Without giving away too much of my personal information, I have been in the field of Special Education for almost.... for a long, long time.
(big blank where I deleted my opinion of myself)
Which is why I think I am somewhat qualified to comment here.
I think too many girls are going into Speech or Special Education who do not have certain qualities essential for those fields.
in no particular order:
limited English vocabulary
limited expressive vocabulary
poor eye contact
dull personalities
lack of exposure to a variety of reading genres and materials
limited knowledge of basic facts (called fund of knowledge)
It worries me. You cannot go into special ed because you want to make a lot of money. It is Chinuch. Unless you will move up the chain in the public school system, you're income will be limited.
You cannot go into a field like this, planning to work one-on-one privately without mentors or classroom experience or peer review.
If you somewhat mumble, are not articulate, and have weak or bland facial expressions, you may not be the best person for this chosen field.
Just because you want a job around people (vs. accounting, computers, graphics, which involve computers or numbers) doesn't mean you are cut out to diagnose, remediate, motivate, teach, inspire, etc.
You don't have to have gone to Camp Simcha, been a Bnos Leader, camp head counselor, etc., to be good at this. But you have to have shown some aptitude somewhere to someone.
Perhaps an aptitude test which indicates strengths and weaknesses.
I'd love to be proven wrong, in years to come.
Am I on target, or do ya'll think I'm a whining teaching has-been who feels threatens by youngsters??
3 comments:
Excellent post! Your point isn't only for therapy job applicants. The qualifications you mentioned are needed for ANY job. What ever happened to basic communication and interpersonal skills?
Sadly, it is even worse with yeshiva boys.
The girls are under so much pressure to have their whole lives planned (yes I used a baaad word!)by the time they are done their seminary year, many just go for the most common thing, assuming it will work out.
Add to that the pressure of finishing quickly, and hey really don't give themselves the chance to start school and figure it out.
I think you're dead-on target. Every job has some fundamental skills attached to it. I don't know if I agree with all of the qualities you listed- I don't know if a person needs to have an expansive knowledge of reading genres and materials to be successful in Special Ed- but of course there is a "type" of person who is more suited for the position than others.
Some places of employment require you to take an aptitude test before they'll hire you and I think that should definitely be implemented, specifically, in the Special Education field (perhaps even at the college level, before they reach the employment stage.)
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