faces saying vigor language and within seconds they were fighting.

My entire life, I have always wanted to work with children especially when I would help my sister with her homework and I would make sure that it would be done. My personal experience has helped me become patient, kind, and understanding of how children act. I have a lot of experience working with children in all of jobs as in the amusement park industry to teaching every day. I have experience making my own SGO and with PARCC. I also have taught a lot of students with diversity and students that are ELL. I also have experience with ELL students, IEP students, and working with multiple teachers in the classroom. I also have experience working with students who have autism and I learned how to make them feel comfortable in the classroom. In

I have limited experience working with children. I have tutored children from my neighborhood and family members. I would help them out with their homework and prepare for exams, in social studies, reading, and some math. Tutoring included having discussions with the students, parents, and teachers to figure out what material to go over. After these discussions, I created assingments and study guides to help the students, out of the tutoring

I am in a behavioral therapist position for kids with Autism and related disorders at a

While I am very proud of my research in high energy particle physics, my work with underprivileged children in Malden, Massachusetts is something I am far more proud of. The children I work with come from a very unstable household, many of them come from houses where spousal abuse is frequent. Furthermore, a lot of these children come from a family with severe financial issues. Every Thursday I tutor one of the children, although many of them are self sufficient and highly capable students, there are a few that struggle with their work and learning.

I have plenty of experience working with children. I started at the age of 13 and I have worked with lots of children of different ages and some with disabilities. I currently volunteer with Grace’s Space, a charity that provides support to children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and their siblings, parents and grandparents. Our sessions include: music, dance, snack time and family time. In addition, we encourage the children to play with toys of the educational variety and toys that stimulate their imagination as well, our aim is to promote creative expression, play and relaxation whilst improving social skills.