#parapro

[disast3rtransp0rt]

Being a para-pro for kids with specific educational needs is the best job in the world for a neurodivergent adult like me.

"He was throwing a tantrum."

Okay. But he was also overstimulated, anxious, and made the center of attention during his lowest point of the day. Would you want your boss to point out your growing frustration and tears in front of the whole board room? No? Cool. Why would a fucking 10 year old respond any better to the same situation?

Be the defender your neurodivergent ass deserved as a child. It rocks.

[theres-whump-in-that-nebula]

I agree that we educators need a place to vent about our jobs, online places as well… but I draw the line at recording yourself interacting with a student who is clearly disregulated. I don’t care if you can’t see the student and can only hear their voice; you are recording their voice during a vulnerable moment. That’s almost on-par with autism parents recording their autistic children having a meltdown. I don’t care how much of an asshole your student is; you don’t do that.

[exhausted-walking-disaster]

Autistic Paraprofessional Rant Moment

It's about that time the school year starts again and I have been thinking about it working in "special education" through the lens of the autistic and ADHD person I am.

I tend to struggle a lot with my job, when I can't think of responses to student behavior, with miscommunication between me and coworkers, with handling a change in the schedule and fixed routines of the classrooms, and of course sensory issues.

That's not to say that I am not good at my job or that I dislike what I do, I really enjoy working in the classroom, and often find I have unique insight and can sometimes find better solutions than my neurotypical coworkers who often complain and carry ableist notions especially about autistic behaviors that are deemed "difficult" and "selfish". I form connections with my students really well and have no issue handling most of the meltdowns and incidents bound to happen in this kind of job.

I am noticeably neurodivergent and am constantly fidgeting, as well as being much younger than most people who do this kind of job are. I know these things about myself. It sometimes causes issues and sometimes it just makes coworkers look down on me due to appearing incompetent.

I always make a point to tell my coworkers I have ADHD since it's been officially diagnosed since kindergarten and Autism has not and would probably make my coworkers even more likely to cause issues since a lot of them don't see autism in a positive light.

As we go into the school year I am nervous, nervous to see if I can continue to be capable of doing this job and nervous of the future issues that will most definitely occur between me and coworkers just because I am neurodivergent. Hopefully this year goes well

[talk-t0-plants]

you know, working in an elementary school sometimes makes me feel a little dumb. i don’t know much about math because it was always hard, english was the only thing i enjoyed but i still don’t know a lot of the vocabulary words, i was really good at social studies merely for the reason i could read everything, spit it out and forget it about it after passing the test. but other than that i don’t know much about biology or anything because my brain just never found it useful to remember!

but one thing i can hold myself to... one thing, is that today i held out an 40 minute conversation about trans rights and did not skip a beat. i kept my cool, i listened to the other person and i brought up counter argument after counter argument with facts and statistics from prepubescent to a consenting adult and let me tell you that felt for valuable than any name of a cell or mathematical equation. i knew what i was talking about because i’m passionate about it and i have done my research. i am proud of myself for keeping up with current events and “political terms” (although really it’s not politics it’s just human rights but that’s a whole other conversation) is something i can do and feel educated on. because i’ve applied myself there. i may not be knowledgeable in the typical sense, but i am in the shit that truly matters. educate yourself, because you seemed to have stopped in high school.

[talk-t0-plants]

if you think teachers don’t get paid enough, wait until i tell you about us paras...

[azilebee]

I've been stressing for like 2 weeks about this ParaPro test, positive I was gonna choke, and I passed with the highest score today 😭

[disast3rtransp0rt]

Please tell me why the elementary school is having Field Day when our air index is the worst so far this year. There is an ACTIVE SMOKE WARNING due to a nearby wildfire. HELLO?!

[mozart-the-meerkitten]

Hi, is it hard to become a paraprofessional?

Hi there! So, I'm sure that how hard it is partially depends on your state and what kind of process they have, but in my experience, no it's not hard at all.

Disclaimer: This is based entirely on my own experience and the experiences of people I've worked with and is not guaranteed to be the same process universally. The easiest thing to do if you're interested is contact your local school and ask if they have any paraprofessional openings/what their parapro requirements are.

Okay, with that out of the way-

To become a paraprofessional you will need one of the following:

College Associates degree (so a 2 year degree) or higher. Literally any degree. My bachelor's degree is in writing and they hired me on the spot as soon as I gave them my transcripts. They do not care if you have experience working with kids, a degree in anything apparently makes you qualified.

OR

You will need to go through some sort of parapro training. I'm not sure of the details of it, because I didn't take it, but it takes a few weeks and I think it includes things like CPR training, child abuse training (for reporting things) and stuff like that. If it's anything like what they make us do on the job it'll be a mix of in person/online stuff.

You will also need to be able to pass a Child Abuse Clearances test/an FBI fingerprinting test. Where you can get these done varies by state but I've always been able to find a location within half an hour of my house. Or you might just be able to go into the school's office and get it done there. They'll give you the details of that after you apply/if they decide to hire you.

The best time to apply for a position is August/September or March/April. August and September because school has just started again and the school will have people quit or not show up or find out they have more kids enrolled who need a parapro's help than they expected. March/April (around the school's spring break time) because they're setting things up for what they EXPECT next year to be like (getting parapros for kids they know need them, or for kids who are newly enrolled in the school). If you don't have a college degree and will need to take the training though I'd recommend applying like, now, so you have time to get that finished.

Regardless of WHEN you apply positions open up randomly throughout the year. My second year I got a position in September, switched (voluntarily) to a new one in October, and then got ANOTHER new one in APRIL- which is absurdly late in the school year. They WILL want you to start those positions immediately though, and will- usually, begrudgingly- allow you to postpone starting a day or two to get your affairs in order.

And lastly, you will need to love and have empathy for kids. Like, seriously, because they'll drive you up the wall some days, but it is such a rewarding job.

Thanks for the ask, and if you have any other questions I'll do my best to answer them!