Bad school memory- from light to heavy

Jolynne_Smyth
Sat, 15 Nov 2008 07:00:02 +0000

These sad stories are heartbreaking! I’ve subbed as a teacher’s aide in special ed classes (& as an aide in a few regular/mixed classes) this year. Some teachers are phenomenal – others (& some of the aides) are mean/angry (probably frustrated, but handling it very badly). Especially in the autistic classes – I would try to read books to the (mainly unresponsive) kids and the other (grumpy) aide would get mad and make them watch television. The rough aides would bark at the kids and scowl a lot. They’d yell at the kids when they fidgeted while watching a movie (one they’ve seen 5 times already). When I’ve commented on this situation (to a variety of people/parents) most look at me as if I’m being unduly negative and other teachers say: “you don’t know what they go through every day, etc. etc.”

Btw, we are a district widely-known for our special ed program (& it’s good in that there are only 5-6 kids per class, lots of one-one aides, etc.). However, I haven’t subbed in a while, in part because seeing how the autistic kids were treated (& how the higher functioning ones were not challenged) was a real downer.