My T.A. Experience

1. Sticky

1.1. Most T.A. placements work with papers, pens, chalk, and whiteboards; not mine. Being in a special needs classroom is working with bodies. It's working with diapers, spit, and drool. It's sticky and not what I expected.

1.2. Dealing with stuff like this always reminded me how lucky I am for being able to do the basic skills we don't even think about. When you're a quadriplegic, or you have Rhett's Syndrome, or anything else like they have, you basically accept throwing all your dignity out the window. People feed you, take you to the bathroom, wipe your spit off your face, they can't do anything without assistance.

2. Refreshing

2.1. It was the best break I could ever ask for on a tough day, my kids never failed to put a smile on my face.

2.2. Leaving the classroom every day, I felt like a new person. It's like when you walk out of an exam and you have this sense of accomplishment, pride, and relief. That was how I felt every day.

3. "Dab-dab"

3.1. A "dab-dab cloth" is what one of the girls in my class wears around her neck, and wipes her drool with it whenever we look at her and say "dab dab." This is significant to me because even though it's something so small that everyone she knows tells her many times every day, when I say it, it reminds me how close I've gotten to her, and the time I've taken to know these things about her. Most people wouldn't know to go up to her and say "dab dab," but the fact that I do, makes me feel like I'm someone she trusts, and who knows her.

4. Perspective

4.1. The biggest thing I learned in this class is how to see things from another person's point of view. Especially working in a special needs room where their lives are so different from ours

4.2. Every morning when I don't want to get out of bed and go to school, I think about my T.A. kids, (who are the first people I see every day), and then I remember how much these kids want and need me.

4.3. Throughout the semester I genuinely noticed that I didn't complain about little things very much or at all. Last year I might have said to my friends "no I don't want to go to gym class today I'm lazy," but this year that all seemed to stop. Subconsciously I became more grateful for every opportunity like gym class that I have. I have the ability to stand up and run around, which is a lot more than these kids have and I tried to stop taking that for granted.

5. Seizures

5.1. Seizures are something that seem so scary to the average person, they seem like things that only happen to people with epilepsy, or to someone who is about to die, this is not the case for the kids I worked with.

5.2. To the kids in a special needs room, seizures are their life. They're just these things that happen every day; like a cough or a sneeze.

5.3. But sometimes, seizures take even them by surprise. I witnessed a seizure this semester that I will never stop thinking about. Described by teachers as "the worst they had ever seen," it was the biggest learning experience I had. This seizure showed me that I was capable of thinking quick on my feet and making the right decisions for the safety of someone else. I was so proud of the way I collected myself this day, and I will never forget it.