Nov 27 2007
Teaching Assistant within Special Education: one example
Earlier there was a comment about how schools have not quite tapped into the full potential of Teaching Assistants within the instructional programs. Here is an example of how the role of the Teaching Assistant within Special Education at the Hewes Center is being exploited to maximise classroom instruction as well as provide a safe school climate for students, teachers and staff.
The Special Education Teaching Assistant acts as a liaison between the antecedent student behavior that may occur in the classroom and the deescalation of the student before re-entry is sought back into the classroom for the student. In other words, a quiet time-out area is quickly provided which allows students to check their negative behavior before or after it has occurred. The embarrassment of the student is not further compounded by the teacher interrupting classroom instruction to deal with one student and the student can immediately regain their composure and save their day, by melting down in another area away from the source of anger/contention. In this quiet area, the Life Space Interview with the student can be conducted by the Teaching Assistant. Here students are taught to identify what triggered them, what their response was, what their behavior led to and what will like be the administrative consequences. The goal of this process is to give students a quick reality check, salvage lesson time and reconnect the student to the teacher/classroom/instruction. This process is vital to student growth and appropriate internalization of the cause and affect of negative behavior on individual learning and school climate.
Some might argue that counselors/social workers are able to adequately provide this service. However in the BOCES model, counselors and social workers provide mandated services to students. Their schedules might not always be open to dealing with student flare ups that occur throughout the day within a classified population made up of ED, LD, autistic and OHI students. In addition, it must be noted that mandated services are viewed as providing opportunities for the attainment of long term goals based on past history and future expectations. The student who is receiving mandated counselling on a weekly basis may not always want to address the errant behavior that he/she displayed minutes ago in the classroom with the counselor because this scenario calls for the reality therapy approach, the down and dirty - what happened, who was involved, what was your role, how are we going to fix this today within the next 10-15 mins. because the student has to return to the classroom. Mandated services within counselling allow for longer times for student reflection and joint school-student-teacher-community goals that can be attained over a longer period of time as stated and measured on the IEP and as recorded on report cards.
Student Life Space Interviews (source Crisis Intervention Training) conducted by the Teaching Assistant inform counselors and teachers about how students are responding to instruction and socialization within the school setting. Data is generated to inform PLEP statements on the IEP as well as provide information to Child Study Teams that work on addressing student success.
If students are unable to attend to class within the lesson period, instruction is provided in an individual setting by the Teaching Assistant. In addition, familiarity with classroom routines and lesson plans at various grade levels allows this office to provide substitute teaching when classroom teachers are absent. This position and others like it, within the instructional programs of BOCES is a valuable in terms of maintaining a stress reduced environment for students and teachers. Angry students cannot learn. Teachers whose classrooms are disrupted by angry students, cannot teach.
There are times in the day when the school is quiet. The OSS/ISS room is humming with the sound of quiet study and no crisis is imminent, during these lull periods, the Teaching Assistant is pursuing research for teachers on the Internet to inform instructional practice and broaden the scope of instructional programs to inform educational practice. A case in point is the support provided by the Teaching Assistant to teachers who have written specific behavior plans for students that are followed throughout the day.
The role of the Teaching Assistant within Special Education continues to evolve and grow to meet the needs of the program. Teachers and Staff have a reference source to refer students to and are provided with an intermediary office to address student behavior that is unacceptable and needs to be isolated immediately, before administrative action is necessary. More team discussion, more utilization by teachers and more refinement of this role based on data driven decision making, will continue to work for the benefit of a safe school climate for students and staff.
4 responses so far
Create a free edublog to get your own comment avatar (and more!)
Thanks for the site information. Am enjoying reading your posts. Will bookmark for the future.
Having a Teacher Asst. join the Special Education staff has helped tremendously with the deescalation of students. Giving them a quiet place to reflect on their bad behavior has stopped the flow of students in and out of the office area seeking out Mrs. Raimondo.
This also has allowed for the Teacher and Teacher Aides to continue their job in the classroom without a continuous disruption of a student in crisis.
I would like to add to Una’s statement that there is one other important aspect to the Teaching Assistant position at Hewes. She acts as backup to the OSS/ISD teacher. On busy days, she assists with the check-in and belongings searches of suspended students. When a student conflict arises within the OSS room or when an ADD student needs more isolation to take a test, that student can be easily transitioned into the intervention room, just a doorway away. Likewise, when a student in the intervention room cannot deescalate, then the transition to OSS can be very smooth. The synergy enhances both her program and mine.
We are very fortunate to have a very capable teaching assistant in our middle/high school special education setting! The TA provides a valuable service to our students and is a link between the student and the classroom teacher. Our TA is available throughout the day to help any student at any time. If a student is unable to handle a situation, or a class, the TA is readily available to remove the student from the classroom to a calm environment, where she can interview the student and de-escalate the situation. So often, what our students need is for someone to listen to them. Our TA has been very successful in being able to return many of our students back to the classroom in a timely manner. Those who are not ready to be reintegrated can be taught by the TA, in a one-to-one situation, thereby not losing valuable instruction. While the TA works with the student in crisis, the classroom teacher can continue with the remainder of the class, again without loss of valuable instruction.
Our population is a very challenging group. Having a TA, who can step in to help a teacher with a student is invaluable. It helps to improve the morale of the students and the staff. We have a calmer school climate with this additional support. Kudos to the administration for creating this much needed position and to our TA who does a terrific job.