Sunday, August 24, 2014

Special Ed Teachers and Police Officers

I know you are already wondering what these two groups have in common.  Let's start with the fact that both teachers and police officers are required to take so many classes every year to keep updated. 

Did you know all law enforcement across the country are being required to take classes how to handle a person with autism spectrum disorders?  They are taught to recognize the symptoms and how the officer should act with an autistic person. 

Special ed teachers work daily with special needs kids, but it's only been in the last few years when officers started coming in contact with young adults with these symptoms.  Most officers didn't recognize what was going on unless they knew someone who had these kind of stressors. 

Even so teachers are the first line for working with special needs kids, and they deserve a lot of credit for working with these kids and still remaining sane.  A family may have one child like this and work with them 24/7, but a teacher may have many kids like this in her class room for eight hours. 

Working with a special education child takes a family, teachers and a community in order to help them live normal lives.   

Thank you for reading.  Have a wonderful weekend, and I'll see you next Sunday.

Sandra K. Marshall, Author
@Eirelander Publishing
http://www.eirelanderpublishing.com
https://www.facebook.com/sandra.marshall.98
Twitter @AuthSKMarshall 

7 comments:

Carol Ericson said...

Sandy, I have two friends with autistic sons - both in their 20's now. One just moved into a group home where he has a job. Cops and teachers have some of the toughest jobs!

Melissa Keir said...

Thank you for recognizing how hard it is being a teacher these days. Add in to a classroom, gifted students who have an asynchronistic development and each teacher may have students two to three levels above and below the grade they are assigned to teach.

In my classroom of third/fourth graders, I will have students who are reading at a basic first grade level to students at a high school level. Fully inclusive classrooms are dynamic. No one is the same. :)

Sandy said...

Carol, I agree that cops and teachers have very difficult jobs.

Oh my gosh, Melissa, how do schools expect you to teach at so many different levels?

Jill said...

Sandy,

A topic very near and dear to my heart as I have a little guy on the spectrum. I've already had a cop mistakenly believe I was kidnapping my own son when I was trying to deal with him having a meltdown in the rain. Had to call my husband to verify who I was and show her my id. Not fun! An honest mistake, but scary moment and I definitely think she needed more training.

Sandy said...

Jill, thank you for your comment.

The cop should've asked for your id first before causing such a fuss. All she would have had to do is run your license, look at your id and that would have been enough. Yes, she needed more training. Probably new with a fear about kid abductions. Glad it turned out okay.

Kari Rogers Miller said...

Great topic Sandy! Both jobs are so important!
Kari


















Sandy said...

Yes, they are, Kari. I'm going to be writing more on this topic in a later blog.