Inclusion Support Assistants
Assist and support children with specific developmental needs, under the direction of teaching staff, to integrate with the class and develop their social, emotional, physical and cognitive skills.
Maths with Ben
You are an inclusion support assistant in a Year 4 classroom, working beside Ben, a student who finds written maths tasks hard. It is 11am. Ms Anders has set a worksheet of problems for the class. Ben has stared at his page for five minutes and just pushed his pencil off the desk. The class has twenty minutes.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
I can't do it. It's too hard and everyone else is already writing. Can you just do it for me? You know how. Please. I'll do the next one. I promise, I'll do the next one all by myself.
Break the first question into a small step and ask Ben to try just that
Ben tries the small step, and it works. He tries the next with a bit of help. By the end of the lesson he has done four on his own. The help shrank as he gained confidence.
Do the answers for him quietly, so he does not feel behind in front of the class
Ben hands in a full page and Ms Anders assumes he understands. A week later his test shows the gap. Doing it for him protected his feelings today and hid what he needs.
Tell him that everyone has to try and that he has to give it a go by himself first
Ben gets upset and slides under his desk. You were right that he needs to try, but you skipped the step of making the task something he could try. Encouragement needs a way in.
Ben's so dumb. He's always getting help. Why does he get a special teacher just for him? That's not fair. He can't even do the easy ones. Everyone says so. Why is he even in our class?
Tell Callum off sharply in front of the class so everyone hears that it is not acceptable
The class goes silent, and Ben hears every word of the scolding as well as the insult. Callum is embarrassed and resentful. The unkind comment was dealt with by making more attention on Ben.
Take Callum aside quietly, explain that everyone learns differently, and let Ms Anders know
Callum mumbles that he is sorry and Ms Anders raises it with the class the next day. It handles the moment, though Callum might have been asked what he thought, not told.
Quietly ask Callum to step out with you, listen to him, and tell him what helps in this class
Callum says he thinks Ben gets an easy ride. You explain that help looks different for everyone. He is less sure of himself afterwards, and later offers Ben a spare pencil.
How was his day, really? I know you see more of him than the teacher does. Is he behind in maths? Is the teacher happy with him? You can tell me, I won't say you told me.
Tell her honestly what you think about his maths and how the teacher feels about it
Mrs Collins is upset and tells Ms Anders what you said. Ms Anders feels undermined, and you feel responsible. Judgements about progress belong to the teacher, not the assistant.
Share the good moments you saw today, and suggest she book a time with Ms Anders
Mrs Collins smiles at the story about the four questions and books a meeting. She feels she is being told the truth, and you stay within your role.
Tell her you cannot discuss anything about school at all, and she should email the office
It is correct, but Mrs Collins feels shut out and goes home worried. A warm word about his day, within your role, would have been appropriate.
How it went
By three o'clock Ben had finished four questions on his own, Callum had offered a pencil, and Mrs Collins had a meeting booked. Support work means doing just enough, never more, and knowing where your role starts and stops. Does that kind of careful helping appeal to you?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: The boy who hid under the table
A fictional case set in a primary school classroom where you support one student alongside the class teacher.
The situation
Dev was an inclusion support assistant working with Ben, a nine-year-old with autism and some trouble with noise. Every day at about ten, when the class moved from quiet reading to a group activity, Ben crawled under his desk and refused to come out. The teacher, Ms Anders, was worried about the other children's learning, and had suggested moving Ben to a separate room for those twenty minutes.
What they did
Dev kept a note of when Ben went under the table and what had just happened. The pattern was the sudden noise of chairs scraping. Dev suggested to Ms Anders that Ben be given a warning card before the change, a quiet job to start with, and a place near the edge of the group. Dev made the card with Ben, using pictures he picked himself, and practised the new routine with him for a few days.
How it turned out
Within a fortnight Ben was joining the group activity most mornings, and when he did go under his desk it was for a shorter time. Ms Anders dropped the idea of the separate room and asked Dev to show her the card system so she could use it in other lessons.
What would you do?
- Why was noticing the pattern more useful than moving Ben away?
- How would you work with a teacher who sees the problem differently from you?
- What does it mean to include someone, and not just place them in the room?