Special Education Aide - Autism

About the role

Position provides assistance to teachers in the daily instruction and care of eligible students with disabilities. As a paraprofessional, the employee works under the direction of the teacher to monitor and address the instructional, personal, and behavioral needs of students.

Responsibilities

• Assists with the implementation of Individualized Education Programs for students with disabilities under the direction of the classroom teacher(s) and/or service provider(s).
• Assists with individual or small group instruction developed and supervised by the teacher in the assigned class(es) including but not limited to teaching, re-teaching and reviewing lessons, asking questions and prompting students and/or guiding independent work.
• Attends to the needs of students with disabilities that may include personal hygiene, lifting, feeding, toileting, monitoring supportive medical equipment (e.g., walkers, wheelchairs) and/or facilitating the use of assistive technology.
• Escorts and supervises students during daily arrival and school departure, transitions between classes, the playground, cafeteria, and off-site learning activities.
• Collects, charts and reports student performance data to teachers.
• Performs general clerical tasks for assigned classroom, including maintaining student records (e.g., data books, portfolios, assignment folders).
• Distributes and collects instructional materials and reports.
• Assists with behavioral management programs in the classroom and implements behavior intervention plans and/or plans for independence for individual students.
• Participates in designated staff development needed to fulfill job duties.
• Maintains bulletin boards and classroom supply inventories, as appropriate.
• Provides intensive behavioral supports, as appropriate.
• Communicates with parents only under the direction and supervision of a teacher.
• Serves as an educational team member who collaborates and supports the efforts of school staff and the needs of all students with disabilities.
• Performs any other related duties as assigned by the Principal or other appropriate administrator.

Requirements

• Must meet the requirements for a paraprofessional which includes one of the following:
  • Minimum of 60 college credit hours, or an Associate's Degree from a regionally accredited college/university (attach a copy of your transcript)
  • Paraprofessional certificate (minimum score of 456 on the exam) (attach a copy of your test scores)
  • Passed all 4 areas of Work Keys (attach a copy of all 4 tests)

Knowledge, skills, and abilities

• Read and interpret documents such as safety rules, operating and maintenance instructions, and procedure manuals.
• Write routine reports and correspondence.
• Communicate effectively.
• Apply common sense in the delivery, understanding and following instructions in written, oral, or diagram form.
• Add, subtract, multiply, and divide in all units of measure, using whole numbers, common fractions, and decimals.
• Compute rate, ratio, and percent and draw and interpret bar graphs.

Physical requirements

• Regularly required to stand and reach with hands and arms; walk; sit; stoop or kneel; crouch or crawl.
• Duties may involve risk resulting from attending to students' behavioral, physical or sanitation/hygiene needs.
• Physically capable of frequently lifting or moving up to 40 pounds.
• Sufficiently mobile to ensure the safety of students.
• Specific vision requirements include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and the ability to focus.
• Ability to sit and stand for extended periods of time.
• Manual dexterity for the purpose of using a telephone and data entry.
• Read a computer screen and printed material with or without vision aids.
• Hear and understand speech at normal levels and on the telephone.
• Speak in audible tones so that others may understand clearly in person and on the telephone.

Work environment

Duties are normally performed in a school/classroom environment. Duties may be conducted in work-related community settings and/or occasionally performed on study trips away from the school.