SNA

Role: Foster Participation

This means enabling and encouraging the child to take part in social and academic activities. Part of this role will involve encouraging other students with special educational needs. (Halliwell, 2003)

Fosters

Participation

Question: What challenges do you think may occur in fulfilling this part of your role?

Promote Independence

This means that pupils become confident and are able to join in their learning experiences without adult support.(Halliwell, 2003)

Promote

Independance

Question: What do you think you need to watch out for as an SNA when promoting independent learning?

Role: Raise Achievement

Special Education students have the right to an education and to meet their potential. As a SNA it is your role,under the guidance of a teacher, to support the student/s to achieve the goals and aspirations set out in their IEP. (Halliwell, 2003)

Raise

Achievement

Question: What do you think this entails?

Understanding

Understanding

An SNA works closely with children with special needs in education. Many children and adults with special needs have experienced a feeling of exclusion due to their disability. An SNA must understand this and the basic human need to feel included. An SNA must be willing to gain understanding of the many challenges, physical, academic, emotional and social faced by students with special needs.

Caring/Friendly/Kind

Friendly, Caring/ Kind

An SNA is a role of care and one that involves close interaction with others on a daily basis, in what can be a bustling and busy environment. Being friendly is vital to ensure other in the environment can feel relaxed with you in close proximity. Building positive relationships is vital and these qualities will help build and maintain positive relationship with both adults and children.

Willing to learn

Some SNAs initially fear they will not have the skills to adequately support the children with special needs that they will be working with, especially if these needs are high. However, an SNA who enters the position with a caring nature and is willing to observe and learn will become a valuable asset to students and teachers in the classroom. Watching the strategies used by teachers when they interact with students with special needs and being willing to accept other ways of approaching the child with special needs means they will become efficient and effective at supporting the child with special needs. Each child's needs are individual.

Patient and calm

The experiences you encounter in an educational setting will vary greatly. In working with your children with special needs there are going to be times when you will need an immense amount of patience. The reasons for this can vary from behaviour to allowing children time to make mistakes in order to learn.

Just because a child has special needs does not mean they will not test boundaries, particularly with an SNA when they identify an authority difference between an SNA and a teacher. You may be tested on a regular basis, by both your special needs students and mainstream students.

Independent

Independent

You ability to be independent will increase as you become more experienced. You will have times when you are the only adult who can make a particular decision at a particular time and you need to be confident and independent at these times. This is not to say that you cannot seek advice from teachers when appropriate but a teacher or other adult will not always be beside you so you will need to be able to develop your ability to work independently.

Honest/Trustworthy

There will be times when confidential information needs to be shared with you as an SNA to meet the needs of students. You will be trusted with this information and must maintain confidentiality.

There may also be times when you are placed in the spotlight regarding particular incidents and you must remain honest (despite a possible urge to protect the students you work closely with if the incident reflects poorly on their choices). The outcomes of incidents and student learning from such incidents relies on you always being honest about your observations.

Also - if you do not know how to do something - be honest and ask. This will build trust between yourself and the teacher and help you learn.

Honest/Trustworthy

Observant

Observant and intuitive

Being observant is an important aspect of being an SNA. It allows you to meet your role by being able to identify cues, avert potential crises and offer support when is is needed but knowing when to step back when it is not.

This means being observant of many factors simultaneously - the ability to do this improves with experience.

"... you will need to be watchful and involved so you can foresee students’ needs and address their concerns when they lack the ability to tell you about them." (All Star Directories, 2019)

Self aware

Self-aware

Being aware of your own dispositions will allow you to identify times when you may not necessarily be meeting your role as an SNA to the best possible outcomes e.g. motherly instincts, perceptions about the ability of an age level or special need, your awareness of cultural differences

Disability Act

In short, the Disability Act 2005 places a statutory obligation on public service providers to support access to services and facilities for people with disabilities. Under the Act, people with disabilities are entitled to:

Have their health and educational needs assessed.

Have individual service statements drawn up, setting out what services they should get.

Access independent complaints and appeals procedures.

Access public buildings and public service employment.

The Act also provides for restrictions on genetic testing

EPSEN Act

The aims of the Act are:

• to make further provision for the education of people with special educational needs
• to ensure that their education takes place, as far as possible, in an inclusive environment
• to ensure that they have the same right as everyone else to avail of and benefit from appropriate education
• to help children with special educational needs to leave school with the skills necessary to participate, to the level of their capacity, in an inclusive way in the social and economic activities of society and to live independent and fulfilled lives
• to provide for the greater involvement of parents of children with special educational needs in relation to the education of their children
• to establish the National Council for Special Education (this Council has already been set up and the Act will give it a statutory basis)
• to confer certain functions on Health Boards in relation to the education of people with special educational needs
• to establish an independent appeals system - the Special Education Appeals Board.

Child Protection:

Children First Act (2015)

The safety and welfare of children is everyone's responsibility!

The Act provides for a number of key child protection measures, as follows:

• A requirement on organisations providing services to children to keep children safe from harm and to produce a Child Safeguarding Statement;

• A requirement on defined categories of persons (mandated persons) to report child protection concerns over a defined threshold to the Child and Family Agency;

• A requirement on mandated persons to assist the Child and Family Agency in the assessment of a child protection risk, if requested to do so by the Agency;

• Putting the Children First Interdepartmental Implementation Group on a statutory footing.

(Children First Legislation, 2015)