One On One Special Needs Preschool Instructor, Rbt
St Gerard House
Hendersonville, North Carolina, United States
This job began as a part time afterschool supervisor role. It later evolved into a full time teaching and technician job that involved one on one learning with autistic children ages 2 to 9. I helped with programs that were educational as well as occupational, from literacy to fine motor and speech to learning how to brush teeth and clip nails. My favorite part of the job, and what I did most, was integration. I hung out one on one with a child in a standard preschool class to help them navigate the challenges of being in a largely neuro-typical classroom.Additionally, this job involved collecting behavioral data using a simple ipad app that facilitated easy data collection without interfering with teaching. Things like aggression, self injury, bolting, property destruction are all very common and it helps to document when they happen so that the data can be viewed and analyzed. An uptick in aggression could coincide with problems at home or illness, etc. Most importantly, this data helped us to better accomodate the individual needs of the children. I ultimately left here because while I loved working with the kids, I prefer a more naturalistic approach to teaching with elements of behavioral analysis included rather than being the main teaching method.