Educational Assistants role in Independence From critical need to FADE

AUTOBIOGRAPHY IN 5 CHAPTERS photo title: “There’s a Hole in my Sidewalk by Portia Nelson” CHAPTER 1 I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. I am lost. I am helpless. It isn’t my fault. It takes forever to find my way out.

CHAPTER 2 I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I don’t see it. I fall in, again. I can’t believe I’m in the same place. But it isn’t my fault. It still takes a long time to get out.

CHAPTER 3 I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I see it is there. I fall in. It’s a habit. But my eyes are open, I know where I am. It’s my fault. I get out immediately.

CHAPTER 4 I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it.

CHAPTER 5 I walk down a different street.

Many times in Special Education – we end up walking down the same street, falling in the same holes. We are too busy to do things differently, or we learned it that way, or we don’t notice that the population has changed.

We do have access to some pretty good ladders to get us out of the holes we fall in. If only we were better at bringing them along. It’s the Educational Assistant.

THE EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANT “There are times when teachers need three sets of hands, an extra pair of eyes, and the ability to be in two places at once…cases where a student with special needs cannot stay in the regular classroom without extra assistance…days when three kids need help with spelling while the rest of the class acts out a play or everybody gets the new math concept except one student who needs some one-on- one help.” author unknown

A student has trouble in the hall, in the class, on the playground on the bus…… We assign an EA and many times – just hope it gets better. We may sort of have a plan – but not always clear on whose role it is. Or even what will stop or improve the functioning.

This method needs lots of arrows!

It helps if everyone is clear Who the student is What do they need When do they need it Where How much do they need How are you going to get them what they need.

We can use fewer arrows and be on TARGET !

We need to move students from this to this!

An EA support should be the training wheel.

NOT

Steps to effective EA use Take good data on measurable items Measure Think Plan which ONE comes first Try it Measure.

Actual 9 th grade student sample Problem: ASD student. In a class with several other students and an EA for all of them. Very smart. Lots of issues, homework not getting done, hyper-correcting, didn’t turn work in, didn’t write it down, poor social skills with peers, rude and abrupt with adults, blurting, shouting out in class, always right… The student really needed dedicated support staff for him but to do what?

To do what? First you guess. Of the list of problems which ones impact him the most? Which one makes him ‘look’ different than other students the most? We picked 3 and collected data for a month. Blurting out, writing down assignments and turning in completed assignments.

October – start of project

1:1 mission Added the 1:1 with a specific mission. Gave her some strategies to use to try to reduce blurting, talking out of turn etc. Gave her permission to try a couple different things and report back – what was working the best. Some days one thing – some days another. OK use what YOU think works best. And take data.

Start of 1:1

Boy are we smart Look at what happened! Hey this worked but…… There were some unintended consequences.

How to fade - 1:1? So at what point could we pull back the 1:1 aid? I picked 5 weeks. First EA didn’t always sit near by in every class After a week – she was there at the beginning of class and then wandered off. After 3 weeks – she came in only once in a while. After 4 weeks – sometimes said hello to him in the hall.

Success and maintain October started collecting data April pulled 1:1 who was assigned to another student.

Don’t have time to collect data You don’t have time not to. It is the fastest way to correct an over- riding issue It is a way to ensure that the EA is spending time on priority items. It is the best way to document the success of generalized goals. You will have data for progress reporting

Remember For a lot of students we see they don’t need someone next to them all the time. They need: ◦ Process not people ◦ Tools not teachers. So Plan, Practice, FADE