Teachers and Therapists: Reinforce the good ones

I noticed after perusing my blog topics, that I talk a lot about parent collaboration, the need to include parents, and the tendency for some professionals to discount parent input. But there are so many dedicated teachers and therapists that go above and beyond for their families and children and they need some acknowledgment and discussion.

Working with children with autism is rewarding, but is also very challenging. In the programs where I teach, I am constantly reminded not only of the challenges that school and center-based classroom teachers face, but also the dedication that many of them exhibit to obtain information, resources, and support to work with these wonderful yet challenging kids. Some of the schools that they work in are incredibly under-supported and underfunded, and often, teachers will dig into their own pocket to purchase materials, snacks, and activities for their classrooms. This is not the case of all teachers, and we have all encountered the jaded and miserable teacher who is counting down the days till summer and breaks, but lets not forget about the dedicated teacher that is busting his/her hump to work with and teach children using evidence-based practice. It is a really difficult thing to be a good teacher, and they should be praised for it.

The home-based teacher/therapist has other challenges. It is difficult to find good home-based therapist because the job doesn't always reap the same benefits as a center-based program. At a center, all the kids are there, you drive to one place, have built-in paid prep times and breaks, and have a host of colleagues that you can trouble-shoot with, complain to, and chill out with in the faculty lounge. You have a guaranteed salary and supervision as needed. Health care is provided and summer breaks are also guaranteed, with the option to work should you so choose. Maternity leaves are included, and sick-days are provided without complaint.

The life of the home-based provider is very different, and not always coveted. While the pay (at least in New York State) is not-bad, there are many sacrifices that are made: living out of your car, paying for all your supplies and resources out of pocket, going into some one's home on a daily basis (essentially have no home-base of your own), limited interaction with other team members save monthly team meetings (if you are fortunate enough to be on a team that has monthly meetings), gas prices, last-minute cancellations, dead time between sessions, guilt over bathroom breaks, and guilt over therapists having to cancel and feeling the need to explain why. Additionally, the lines of responsibility of the home-therapist may blur at a much faster and more significant rate. Going into someones home on a daily basis has a very different dynamic than having a student enter your classroom and your domain. Travelling in your car five separate times in the snow differs greatly from driving to and from work one time in a day.

There are a lot of considerations to opt to be a home-based teacher versus a center-based teacher. Most of us opt for home-based because the perceived rewards are better. We see a LOT of progress, even in one session. We get to work with the child one-to-one, establish rapport, and grow to care about the entire family. We see the child in their natural environment and can use that to our advantage.

This post is by no means a rant. Rather pointing out that there are a lot of good teachers dedicated to the field and many considerations they need to address in order to choose their location mode of service provision. Lately a lot of complaints have been surfacing the list-servs about the salaries that are demanded, attitudes and arrogance, and while I think they are well-founded in many situations, I think some praise is due to the good ones out there.