Watching the SLP.

When most people think of a classroom substitute they think of a substitute teacher. Likely a college student trying to make ends meet who babysits some kids doing a premade assignment until the bell rings. That isn't exactly what substitutes do, they certainly do more, however this isn't my job title. I'm a substitute paraprofessional, also called a substitute teacher's aide and I work almost exclusively in special needs classrooms helping teachers and students.

This isn't going to be a story about my personal self-growth, how I'm 'changing the world one child at a time,' nor will it be a story where I infantilize very real, disabled students. As someone who lives with a disability herself and who works with disabled populations that need more accommodations than many, far too often stories pretend to be about disabled people but aren't. Often it is about an adult 'learning' and 'growing' from 'sweet' disabled children. Many disabled children are wonderful and kind, they can also be lazy, feisty, and have all manner of human personality traits. These are individuals, and they deserve all the help we can give them, just as every child deserves to be given help.

I picked up my job in January of 2021 between high school and college. Mask mandates were in effect at schools, half of the students were stuck at home learning through a screen, and deep anxiety surrounded health and safety inside of schools. That first semester was relatively uneventful, I got the hang of the ins and outs, I helped teachers manage students and help with activities, did some one-on-one work, and came home exhausted each day. However, in the next semester (when I'm writing this piece) I helped classrooms where instead of taking the kids to the speech-language therapist the therapist came into the classroom. I was able to observe them teach students how to use their AAC devices, understand phrases, communicate without words, or communicate in longer sentences, all on a limited salary, and in a very stressful overworked environment.

While the overall learning process tends to be slow, it is also exciting to see someone beginning to understand new words and phrases in real-time. You're watching someone become quite literally empowered. People need help to become empowered, whether it is rallying together around a shared cause, helping someone start the next chapter of their life, or giving people the power to speak for themselves, the best way we can help others is by empowering them.

Myself, I'm not a trained SLP (speech-language pathologist) so I don't have the proper language to describe all of what the school SLP does but I can go over the basics, and how I fit into the picture. A lot of the work involves association, images, questions, and students pointing to the correct image or phrase, or creating a sentence on their device in response to a question. It often takes multiple associations and different exercises to really ground the student in what is being communicated. Additionally, continious work with the student to reinforce these skills is required, and individual work would be much better for many students than the limited time a school SLP has.

This is where I come in.

Once again I'm not trained or educated, so I can't give therapy, however, there are simple word exercises and using the AAC devices simple ways for me to communicate with students as the day goes on. I try to repeat some of the exercises I saw the SLP do throughout the day while working on assignments or in a gentle way between assignments and breaks. I also help with tasks unrelated to communication such as helping students walk or clean up after themselves. As a substitute teacher's aide I don't always just fill in for the permanent position, I often fill in vacancies when schools are understaffed. Meaning, that substitute paras are sometimes the only ones doing this work.

Bit by bit, paraprofessionals, and substitute paraprofessionals do the work to help empower students who are often the most marginalized in society empower themselves in whatever ways they can. From those who need many accommodations to those who just need a few. From students that can barely sign, to students who struggle to string words and sentences together. It requires a lot of schooling to successfully offer therapy and understand how to work from the ground up, schooling I don't have. However, if I can supplement and work as an assistant to teachers helping these students on a daily basis and following what I see in the work SLPs do, maybe I can be a true asset.

It takes a village to raise a child. My work doesn't change the world, nor does it create a massive impact on the planet as a whole. Frankly, I don't know if I could take the pressure of such an ambition as saving the world. But my work does impact a few children, it helps a few people in a few small but critical ways. That's the least I can do.