So I got accepted to SDSU and I start in the Fall, but I have no idea what to major in. I am pretty sure I want to work with autistic children. I already looked into becoming an occupational therapist, but that requires taking physiology...and science is far from my best subect. I absolutely despise it. I guess I could manage, I'm just looking for something else. I also considered becoming a special education teacher, but I want more options. Can anyone help?
If it helps you, I am looking for more direct contact with them, rather than like a lawyer defending their rights or something along those lines.
Any suggestions are appreciated. :]
2007-02-15 08:34:32 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Education & Reference ➔ Special Education
Being a special education teacher, I am somewhat biased in my opinion, but I would say that the best and most direct way to interact, daily, with kids who are autistic is as a special eduction teacher. I teach a non-categorical class for kids who are "severely handicapped" (the district's designation) so I have students with a variety of disabling conditions such as Down Syndrome, traumatic brain injury, cerebral palsy, and autism. I have 2 full-time assistants in a class of 10 to 12 students. There are also other special ed classes in our area that are specifically designed for students with autism. There are many specialists who work with our students - speech and language, occupational therapy, physical therapy, adaptive physical education, behavior specialists - but my assistants and I are the people who are with the kids for 6 hours a day, 5 days a week. The therapists come once or twice a week, and they do wonderful things, but my assistants and I are the ones who get to form a sustained relationship with the students and their families. Because our class serves students ages 5 to 8, we typically get to have the same students for 3 years (grades K, 1, and 2), so we have the pleasure of watching them learn and mature over the course of time. It's so great to see this kind of progress - for example, we have one child who cried and cried all day and had only the word "NO!" at age 5, who now at age 7 is quite verbal, very social, and a role model to other students. It makes all the frustrations and challenges more than worth it.
On the other hand, there is something to be said for being a specialist, in that you generally don't spend all 6 hours each day with the same kids. Our therapists are itinerant, meaning that they travel from school to school, and they generally spend only a few hours a week with any particular child. One of our specialists remarked that he enjoyed having the "grandpa job" - come in and get the kids all worked up for an hour and then leave the hard stuff to the classroom staff!
All of the jobs I have mentioned are rewarding, challenging, sometimes frustrating, and never boring. I would suggest that you do a little bit of investigating and maybe some job shadowing so you can see what type of position might best suit you.
2007-02-15 10:07:07 · answer #1 · answered by sonomanona 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
There are many careers/areas of study that work with/can look at autistic children
1. special education teacher
2. social worker
3. psychologist
4. Child Development
5. nursing
6. medicine
7. speech therapist
8. music therapist
9. art therapist
All are going to require some science and you probably would want to do some biology as so much of autism research considers the biological impact (in the past people thought it was psychological but most current research is biological based). You don't need to be a biologist but you want to have some understanding of it.
2007-02-15 08:43:12 · answer #2 · answered by Dr_Adventure 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In the first place I think you should be A social worker were you help kids get friends because whats more important to a kid than having friends and if you want to know how it is for an autistic kid to learn how to make friends its hard, pain staking, and the kid knows they have autism they sometimes feel like their use-less and think why they have this disorder.
2007-02-15 09:01:08 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
My mom is a special ed. teacher and she works with some autistic childeren. Its a pretty interesting job, and if you are really dedicated, teachers can make a big difference in this field of work. Good luck!
2007-02-15 08:43:50 · answer #4 · answered by Nabiha... 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My autistic son needed speech therapy, so I guess I would suggest that. Congratulations on being accepted to Uni :)
2007-02-15 08:43:27 · answer #5 · answered by Wendy 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋