Special Pupils = Special Job [UPDATE] (Special Educational Needs Teacher)

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Product:	Special Educational Needs Teacher
Date:	02/10/00 (79 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Rewarding beyond explanation

Disadvantages: Can be physically demanding, high risk of back injury, tiring, frustrating.

Having graduated as a music teacher, I was expected, like the rest of my year, to start teaching in a mainstream secondary school, perhaps with some time in the mainstream primary sector.

Out of the blue, and to my delight, I was offered a job at a school for children with complex and profound learning difficulties, teaching drama and music. When people heard, they either gasped in horror, gave me that simpering "I'm so proud of you" expression, as if I was about to go down the sewers to save the country, or simply asked in amazement - "But what can you actually TEACH them?" In fact, the best reaction I got was from my fellow dooyooers, particularly fruitcake, who works in a "special school" herself, and gave me a heap of advice and support.

To be perfectly honest, I was half-wondering what I could teach the children myself, until I spent a few weeks settling into the school and getting to know the children and staff. I realised that it would be challenging, but in a whole different way than teaching mainstream secondary.

The school is in no way a babysitting or care service, as some people in the community - even some parents - would think. We follow a strict curriculum, using the strands and levels of the Scottish 5-14 guidelines. The older children go by the Higher Still system. The SEN sector is where Higher Still really comes into its own, and children can gain a "qualification" even when they can't walk, speak or control their movements.

All materials must be age appropriate - so we no longer have 15 year olds singing "How Much is That Doggie in the Window", and playing with Tonka Trucks. In fact, one of my classes did "Harry Potter" in drama, and another "Whistle Down the Wind". Although these projects are presented in their simplest form, they are appropriate for the ages of these young adults.

Every day I learn something new in my job
- and every day my eyes are opened into realising that I'm not as competent or understanding as I thought. The other day someone pointed out that one of the girls who was refusing to move her hands, although she is quite physically capable of doing so, was "just being a typical teenager". So true! The boys like being raced along cobbled surfaces in their wheelchairs, and playing football (how sexist, I know, but it's true) and the younger children like to throw balls - even if "throwing" is just letting the ball roll from their laps onto the ground.

Because of the nature of the school, I am not confined to the drama and music side of things, which is great. I get to help with snack, lunchtime, playtime, toileting, snoezelen, movement and more. This is giving me a much more rounded view of the children. I am becoming familiar with the numerous wheelchairs, hoists, standing frames and touch talkers.I am also learning Makaton, Signalong and "Movement Gesture and Sign" methods of communication. I use Boardmaker symbols for some pupils, and I am learning to look more closely at people. You need to, when the flutter of an eyelash can mean "again", "stop it" or simply "I want my Mum".

Special Schools work differently in different areas, and under different authorities and head teachers. The school I work at has a policy which seemed rather unusual to me at first.

All of the pupils in my school have a range of medical conditions, syndromes, illnesses, genetic diseases and impairments. However it is policy that knowledge about these conditions is strictly on a need to know basis. Therefore, teachers aren't told what a child "has got" - rather they are told about the child and his educational needs. Although at first this seemed silly and rather OTT to me, I now see the reasoning behind it. Once people give pupils a label, the child becomes that condition. I'm sur
e you all know "that Down's Syndrome Kid" that lives nearby?

Well in our school, that would be Johnny, who likes painting and swimming, and who is scared of spiders, and who loves to read. Which is the way it should be, really, isn't it?

This is something which you may well come across, or be questioned about at an interview, so be prepared to say how you feel! In all honesty, I think my school sometimes take this too far - after all, there is no sense in trying to teach a child to look at his peers if he can only see a fw inches in front of himself. However overall I have come to the conclusion that this is a good policy which benefits our pupils and the way society sees them.

Special Education is no longer about finding somewhere for "abnormal" children to go and be cared for. It's now about the right of *all* children to an education. The right of all children to reach their full potential, and become as independent as they can ready for situations in the Real World. Just the same as any other school.

I am so happy in my job, and I have to say I feel a little bit sorry for all the people who told me wide eyed and in wonder that they "could never do anything like that". Because they have no idea what they're missing out on.

It is nearly a year since I first wrote this review. Sadly, in four weeks I will be leaving my beloved pupils and moving away. I don't yet know where I will be working, but I have my fingers crossed that I will get a similar post, at least to remain within the SEN sector. I have learnt a huge amount in the last year, and hope I can go on learning with all the special young people that I will meet in the future.

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