Special Education Assistant - Severely Mentally Handicapped One-on-One # 62 ( Roosevelt School)

About the Role

The one-on-one assistant will perform a variety of paraprofessional instructional activities to assist teachers or other certificated staff in providing instruction, housekeeping, and supervision to severely mentally handicapped students between the ages of 3 to 22 years. The assistant will follow the student as necessary and, if no student is available, will be temporarily placed in a classroom within their classification until assigned a one-on-one student.

Receives direction from the teacher in charge.

Responsibilities

• Assist students to and from buses and classes.
• Teach independent mobility.
• Assist instructional personnel in the development and implementation of individual educational plans under the teacher's supervision.
• Continuously assist and monitor students in a variety of academic and recreational activities.
• Tutor students to reinforce and follow-up training and learning experiences.
• Supervise students during study, lunch, and play periods.
• Assist students in the development and maintenance of appropriate social behavior.
• Assist students to become self-reliant.
• Assist in the maintenance of students’ daily performance records.
• Prepare instructional materials and operate audio-visual equipment such as projectors and learning machines.
• Type and duplicate lessons, tests, and other instructional materials.
• Assist in serving food and teach self-feeding and grooming skills.
• Assist students with toileting, buttons, snaps, and zippers.
• Clean students lacking control, change diapers, bathe, and clothe students.
• May lift and move handicapped students.
• Assist in keeping the work area attractive.
• Perform other related duties as assigned.

Requirements

Knowledge of:

• Problems involved in the care of severely mentally handicapped students.
• Methods and attitudes required in assisting severely mentally handicapped students with their personal needs and academic activities.
• Techniques in dealing appropriately with assaultive behavior.
• English usage, punctuation, spelling, and grammar.
• Basic arithmetic concepts.
• Principles, goals, and objectives of the educational process.

Ability to:

• Demonstrate an empathetic, patient, and receptive attitude with students exhibiting specialized severe mental and behavioral needs.
• Establish and maintain effective relationships with teachers, therapists, and other certificated staff.
• Communicate satisfactorily in oral and written form and serve as an appropriate model.
• Gain the confidence of handicapped students, encourage and assist them in therapy, classroom, and recreational activities.
• Deal appropriately with behavior exhibited by handicapped students.
• Remain calm under stress.
• Understand and maintain confidentiality.
• Follow a work schedule that may change from day to day.
• Perform routine clerical tasks and operate office and educational machines and equipment.
• Successfully supervise students.
• Use safe working conditions.

Qualifications

Education, training, and experience equivalent to the completion of the twelfth grade and at least one year of experience working with handicapped students; completion of college-level courses in special education or a related field is required.

High school graduation or GED, or completion of 48 semester units from an accredited college or university, or a District Assessment Test/County certificate showing compliance with No Child Left Behind (NCLB) federal requirements.

District First Aid Course Certificate must be obtained within the first six months of hire. CPR Certificate and a valid American Red Cross First Aid Certificate are preferred.

Physical Requirements

Pre-K through 3rd Grade

• Sit for prolonged periods of time.
• Stand and walk for prolonged periods of time.
• Frequent bending/stooping, squatting/crouching/kneeling.
• Infrequent climbing.
• Occasional reaching overhead, above shoulder, and horizontally.
• Frequent pushing/pulling, lifting, and maneuvering objects such as wheelchairs and/or walkers with students of a broad range of body weights.
• May lift and/or support/drag up to 150 pounds for short periods of time with assistance if necessary.
• May occasionally to frequently push/pull up to 150 lbs with assistance if necessary.
• Requires simple to firm grasping to seize, hold, grasp, turn, or otherwise work with hands to position students in their wheelchairs, assist with classroom instructional activities, and assist students with dressing tasks.
• Hear sufficiently to perform essential job functions.
• Speak sufficiently to give instructions/commands to students, speak to parents, and other staff.
• Visual acuity enough to monitor students.

4th Grade through Adult

• Sit for prolonged periods of time.
• Stand and walk for prolonged periods of time.
• Occasional to frequent bending/stooping, squatting/crouching/kneeling.
• Infrequent climbing.
• Occasional reaching overhead, above shoulders, and horizontally.
• Frequent pushing/pulling, lifting, and maneuvering objects such as wheelchairs and/or walkers with students of a broad range of body weights.
• May lift and/or support/drag up to 200 pounds for short periods of time with assistance if necessary.
• May occasionally to frequently push/pull up to 200 lbs with assistance if necessary.
• Requires simple to firm grasping to seize, hold, grasp, turn, or otherwise work with hands to position students in their wheelchairs, assist with classroom instructional activities, and assist students with dressing tasks.
• Hear sufficiently to perform essential job functions.
• Speak sufficiently to give instructions/commands to students, speak to parents, and other staff.
• Visual acuity enough to monitor students.

Managing Assaultive Behaviors (MAB) Training

MAB training required depending on student requirements (Autism/SMH more commonly need MAB training).

• Stand on a variety of surfaces.
• Walk/run on a variety of surfaces, at a pace dependent upon the situation.
• Sit on a chair to protect self by bending forward or use the chair as a backwards propelling tool to escape a grab or grip of an attacker.
• Push/pull with sufficient intensity to achieve the desired result.
• May lift and/or carry up to 100 lbs for short periods of time with assistance if necessary.
• Stoop/kneel/crouch/crawl: these movements occur in multiple intervention strategies.
• Reach in any direction, including waist to knee, waist to chest, below knee, chest to shoulder, and/or above shoulder.
• Constant handling: seizing, holding, grasping, turning, or otherwise working with the hand or hands (includes simple and power grasping).
• Fingering: fine finger manipulation is required in releasing an individual’s hand grab/grip, as well as releasing tension and/or constraints.
• Balancing: body postures and maneuvers taught require maintaining body balance through positioning of the lower extremities, including pivoting, rotating, and flipping an individual if required.
• Climbing: in the event of stairs, the employee must be able to climb or descend the stairs as needed, and/or climbing over obstacles or objects such as an upside-down table or chair.
• Twisting: upper and lower torso twisting is required in multiple intervention strategies.
• Speak to the student/co-workers verbally to resolve the situation.
• Hear sufficiently to perform the MAB techniques.
• Visual acuity sufficient to resolve the situation and return the student and employee to safety.