Regarding Paraprofessionals

Paraprofessionals -or- parapros -or- EA's -or- IA's or... any other number of names they go by, are the life skills teacher's greatest asset (besides patience). They help when you are shorthanded, they take on duties you don't have time to do, they offer support (both educationally and emotionally), they instruct, they guide, they are.... indispensable.

But often times we expect that they will simply "jump in" without guidance. This can cause problems. Every person is so unique, so different, we can't expect them all to do things the same way. But, consistency is KEY when teaching life skills kiddos. So how do we solve this problem? One word... TRAINING!

When trying to maintain a SPED class, the last thing we have extra of is time. But, consider how important this is that each child is taught the same way from day to day, no matter who is giving the instruction.

I have many resources to share with you, regarding paraprofessional training. The following document is a general guideline I use to show my aides how to run a group lesson.

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dgzr544p_1dmqkngcf

Another helpful tool, is to have expectations laid out for the actual aide themselves. Everyone appreciates having guidelines (whether they will admit it or not). Plus, if an issue ever arises, you can always refer back to the guidelines you have set in place.

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dgzr544p_0dnbp7ffq

Feel free to take this documents and copy or edit them for your own purposes.