Special Needs Students

Working as a special needs teacher’s assistant I think the idea of year round schooling would benefit children who are in these types of programs. Children especially with autism need a structured schedule and a year round school schedule would be beneficial for these children. Working with children with autism I see the struggles that are faced on a daily basis, when they come back to school after only a night. When they return from summer vacation it is very difficult to get these kids back on track where we left off the year prior. I have to admit that it is difficult to get their focus back after a week break but there isn’t as much struggle as there is after the three month vacation. Year round schools would allow for more time to focus on the needs these children face. Some children with special needs face the difficulty of retaining information and if they were in a year round school concepts could be reiterated a number of times and there may be some hope of some retention. Unlike in a traditional calendar school, there is all this focus on concepts, then there is a break, the children come back and the cycle starts all over again until another break occurs and then before you know it the kids are off for the summer. If teachers and assistants were allowed more time throughout the year to work with them more of these children would gain independence and retention of daily life skills. A recent example that I can think of is we are potty training a second grader. While he is at school there is tremendous progress. A few weeks ago he was out of school for a few days and in that time all his progress of using the bathroom regressed. The sense of gaining independence is like children doing exceptionally well on a standardized test. It is important to keep children on a regular school schedule, but even more so children within the special needs program.