1. What is the biggest struggle when working with special needs?

The biggest struggle is behavior. Specifically, staying on a schedule and having a

consistent routine. When the routine is different or changed a lot, there are a lot

more behavior problems that emerge. You also have to make sure once you walk

through the door, you don't take any personal issues in because they can sense it.

You have to make sure your mood is bright and upbeat because it will have an

effect on their moods.

2. How do you deal with behavioral issues?

There is a de-escalation plan. When behavioral problems tend to occur, you have

to try and eliminate the main issue/problem and attempt and remove them from the

situations which might be setting them off. Try and use distractions to redirect

them onto another topic when something occurs because it allows them to shift

their focus to something that will help de-escalate their behavior.

3. What is the biggest reward when working with special needs?

The biggest reward when working with special needs is seeing how happy they

are. The people she works with are very cheerful and don't ever feel sorry for

themselves, they are proud of themselves, and it is nice to watch how happy they

can be and how that energy can bring light to other people.
4. What made you want to work with children with special needs?

She lost her job when she moved to Maine and wanted to change my profession

since she lost all her clientele when moving. She went to school for PATHS in

early childhood and always felt like she would like to work with children, making

it a more transparent decision to try something new. When she started in the

profession of working with students with special needs, she said it was a flexible

job that worked with her hours, and she was able to get the training she needed

without going back to school. Since then, she has been at the same group home for

ten years, working and assisting more clients daily.

5. What do you do if you are understaffed and placed with multiple students?

Making sure staff has good communication is the biggest thing.

When being understaffed, as they have been more recently since the pandemic, try

and give the students options of different things they can all do. Connect with all

of the staff and try and get on the same page and do the same thing that way, you

can keep an eye on them instead of doing multiple group activities. At the

community center, my mom works at, they tend to do daily activities of bowling,

swimming, yoga, going to the YMCA, going on walks, etc. However, when

understaffed, they try and do one specific activity that everyone will want to

engage in together. This allows fewer things to go on at once.

6. Describe the difference between high-incidence and low-incidence disabilities

Working with low autism-level students, they need minor assistance. They are still

very independent and just need repetition in their life because they have trouble

understanding social cues and how to live on their own and do personal things like

shopping, cooking, etc. Working with high-level autistic people, they need more

attention and help to do basic things. She works with a SIB autistic male that

requires a consistent schedule and will have extreme behavior outbursts when little

things change, or situations arise.

He is knowledgeable and knows anyone's birthday in 20 seconds if you tell them

the year, and he can tell you facts about that exact day. He has a very strong

memory and loves learning about anything weather related.

7. What is one piece of advice you could offer to me as a future teacher who

would want to work in the special education department?

Patience is key! You must be very patient when working with them because more

behavior issues occur daily, and they tend to “test your patience.” But seeing how

happy they are and the challenges they are able to overcome is a gratifying job. It

gives you a mindset of how you, as their staff, can connect with students and be

there every day for them as friends and almost as a mentor.

8. Describe a time you encountered a major challenge at work and what you did

to overcome that.

When working with high-functioning SIB (Self Inflicted Behavior) students, you

need to always be prepared for anything because there are restraints that occur.

There was one time when there was a staff shortage because someone did not

show up. This caused him to get confused and act up because it was never like the

staff to not show up on time. As well, there were a few other things that caused

that day to be very rough with behavior outbursts, and he ended up going into a

restrain while it was just my mom and the one staff. She was able to help calm him

down, but this was a challenge she faced, and she had to take action at the

moment.

9. What is the best way to stay organized in your field?

Keep a constant routine. Always stay on a continual habit because change can

occur to have behavioral problems with some of the people she works with. As

well as making sure you have days planned out and keeping track of behaviors

with notes throughout the day because each day, staff has to take note of how their

behavior was throughout the day and what they did. She said the best way is to

keep a folder of specific notes, so they can't get mixed up with other paperwork.
 10. How do you use positive reinforcements in the classroom? (or in general)

Giving rewards for positive behavior is a common thing they use at the group

home. One guy loves soda, but he has weight issues, so they restrict him to one

soda a week. Especially if he has had excellent behavior, he will get a random

soda reward. For another guy, he is going to get Starbucks coffee. She said this is

one important thing they use because, especially the high-functioning students,

they need constant, so keeping one soda a week but throwing in small rewards

encourages them to know they have been “good.”

This interview was interesting to write and talk about. As this was for early childhood,

and my mom works with autistic adults, so I shifted my questions so they could be

answered by an early childhood educator as well as adults. As I know a lot about who and

the conditions my mom works with, I felt like I learned a couple new things about not

only how she works with diabled adults, but how it can be viewed in an early childhood

perspective. I felt like this gave me a variety of answers because I was able to compare

the differences and similarities as to how the answers can be shaped. I have done other

teacher interviews, with similar topics but with an early childhood educators and seeing

the changes of approaches are interesting to me because these can be applied inside and

outside the classrooms with the range of different ages. I personally enhoy doing these
type of interviews because it gives us as furture educators an look at how other handle

situations and their approach.