Careers working with children/young people, in particular SN...

[ChiefGuacamole]

I need suggests for the types of jobs available.

I have just had crb check done, will be volunteering at a local school soon (just listening to children read).

I have a friend who is a teacher at a special school and has offered me some work experience there which I'm hoping I will be able to take her up on.

Bit of background, I have 2 preschool age dcs, eldest will start reception next year, youngest will start nursery at the same school in September. My eldest as had some difficulties, not diagnosed yet, but it has brought me into the SN world. Now I feel like working with children in this area is something really rewarding, and that I would like to do.

Be interested to hear about the types of jobs people do, or have come across.

Eg. Speech Therapist...unfortunately not sure I can take on the training required for that.

Heard someone the other day say they help dyslexic children learn to read. I have no idea how you would get to being in that job though.

Be very grateful to hear other's ideas and experiences!

You could think about becoming a SEN teaching assistant or Learning Support Assistant? the pay isn't great, but they usually work school hours, term-time only, supporting one or a small group of children with SEN.

Places for these jobs are highly competitive, but if you tet some work experience - and with your ow experience of being a parent to an SN child - you should be in a very good position.

You could also look into support worker roles within after school / weekend provision for SN children, although that might be tricky with your children in tow? Or a role with a charity supporting children with SN (Nas, Barnardos, Mencap etc)? They have all sorts of roles - from manning advice lines to taking on advocacy work - and sometimes offer training, too.

There are lots of professional roles associated with SN children - Speech and Language Therapist, Educational Psychologist, Occupational Therapist etc - but all do require training. Is that completely ruled out for you?

If I were you I would get as much work experience as you can - a special school would be a great place to start - and if you see someone with an interesting job, ask to shadow them for a day or meet them for coffee to discuss what it is they do.

Good luck! I have a child with SN (Asperger's Syndrome), and it has really sparked my interest, too. I am thinking about training to be a secondary school teacher and eventually becoming a SENCo

Go on the SN board here - lots of parents there to give advice. What about a charity worker? Running youth clubs, working in Respite care?

Many people teaching etc in the SN world have personal experience of SN.

Personally, as the parent of a severely disabled child, I would run a mile! I get enough at home.

Have you thought about being a ABA tutor? More info here

I'm currently as support worker with adults with learning difficulties. I have previously worked as:
Learning Support Assistant in a PRU
LSA 1:1 in a primary school
Senior Learning Support Worker with teenagers with Autism and severe learning difficultiea/challenging behaviour
SLSW with teenagers with AS/HFA and other learning/behavioural issues.

Message me if you want more info it's quite easy to get into, if you have the right head for it iyswim

thanks for all the responses!

I used to be redhappy, enjoying a brief namechange and have had a bit of a break from the sn boards to focus on RL for a bit. Planning to head back over that way soon though...

I forgot to say on my op, of course fitting in with school hours would be great! I need to be at home this year for my ds, but we are lucky that he is doing so well at the moment, (better than we expected I think!) so it's finding the balance between being around to give him the support he needs, and the financial and intellectual urge to work...

Some great ideas above, thankyou. If dp can take some holiday then I can go into my friends school, I think that's going to be a great opportunity. Apparently they recruit through volunteers, who if they do well get added to bank staff list, and when something permanent comes up get offered that. I'm hoping that if I get the experience there, will give me more chance at the school that's closer to us.

I think I will ask at ds' school too (he attends nursery at a primary, where they also run the local SN provision).

In fact, I should be talking to ds' teachers!
As they also run the SN sessions, which he attends.

ABA tutor is god idea too. In fact, I know someone who does ABA for the NHS I should get in touch with her too.

purplepigjin will message you now...

Message replied to

I've worked in various SN environments
Adult day care
Adult residential
Special school
1:1 support worker teenager
Respite unit for children
Infant school
Youth offending (some with SN)
Family Worker for SS
Signer

Some overlapped just in case you think I did one a year

Oh & summer playscheme!