My first School Monitor position
I haven't had any school secretary temp positions yet (nor have I had any regular temp positions come up yet, eesh), but this morning I got a call to do some work at a school for this afternoon. When you become a school monitor, you sign up at a particular school. The school I registered with actually referred me to a different school, the one who called me to help out. Hmm. At least, I *think* I'll be there in a monitor capacity, not just a filling-in-volunteer-type-person.
I'll basically be "babysitting", as they put it, a 5 year old autistic girl, just for the afternoon. They just need someone to be with her. I told them I didn't have any experience whatsoever with special needs kids, but apparently they're desperate, and they need someone, so that someone is me.
When I first got the call, I panicked. Holy crap, an autistic child! I've never worked with an autistic child! What am I going to do? I had to call them back anyway, because I had already made plans with my mom for the afternoon, so I needed to find out if it was okay to move them to tomorrow. I have zero experience working with special needs kids. I was feeling pretty scared to death, because I don't have any clue what to do and what to expect. Then it came to me, after my reasonable side (she has a reasonable side?) kicked my emotional side, and after talking to J (who, I guess, is also my reasonable side :) ) that she's just a 5 year old kid. Sure, she's got different needs than other kids, but at the end of the day, she's a kid. I can go back to my textbooks and review autism, so I have some idea of what to expect (although, she could be high functioning, or low functioning, or somewhere in between), but it's not like I have to create some kind of curriculum for her and that everything I do and say will have an enormous impact on the rest of her life. I'm just needed to spend some time with her for the afternoon.
Of course, the more time I put in as a school monitor or volunteer or whatever, the more references I can collect, which will be helpful in the future. It'll help my future to be visible and active now, no matter how unsure I am of my posting.
Why are people so afraid of kids with special needs? I dunno. Seriously, can someone tell me? Because I don't know. I know I'm being irrational, but I can't entirely shake the nervousness.
I'll basically be "babysitting", as they put it, a 5 year old autistic girl, just for the afternoon. They just need someone to be with her. I told them I didn't have any experience whatsoever with special needs kids, but apparently they're desperate, and they need someone, so that someone is me.
When I first got the call, I panicked. Holy crap, an autistic child! I've never worked with an autistic child! What am I going to do? I had to call them back anyway, because I had already made plans with my mom for the afternoon, so I needed to find out if it was okay to move them to tomorrow. I have zero experience working with special needs kids. I was feeling pretty scared to death, because I don't have any clue what to do and what to expect. Then it came to me, after my reasonable side (she has a reasonable side?) kicked my emotional side, and after talking to J (who, I guess, is also my reasonable side :) ) that she's just a 5 year old kid. Sure, she's got different needs than other kids, but at the end of the day, she's a kid. I can go back to my textbooks and review autism, so I have some idea of what to expect (although, she could be high functioning, or low functioning, or somewhere in between), but it's not like I have to create some kind of curriculum for her and that everything I do and say will have an enormous impact on the rest of her life. I'm just needed to spend some time with her for the afternoon.
Of course, the more time I put in as a school monitor or volunteer or whatever, the more references I can collect, which will be helpful in the future. It'll help my future to be visible and active now, no matter how unsure I am of my posting.
Why are people so afraid of kids with special needs? I dunno. Seriously, can someone tell me? Because I don't know. I know I'm being irrational, but I can't entirely shake the nervousness.