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After years of working in retail and in restaurants, I found my kids, and found what I truly was meant to do. This was when I was employed by The Arbor, a small private non-profit school for Special Needs children. At The Arbor, we basically ignored the formal diagnosis, in terms of hallmarks, and instead focused on each child's individual challenges, designing a specific curriculum using the Carolina Curriculum,...
After years of working in retail and in restaurants, I found my kids, and found what I truly was meant to do. This was when I was employed by The Arbor, a small private non-profit school for Special Needs children. At The Arbor, we basically ignored the formal diagnosis, in terms of hallmarks, and instead focused on each child's individual challenges, designing a specific curriculum using the Carolina Curriculum, a play based system of teaching skills. So, yes, we faked them out. They never knew playing, singing, dancing, crafting, and other fun activities were actually a learning situation, and we weren't about to clue them in. I started as an Assistant Teacher in the toddler classroom. After a while, I became what I called a "wanderer", helping fill-in in whatever classroom had a need. This way I got to work with all the children, from infant through preteen, with just about every condition imaginable. I also became an assistant to the director, taking over many tasks she handled, freeing her up to concentrate on the students. In this position, I created and maintained the curriculum books for the teachers; I acted as the school "techie"; I managed school inventory and purchasing, finding ways to maintain supply levels for less money; as well as various other tasks that needed to be done - I guess you could say I was a "Jill-of-all-trades". Eventually, I was promoted to Lead Teacher for a new class we called the Empowerment Room. These were the children that were the most involved, needs wise, of all the students in the school. Some would always be tube fed, some never out of their wheelchair, some would always need a communication device. But they were all still kids, and full of joy, which they freely shared with us. And to many in the wider world, they couldn't imagine how these children could "do" anything, but we could, and would have the joy of watching them achieve goals. Mentored by the new Director and the consulting Psychologist, we created a cutting edge program for these children, including a sensory library, a Snoezelen space, audio therapy, aromatherapy, customized weight bearing therapies, customized communication devices, customized systems for sitting, reclining and standing, as well as many others. Therapists generally came to the classroom to work with their clients, and we learned from them so we could work with the children on a continuing basis. We maintained a very close working relationship with our parents, above and beyond the quarterly Parent Conferences, addressing their concerns and teaching them what we were doing in the classroom so they could duplicate it at home and so we would not be working at cross-purposes. Students from the other classroom were welcomed to our room to take advantage of our supplies and equipment, as well as to provide interaction time for our children. I was tapped by the director to attend special conferences, and then taught seminars to the rest of the staff. In fact, since there were no continuing education classes offered within the local school systems that addressed our needs, all of the teachers attended outside classes, and the school brought in experts to teach seminars at the school, so we learned from the best in the industry. I still maintained many of my duties as an Administrative Assistant, and added a few new ones. Our new Director started several committees to get feedback from the teachers and get projects going, and I was a member of all of them. One of my favorite extra duties was planning, organizing and presenting our first Student Talent Show, as well as a Father's Day celebration, and our yearly Summer Fun Activities. My experience as a Theatre major, and an art major, and as a former Kindermusik instructor, and a crafts nut came in very handy for these special events, as well as in the classroom. But all in all, what drove me was the kids, watching them strive and succeed against unimaginable odds, seeing their joy, and get my daily dose of hugs - it all provided me with a sense of accomplishing something real, and my deep joy!
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