Are you an SEN TA? Did you choose this or kind of fall into it?

[cardboardboxx]

Hope the title made sense.

What I mean is, did you choose to become a special needs teaching assistant or were you a 'general' teaching assistant who was given a child with SEN to work with after a few months/years of working at a school?

I applied for a job last year as a teaching assistant and after I was offered the job, I was told it would be with SEN children. (No previous experience with SEN) I tried my best and really really enjoyed it.

This year I work with a child with autism, non verbal, can be violent towards others. I have been offered no courses to go on, I feel like I have to just get on with it.
I'd''d

Sorry, I posted too soon. The child is reception age.

I would just like to hear other people's experiences and if all schools are like this. I have a level 3 nursery nurse and level 3 TA qualification.

Thank you

I used to do this job op. At the very minimum you should be offered positive handling training.

Oh and I'm qualified to the same level as you , I was offered the sen ta job due to some experience in a mainstream setting with autistic children.

Thank you for your reply. I did a 1 day course last year about restraining and the certifie lasts 3 years I thi

Sorry.. my phones not working right! The certificate lasts 3 years

Yes , that sounds like positive handing.

All other training offered was in house stuff like makaton and behaviour management.

I definitely gel like i need more training. I have asked to go on course but nothing has been said yet

*feel

Have you talked/asked your line manager ? Can you link any of the courses to your targets(performance meetings) this year?
Sometimes you have to be pro active and very specific "I found this course,it would help with this can you book it please?".
Can you have a meeting with the SENCO to establish basics and where you feel you might benefit from more support/training?

I feel sorry for both you and the child. This is why my preverbal DS is at a specialist school after a professional off the record pointed out that sending him to mainstream would mean exactly this. Autism is so complex, this child's parents will probably realise eventually that the child will make more progress with people who know what they're doing and in an environment that is built around the needs of a child with ASD, especially the sensory ones, but local authorities and parents are enamoured of mainstreaming until it goes wrong enough (it does work for lots of kids with less severe ASD, but I haven't heard of it going well for a child like this). My son's class is full of kids like this. I'm sorry, this isn't much help, but you're probably the patsy until it's been proven that the present resourcing and arrangements can't meet this child's needs.

You need more help than having to do this on your own. In a specialist classroom, the teacher and other TAs would jump straight in with more challenging moments. These will get harder as the child gets bigger, particularly if the child is frustrated and if the environment is distressing them.

What will probably happen is the child will be removed from the classroom more and more until they're basically on their own with a TA all day.

There should be a specialist service to support you - one of my son's teachers did this job for the LA until recently, so someone should be able to give advise tailored to this individual child (they're all so different). The causes of the violence would be the first priority to look at, but shared attention work is the ongoing building for better communication and that would be top of my son's school's priorities for a child like this (look up Attention Autism).

This all needs to be documented and a case built up for better provision whether that's in this school or elsewhere. I really feel for both you and this child.

As a mum of a child with autism - who does to specialist school- this makes me so sad for the child and the parents of that child. It’s not your fault you haven’t been given training - I’m not saying that- but it’s dreadful that the only training you’ve been given is about restraint! that actually makes me so cross. Autism is about so much more than this, most children who are well supported with autism, even those most severely affected by it, won’t need as much restraining or exhibit as much violent behaviour if their behaviour is understood and their needs met.

If I were you I would do a lot of reading up on autism - national autistic society website is a good place to start- and also contact the parents to find out more about their child and how best to support them.

It’s terrible that those working with children like this aren’t being properly trained and educated. Just awful.

We had this in our school - a Mum (very nice but no relevant training or qualifications) got a part time TA role which very quickly turned into SEN support.

I don't think she's had any training (I tried to ask in a non judgy way so wasn't completely direct) and, TBH, if it were my child she was supporting, I'd be a bit miffed to think she's got no special training or experience.

Hi. I’m a long time lurker, but this hooked me.
I was a general TA and after a few months was asked to support a child with ASD 1:1. It was tough. I went on a couple of courses, funded by the school, totaling 3 days.
Most of my time with the pupil was spent just the two of us. I practically had to plan our day myself. Little real support from teaching staff or SENCO.
I felt bad that I was not a qualified teacher nor a SEN specialist, yet the pupils parents entrusted me with their child most of the day.
Yes, the pupil made progress, yes the pupil was accepted by the other children, yes I cared about the pupil. But in the back of my mind was always the thought that I was not equipped to deal with this child through their first year at school.

Thank you for your replies

I shadowed someone with the child last year for 1 hour a day for a week.

I have had 1 meeting to discuss targets.

I have inquired about courses but they have yet to get back to me.

I have done all the things that you have all suggested.

I have also told them this is is not the job that i am capable of doing.

I fell into it. I didn't really want to end up in this role, because I had just graduated university and wanted something more academic as I did some postgraduate study. But, as fate would have it, the only positions that got back to me were ones as an SEN TA. I'm now in a good school that has lots of support for SEN pupils.

I have one year 6 pupil 1:1 all morning, and then the afternoon I do interventions for year 3, which are little focus groups in maths, phonics, speech + language, and fine motor. I can't see myself doing it for more than a year. I'm noticing a lot of problems already - mostly lack of training and being chucked into situations, expected to just wing it.

I am a SEN TA and specifically went for the role. However I actually work in a Specialist school not mainstream, which I think has huge differences. We get alot of training, support, etc.
My eldest child has autism and actually goes to mainstream school, but isn't one to one and for him mainstream is the better option. However for many children mainstream just isn't the right place and the support is just not there, for neither the child or the TA.