Working With Students With Special Needs

We are well in to our second full week of school and things could not be better.

I am a para that works in a high school life skills room with some of the most wonderful students you can imagine.  Often times people ask me where I work and what I do.  When I tell them I work with students with special needs I hear a variety of responses most of which includes, "Oh my, you have a very tough job"   My response to that is, "I work with some of the best students in the school and they are a joy to be around."

Now my days do come with struggles as with any classroom setting, but overall, these students can put such a smile on my face and brighten my day.  It is such a satisfying experience to know that what you teach them begins to take hold and you see growth in their abilities that exceed every expectation.

Another wonderful experience is seeing the parents of our students comforted in knowing that their child is safe and is enjoying their learning experience.  A lot has been said about the low pay we receive which I do agree, but I try to overlook this fact and remind myself that my true reward is getting to be a part of these special lives.

One of the favorite parts of what I do is working with these students trying to help them increase their independence by learning life skills and vocational skills.  Although nowhere in my job description does it state to provide materials to help with these skills, I take it upon myself to make sure we provide as much variety of materials to help each student meet their needs.

I love creating and I have great in site to what these students need by following IEP goals or observing areas that each student may be struggling with.  As I began creating more materials and saw how effective they were with our students, I found a way to provide them for anyone that found them useful for their own classroom or home school needs through TPT.

I would encourage you to check out my store and see the variety of materials that we have used with great success at: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Adaptive-Tasks

Here is my newest FREE product for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.  It can be used as file folder matching, as matching task cards, or maybe a memory game.  Enjoy!!
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Thanksgiving-Visual-Matching-1418188