I left the public school world to take a job in a private school (basically, I was a sub and just desperately needed a steady income!) I'm now an assistant in a Montessori 3-6 year old classroom (yeah, that was me whining about the dress code several days ago!
)
Anyway, we have a nearly 5-year-old child with extreme behavior in the classroom - a lot of repetitive physical actions (some neutral, some negative - like unwanted, aggressive touching of other kids); repetitive, negative comments to other children (i.e, "stinky {insert name here}"); spontaneous very loud noises; etc. In fact, the teacher has asked us two assistants to take the child outside around 10:00 a.m. every morning and just let him yell to get it all out!
So, one of us does...Honestly, I have worked with hundreds of kids over the years, but no child in a "regular" classroom has worn me out like this one does!
Having worked quite a bit in special ed classrooms previously, I am about 90% sure that he has some form of autism (or if not that, then a similar disorder.) Mom is in denial that there is anything seriously amiss with him, even though I found out that he has already been expelled from one private school. At conferences, she just talked a mile a minute, defending her son and didn't let the teacher get a word in edgewise, I was told.
At the beginning of the year, apparently there was another assistant in the classroom (when the class was smaller) who just couldn't take it anymore - quite an experienced teacher, I was told - and she quit. Enter, me. Some days are worse than others, but no day is easy with him. He has been observed twice by the coordinator, and I *thought* after the last one that they (teacher, coordinator, and mom) were going to have a conference - but that never happened. I really feel that he needs to be observed and formally evaluated by a child psychologist. None of us at the school is qualified to make any kind of diagnosis on the child. My position is that in order to give him the best school experience (and to help us keep our sanity, I might add!
), we have to know exactly *what* his diagnosis is, and how we should handle all of his behaviors. The other assistant feels the same way I do. I am afraid to say what I really feel, though - to the teacher, coordinator, or principal. The principal is virtually never in the classroom, and as far as I know has never sat down and just observed him for a while. (I'm not "permanent" yet, as I have been there less than 90 days.) I just can't see continuing on with the status quo, and it really is not fair to the other children in our large class, with him getting so much attention!
What do you think we should do? How should we approach this situation! HELP!
) Anyway, we have a nearly 5-year-old child with extreme behavior in the classroom - a lot of repetitive physical actions (some neutral, some negative - like unwanted, aggressive touching of other kids); repetitive, negative comments to other children (i.e, "stinky {insert name here}"); spontaneous very loud noises; etc. In fact, the teacher has asked us two assistants to take the child outside around 10:00 a.m. every morning and just let him yell to get it all out!
So, one of us does...Honestly, I have worked with hundreds of kids over the years, but no child in a "regular" classroom has worn me out like this one does! Having worked quite a bit in special ed classrooms previously, I am about 90% sure that he has some form of autism (or if not that, then a similar disorder.) Mom is in denial that there is anything seriously amiss with him, even though I found out that he has already been expelled from one private school. At conferences, she just talked a mile a minute, defending her son and didn't let the teacher get a word in edgewise, I was told.
At the beginning of the year, apparently there was another assistant in the classroom (when the class was smaller) who just couldn't take it anymore - quite an experienced teacher, I was told - and she quit. Enter, me. Some days are worse than others, but no day is easy with him. He has been observed twice by the coordinator, and I *thought* after the last one that they (teacher, coordinator, and mom) were going to have a conference - but that never happened. I really feel that he needs to be observed and formally evaluated by a child psychologist. None of us at the school is qualified to make any kind of diagnosis on the child. My position is that in order to give him the best school experience (and to help us keep our sanity, I might add!
), we have to know exactly *what* his diagnosis is, and how we should handle all of his behaviors. The other assistant feels the same way I do. I am afraid to say what I really feel, though - to the teacher, coordinator, or principal. The principal is virtually never in the classroom, and as far as I know has never sat down and just observed him for a while. (I'm not "permanent" yet, as I have been there less than 90 days.) I just can't see continuing on with the status quo, and it really is not fair to the other children in our large class, with him getting so much attention!What do you think we should do? How should we approach this situation! HELP!
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