[Curious18]

Hello haven't been on the website in a long time. I was wondering what people thought about program/classroom responsibilities. See I work as an ABA para in a special program for ASD students. It seems that Case Management is the new norm. I don't mean collecting data and such. It has become my responsibility to create all programming curriculum based off IEP objections and implement them as well as clinical and progress reports. Does this practice happen to all you as well or is it just a passing of the buck on my programs part? As for credentials I am not a Special Ed certified teacher or even certified as a teacher at all, just a para, tutor, aid, whichever your districts label people.

[LaLaLou]

In my district, the case manager is the teacher of record and is responsible for creating and writing the IEP and for recording the progress. Paras help with collecting data, preparation and organization of materials.

[whatever]

Not the norm here for sure.

My paras are discouraged from/not allowed to do any of that. In one district, it was even specified in the contract. They are to assist with the lessons and curriculum I provide. Yes, there may be prep, organization, or data collection involved but all lesson plans and case management have to originate from me.

My paras have access to (but not their own copies of) the IEP records and goals/progress. That is just sound practice. They are free to look at the student records for the students they are working with daily.

I feel incredibly lucky. My paras have been with me for several years so we know each other well by this point. More importantly, they know our students very well. Both are real go-getters too. Both are college-educated.

I used them as co-teachers so I treated them as such. Both are great to come to me with ideas, books, lessons, whatever... But I pretty much vetted all those ideas and things and if it needed work to expand it, I tried to be the one to put in that work. They definitely don't get paid enough to work off the clock.

Maybe it is different since it is advertised as a ABA position.