REPORTS TO: Building Principal, Director of Special Services, Special Education Teacher, and General Education Teacher
JOB GOAL: To work closely with one or a few students having disabilities on a regular basis in an effort to provide them with the educational, physical and emotional support they need to benefit from the District’s special education program.
PERFORMANCE RESPONSIBILITIES: Responsibilities may vary depending upon the position.
- Under direction of the special education teacher, general education teacher, and therapists (speech/language, occupational, physical), works with small groups of students to reinforce material initially introduced by the teacher and/or therapist.
- Assists the teacher in implementing special strategies and accommodations/modifications for reinforcing materials or skills based on a student’s Individual Education Program (IEP). This may include: takes notes; reads tests/worksheets; constructs vocabulary lists; develops study guides; highlights textbooks; modifies worksheets, assignments, and tests; provide behavior supports/follow behavior plans; implement sensory breaks; follow through/prepare individual visual schedules; and/or assist in activities of daily living skills
- Hears the student(s) in recitation and other curriculum tasks, guiding and helping them.
- Reads to students, listens to students read and participates in other forms of oral communication with students.
- Guides independent study, enrichment work and remedial work set up and assigned by the teacher.
- Serves as a resource person, if and when requested, by the multi-disciplinary evaluation team.
- Alerts the general education teacher/special education teacher to any problem or special information about an individual student.
- Serves as the chief source of information and help to any substitute teacher assigned in the absence of the general education teacher.
- Maintains the same high level of ethical behavior and confidentiality of information about students as is expected of certified teachers.
- Participates in in-service training programs, as assigned.
- Helps students master equipment or instructional materials assigned by the teacher.
- Assist the student(s) to whom assigned in such physical tasks as putting on and taking off of outerwear, moving from room to room, using the lavatory by assisting with grooming and toileting routines, and getting on and off the bus.
- Assists with lunch, snack and cleanup routines.
- Assists with the supervision of students during emergency drills and assemblies, recesses, play periods and field trips.
- Accompanies students to classes and assists the general teacher in meeting the needs of students while in the general education classroom.
- Determines and expects appropriate behavior as dictated by a discipline plan.
- Provides teacher coverage in the event the teacher must attend a staff meeting or conference during the school day.
- Performs informal and functional assessment activities, scores objective tests and keeps appropriate records.
- Assists teachers in collecting and maintaining data about students’ behavior.
- Implements behavioral management programs developed for individual students.
- Assists teachers with crisis intervention and discipline.
- Assists new students in adjusting to the school.
- Assists in medical care issues that may arise.
- Implements appropriate sensory breaks as guided by a sensory diet.
- Facilitates the use of a visual schedule which may involve setting up a daily schedule, adjusting it throughout the day and monitoring the use of the schedule.
- Performs other duties as may be assigned by the principal or special education director. This may include: perform bus duty, supervise playgrounds and lunchrooms, assist students with personal and hygienic care, set up and maintain adaptive equipment and learning centers
