Para's..The Backbone of Special Education

Since I have been updating David's blog on a regular basis, I have run into several parents and grandparents whose children/grandchildren are special needs. Most have been newly diagnosed and the adults in the children's lives are asking questions. The moment the child in your life is diagnosed, then your world begins to expand with new terms, new people and a new path that you never dreamed you would be on. It can be overwhelming and much can slip through the cracks simply because you don't have all the information.

Today I am going to talk paraprofessionals. Before David started school, it wasn't a word I was familiar with. Of course, I had never dealt with special needs before and when I was in school, classrooms didn't have para's. There were special education classes that I assume had para's but I had no contact with them and therefore they were off my radar. For parents with special needs kids just starting school, your child's para/para's are a very integral part of their education process and quite frankly in my book, para's get neither the recognition and praise they deserve nor the pay.

A para's duties are to assist the teacher and spend their time one on one with a special needs child. Whether the child's disabilities are physical, emotional, developmental or all the above, the para is the primary care giver of your child and the one who spends the greatest amount of time with your child during the school day. Ideally, your child will have at least two para's in the classroom who know your child's needs and know how to take care of them, whether that be what they eat and how they eat, medical issues, toileting or behaviors. Having at least two para's working with your child and being familiar with them as well as the child being familiar with the para's makes for an easier time if one para is gone or if one para isn't quite getting through to your child on a certain day, the other para is backup. However, this isn't always the way it works. At any rate, there should be at least two para's trained on every child in case of emergencies. Yeah....in a perfect world!

The special education teacher is over all the sped students. The para's usually work with 1-3 kids depending on the class size and the severity of the disabilities. Some kids require much more one on one time than others. In David's case, his para/para's first and foremost have to know his health issues as his seizures are something that have to be not only watched, but also recognized. David also has circulation issues. His para has to take off his braces several times per day to make sure his feet are pink and if they aren't, then steps need to be taken to make them pink. While David does well eating most foods on his own, he needs to be watched with foods such as carrots and watermelon. His para has to  know this and be on top of it. She has to know the proper way to put David in his stander and how to adjust him for his hip. She has to take direction from Occupational Therapy (OT), Physical Therapy (PT) and Speech and since they are only in the classroom for a short time weekly, take their instruction and work it into his daily schedule. More than all of this though, the para's have to know these kids and know what motivates them and what shuts them down. They have to be able to think outside the box when working with them and together with the teacher and the therapists work as a team so that the kids can get the most out of their learning experience. In other words, the teachers and the therapists make a plan, but the para's are left to carry it out.

A good para can make a world of difference in a sped kids life. They are the driving influence for that child the better part of 7 hours, 5 days a week. They can motivate, teach and help a sped kid achieve in ways parents never dreamed possible. On the other hand, a bad para can do just as much in a negative way causing a sped child to shut down, become frustrated and even act out or become aggressive. It is definitely not a job for everyone.

David has been very blessed in having some excellent and caring para's along the way. They have been instrumental in paving the way for an amazing school experience for him. I have always felt that his paras truly cared about him and had his best interest at heart. When he went to the primary school, it was their tremendous care and watchful eye that alerted me to David's shunt malfunctioning. At the time his shunt was clogging and unclogging. When it wasn't working properly, the para's picked up on it immediately. I will forever be thankful to them for doing the wonderful job they did with him. When he moved from the primary school to the grade school....saying goodbye to those para's was heart wrenching.

Moving to the grade school, after a couple of failed attempts with paras, David finally got an amazing one. In the grade school, for whatever reasons, only one para was assigned per student. David and his para quickly bonded and she learned David's issues, behaviors and strengths in no time. Daily, she sends home notes on David that cover everything including what he did scholastically that day, any milestones he hit or any issues he had. She has also been the one to catch Davids seizures many times and stopped them before they could get out of hand. She has learned to read him well enough to know if he is getting sick, in a mood or just plain tired. She knows how to motivate David to constantly keep him learning and moving forward and how to get him on track if he falls off or gets distracted. Because of all of this, David wants to push himself and that is why I believe he stood for her for the first time after his last surgery.

Last year the school tried to pull David's para from him at the end of the year without warning and without transition. It was here that I started learning my rights as a parent, David's rights as a student and the sped departments rights as the final word. While it is all still a little bit fuzzy to me, I learned that if it is not in your sped child's best interest, you MUST fight. Not transitioning a sped child shows a failure in the special education department to understand the students it is suppose to be educating. Also, while the district has final word over who is hired and fired, if a para is a good fit for your child, it is up to you as a parent to advocate for that para. However, if the para is not a good fit, it is not only your right but your duty to make a para change. Not all para's and sped kids click. It is not personal, but is should be addressed so that issues don't occur because of the incompatibility.

Sped kids are not mainstream kids. They have issues and disabilities that make being able to fully function in a mainstream classroom impossible. Because of this, para's are invaluable. If you get a good one, hold on for dear life. Advocate to have that para written into your child's IEP and don't take NO for an answer. Get an outside advocate such as Rainbows to help you with this. When dealing with a sped kid, you will quickly learn that you often have to fight to get what is best for your child, but at the end of the day that is your child and really it is your duty to make sure that they don't get short changed by a teacher, para or the educational system.

Quite frankly folks, para's are the backbone of special education.Without them, the sped classroom would be a very different and much less inspired place. So to all of you para's out there who strive to make both the classroom and the world a better place for kids like my David, I say.....thank you. And to Niki, Anita, Laura, Traci, Tricia, Terry, Diane, Rita and all the rest who put kids first and take on diapers, medical equipment and attitudes all before 9 a.m. I say.....THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart.