Sen ta - behaviour management

[trumpthunder]

Working as a ta to autistic child. I work afternoons, class ta in morning supports him. I am having problems with his behaviour since we have returned after Christmas, his attitude has been difficult. Apparently this is only with me, I am picking him up on this and he has a reward system that I have been using for positive behaviour. As he is quite high functioning the teacher is asking me to take him as part of a group out of the class to do work. There is always a challenging child that is part of the group. Behaviour is fine in the class but outside they are trying it on with me. I am speaking to them about their behaviour. Thinking that I will send anyone back in class if they are acting up and tell them to explain their behaviour to the teacher. Just struggling as only worked 1:1 before never been asked to general ta and interventions. Teacher has made it clear that she sees this as part of my role, so going to have to do it. Had a chat today about me "not being firm enough" have not had this before, any help / suggestions. Also any sen advice re autism meltdown management. Thanks

If you are allocated to a specific student then I don’t think this teacher should be able to expect this of you? As in if you felt you could then you might but I wouldn’t put a TA who didn’t feel confident to do this in charge of a load of kids outside my classroom!?

For ref I was a TA now a teacher but don’t work in the mainstream uk system so I might be well off the mark!

Handholds anyway

I would try not to send them back in as you're subtly reinforcing that the teacher is in charge.

Start from the beginning- get them to line up at the door and ensure that all your materials are laid out or they are holding their whiteboard etc. I can't work out if it is one challenging child or more than one. Don't let them sit beside a pal. Do encourage sitting up straight etc at a table- a pet peeve of mine is TAs allowing children to lie on corridor floors etc.
Don't get into a battle of wills- repeat instructions calmly. Praise good behaviour and outline what you want to see at the start of your task.

Try not to go back into class and do the whole 'Oh Mrs X, you are going to be SO disappointed etc'- feeds attention-seeking. Do try to build a positive relationship with the child as well.

HTH.

This doesn’t sound to me like good practice around using TAs to me - not aiming that at you at all. Sounds like a teacher palming off a child they don’t want to deal with.

What is the reason for him leaving the class to work with someone who is less qualified than the teacher to teach him? If he’s fine in class then why is he being disrupted to go outside with a child who distracts him and causes meltdowns? Behaviour management advice is good but re. Autistic meltdowns very much depends on the child.

I’m a TA and this is the kind of thing my Senco is (thankfully) very good at encouraging teachers not to do. Is your senco good and will they be able to liaise between you and the teacher here? If so I’d speak to them about this situation.

I don’t mean that in a ‘go in all guns blazing’ kind of way but to discuss what your role actually is - I think there can be genuine confusion over what a TA is expected to do. Also, behaviour is often a long slog so this might just be a bad phase that can be improved with some tweaks. I really just don’t see the point in the set up you’ve described.

It's bad practice to have a TA superglued to a child. If the teacher is working with that child, what's the TA supposed to do? Sit and watch? No, far better that they then be used to support a group of children. Equally, if 'their' child is working in a group, then the TA should be supporting all the children in that group as a way of increasing the child's independence, if appropriate.

Agree I should not be superglued to a child, that's a fair point. I think current thinking on lower ability groups is that the best person to teach them is the teacher, not to send them out of the classroom to work with a TA unless it's a tailored and planned intervention, thanks for help xx

What training have you had?