Forums » Smalltalk » AMA: I volunteered in a special education class.

It was about three years ago as I quit volunteering once the teacher I worked with got promoted, but I put in two years there before then. For privacy I will not be using the names or genders of the students I worked with, but feel free to ask me questions.

Hello Katia, thank-you very much for your work.

As a regular classroom teacher who has special needs students I was wondering what you found most challenging and also rewarding when you worked with these children?

For myself what is most rewarding is to see the progression and self-confidence they take as they try to things they might not have wanted to in the past.

To be honest? I didn't really find anything challenging, though I should mention that all of the kids in this classroom were on the higher functioning side of things, though most of them read at a much lower level then their nonspecial ed peers. It was basically a English classroom to cater to these special ed students. The other reason I didn't feel anything to be challenging is that I am on the autism spectrum myself and my brother is as well, but in his case he is pretty much at the bottom of the spectrum. So compared to growing up with him and his...behavioral issues, these kids were a breeze.

As for what I found most rewarding, mostly that was simply interacting with the kids and being well regarded by them. I rather like children, English class was my favorite growing up and I just honestly enjoyed spending time with them and helping them. I just felt rather in my element with them with is a nice feeling that I didn't have much growing up. Honestly I just rather enjoyed working there and would have continued until covid hit had the teacher I worked with not been promoted. It's just that I knew the teacher I was working with and I felt less comfortable about the idea of working with a stranger.

Thank-you for your candid answers and your volunteer work with these student and their teacher. ❤️