DH has an interview tomorrow for a TA's role in an ASD school... any advice/websites

[MotherofallDragons]

he can visit to gen up on aspergers and autism. he has no experience, but has wanted to get into education for a while and tbh, didnt even think that he would get an interview. however, his personal statement was excellent and he has lots of experience of working with SEN children through football coaching.

any specific policies/procedures he should be knowledgable on? any sites he should visit? any tips. what would they be looking for?

thank you.

If it is an ASD specific school, they may use any or all of the following:

PECS
Makaton or signalong
Visual aids/supports.
Teacch principles

Other things it might he useful to know about:

Hanen language courses/books
Behavioural management techniques (i would say ABA, but it is generally frowned upon by most schools, so stick to sayi.g behavioural management)

What are the educational aims of the school? What level are the children working at? Are they mainly verbal or non verbal? (the kinds of things used may differ according to peer group) - knowledge of some of the communication aids might be useful (other than pecs)

thank you so much. its a specialist residential school, and students are boys with autism and aspergers. it is a public school that aims to provide support beyond GCSE's too.

looking at the site, they use diversion and descalation to manage behaviour, and PRICE as a last resort.

things I have looked for when employing people to work with my dds (dd1 is severe ASD, dd2 has traits; they are now 7 and 4):

patience. most people think it is a given, but I really do mean a different level of patience. you need to be able to be patient when a child ha repeated the same thing for hours (potentially) - not just not getting irritated, btu respoding in any way might reinforce the behaviour unintentionally. equally, when faced with reading the same book, yet again, then be aware of not giving away the fact that you are stifling multiple yawns - this book (puzzle/game/toy) is the most important thin to that child at this point in time - it is their opinion that counts, not yours! of course, having said that, no child can do exactly what they want all the itme, so diversion and distraction away form obsessions needs to happen too, but there has to b a balance.

will your dh be doing any out of hours help too? since it is a residential school, this might be an option. so the above might apply more thanit woudl in regular school hours, iyswim?

on any trips out into the community, your dh needs to have a thick skin. he needs to not mind funny walks/noises/reactions, andhe needs ot not mind the public's reaction to all of those. he needs to be hyper aware of the children's actions and reactions (and possible actions and reactions), and be thinking 2 steps ahead all the time. the same goes for time in the classroom - anticipation is often the key: think through any potential problems, and work through what the solutions might be. knowledge and preparation are power.

woudl your dh be working as TA to one particular child, or as a general class TA?

Try not to to refer to children with austim as 'they'. Don't make sweeping generalisations 'i.e. children with autism always like x'.

Try to talk about children with autism instead of 'autistic children'. Not a big no no but the former is considered more acceptable. Far better though to just refer to them as 'the children'.

Talk about wating to get to the bottom of finding the causes of inappropriate behaviour, rather than believing a child is intrinsically 'naughty'. That will get you lots of points.

Talk about hoping to have good communication with parents and other members of the team working with the children.

Talk about using the child's motivations and interests to hang their learning onto. i.e. if a child is obsessed with aeroplanes, you can use this to teach geography perhaps, talking about what size aeroplane you might need, what safety equipment might be needed due to the climate or materials the runways might be made of and how this links into the financial and political state of the economy there etc etc. Cor blimey, I should have been a teacher.......

Thank you both so much. He is busy studying now and scribbling your points down.

MotherofallDragons
have a look at
Primary Care for Children with Autism
IACC Summary of Advances in Autism Spectrum Disorder Research: Calendar Year 2010
may find something of interest.

Thank you. Because he has no experience he will have to dazzle them with enthusiasm. He will need to do nights etc so he has been reading up on that too.

Tell him not to get so focussed on talking about 'techniques' that he forgets to remember there are individual children, not just 'subjects' to be 'treated'. I think that is the key.

I wouldn't want anyone teaching my child, who thought that the 'GDD/ADHD child needs xyz'. I would want someone who would ask her name first

Thank you, that's what he was planning on saying. Tbh, I think that will go in his favour.

Thank you all so much. This is incredibly helpful

ok, it went well. there were a few other interviewees (one NQT, one teacher and another couple) but he answered well and they were smiling and scribbling a lot. we live a 30 min walk from the school too, so he can get there in all weathers (its v rural)

They might decide that the two teachers are over qualified and might only stay until something better comes along, so don't worry too much about that. Good luck, will you find out today?

Thanks, I said that to him. He said he stated that they won't be hiring him for his qualifications, but because he cares about children, and believes each one is important. And he guarantees that he will be there rain, shine or snow. They asked a few cp questions (which he looked up on) and asked about his availability, don't know when we will hear though!