Social Awareness Project

Fransheska Sermeño                                                                                    12-02-14                   ELA                                                                                                     812

Interview

1. What do you do as a paraprofessional and what you do on a daily basis.

As a Paraprofessional, I work in a self-contain class that has twelve students and I work one to one with an autistic student. On a daily basis I try to give the academic support that the student needs. Basically help the student with their problem as an autistic kid like behaveriol problems, health problems, etc and to acheive the goals that the student I work with has in his or her IEP (Individualized Education Program ).

2. Why do you work with these kids and how has this experience changed your point of view on autistic kids?

I like to work with kids in the smaller grades like kindergarden thru second grade. Living and being with these kids everyday, step by step has made me know and see the struggle they have. Knowing that the parent also has to deal with the struggle of these kids makers me give sympathy to them. Also, it makes me think about how the parents feel and how important it is to work together so that they both can help the kid.

3. Why do you think it is important to help autistic kids for the future?

Everyone needs the opportunity to learn no matter if they have a physical or mental condition.

4.Do you enjoy your job? Why or why not.

It really depends on the class and the student you have because there are sometimes where it is stressful and other days when im happy to work with the student.

5. What is the hardest part of your job?

The hardest part would be trying to find the right stratagies for helping the kid because every Little thing can effect him or her that dayñ helping the kid learn the most simplest theing can be the hardest thing for a paraprofessional.

6. What fullfills you most about your job?

What makes me happy is to see the improvments little by little the student makes. Knowing that you had an impact on their education and their life is a really great feeling by the end of the school year.

7. What advice would you give fututre paraprofessionals?

I would tell them to get to know more about the student you work with and to ask as much questions as you need.

Poem

My mother loves me,

even though I repeat the same old things.

You may not understand me,

or the way I feel.

She is patent with me

when I am not.

My mom is there for me

There to hold my hand

and to be with me.

            The procces of writing this poem wasnt too hard as I thought it was going to be. I first thought a bit about how autistic kids would act and feel toward their mom who is there to help them out through this and I also tried to make a limmrik or a haiku but I thought that that a simple poem would get me point through. The social issue/ problem was to show how greatful this kid is about her mom and to I wanted it to show how an autistic kid would act.

                                                   Reading Response

In the book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightime by Mark Haddon

                 The book is mostly about an autistic boy named Christopher who wants to solve the mystery of who murded the neighboor´s dog. Most mystery books are about people who have been killed or murdered, but this book is about a murder of a dog that nobody would find interseting; Chistopher however is intriged. The social issue of the book is about forgiveness and subjectivity. The book is describes how Christopher percives the world. Other issuse like coping with loss and autisum also playa n important part in the book because they show how kids with autisum deal with things.

                The author wants his readers to get that Christopher is a different person and sees people the way he wants to. He can be very good at certain things like math and science but has trouble with easy things like having a conversation or meeting strangers. He also deals with his problems in a bad way, he punches people and has tantrums. Also he seems to not have a reaction to certain and surprising things. Here the author shows that he can act normal but can also act like a completety different person.

                I observed that the author doesnt make his family all nice and happy. He shows the truth of parents with autistic childeren. Not all familys are broken apart and treat there kids harshly but the author describes the trouble of rasing a kid with autisum. I think the book is very interesting with Christopher as the main character because you get to see the reaction and the analysis in his mind.