# data[].attributes.headline
What do you remember about non-teacher/professional assessments from Special Education Part 1? 

# data[].attributes.subject
What do you remember about non-teacher/professional assessments from Special Education Part 1? 

# data[].attributes.body
To be honest the course was taken May 2016 and I don’t remember learning about non-teacher/professional assessments. Nothing that I wouldn’t already know about from practicum before working full-time as a teacher. I was aware that child psychologists, CAS, doctors etc., are consulted and in practicum parents where I was placed were very involved in their children’s lives and did not see this as a problem. The only thing they may have had an issue with was their child being labelled. It’s a very sensitive situation but most parents just want to get the assistance their children need to be success in school.

# data[].attributes.headline
How does society's diverse and changing nature play a role in obtaining and implementing the recommendations of non-teacher professionals?

# data[].attributes.subject
How does society's diverse and changing nature play a role in obtaining and implementing the recommendations of non-teacher professionals?

# data[].attributes.body
The obvious ones like it’s a remote community, we have to bring the professionals onto the reserve ($, time and reluctance on professionals part) or set up tele-health (i.e. video conferencing). It usually falls entirely on our shoulders to contact outside agencies, negotiate a contract, etc.  Some professionals lack cultural awareness about First Nations communities and it is a major set-back to get assistance. The cost is a major factor. It is so expensive to bring them here.

# data[].attributes.headline
What do you know about parents who access private non-teacher assessments for their children? How would you bring up accessing non-teacher professional supports to parents for a student with special needs? What role does your school team play?

# data[].attributes.subject
What do you know about parents who access private non-teacher assessments for their children? How would you bring up accessing non-teacher professional supports to parents for a student with special needs? What role does your school team play?

# data[].attributes.body
No parents access private non-teacher assessments because there is just no motivation to do so and there aren’t any non-teacher professionals available in the community nor close by. Parents would have to do this themselves and most of them struggle with alcohol addiction, do not have a phone/vehicle and lack of money to travel to let’s say Winnipeg. Teachers talk to parents and SERTs. The majority of the time teachers do a home visit (I always have), sometimes SERTs will (that is very rare and I have never had a SERT offer to do this and I mean there are only 3 of them so I don’t expect them to).  We have tried having parents come to the school but it rarely works out due to lack of interest, and drinking. Everything is within walking distance so not having a vehicle should not be an excuse.

# data[].attributes.headline
What do you know about your board's access to non-teacher professionals? What do you want to find out?

# data[].attributes.subject
What do you know about your board's access to non-teacher professionals? What do you want to find out?

# data[].attributes.body
What I know about our “board” is basically just our school department we do not have an actual board that makes these decisions it is all based on what the Special Education department does.

# data[].attributes.headline
Think about a time where you've experienced a non-teacher professional working with a student. What was the situation like?

# data[].attributes.subject
Think about a time where you've experienced a non-teacher professional working with a student. What was the situation like?

# data[].attributes.body
Last year when I was teaching grade 7 we had a student that had severe ODD, suicidal thoughts and tendencies (and had attempted multiple times) and was sexually assaulted. We had them work with our Special Education director who is also an art therapist. The withdrawal from class was positive for the student because they were able to hone their artistic skills (she is amazing! I’ll include a picture of a painting she created in one of her sessions where she decided to give it to me). They were able to have a chance to deal with all the negative emotions that were being stored away but causing disruptions in class and in their personal lives. I was able to sit in a couple times and saw the negative emotions the student was harbouring turn into a therapeutic release. The student would come back to class like a brand new person. The environment in the classroom changed drastically. My other students felt more at ease and comfortable when the student was in a better mind-frame and so did I.

# data[].attributes.headline
Consider your previous experiences with professional non-teacher assessments. What was it like? What impact did it have on the student?

# data[].attributes.subject
Consider your previous experiences with professional non-teacher assessments. What was it like? What impact did it have on the student?

# data[].attributes.body
We have speech language pathologists (they will be here the week of April 23rd). I’d have to email spec ed to see if I could meet with them after school if they are free. We have a psychologist coming in May 3rd to assess students And we have OT services through tele-health. We are in the process of getting audiology services but have hit a few bumps in the road and probably won’t have those services in place until next year. Optometrist is through the Nursing Station. We have an available child psychologist…but the Special Education department has had issues with that one! Not always available and some of the suggestions just do not fit with the culture and economic situation on the reserve. (I did not know any of this information until I emailed the above question to my SERT.. this information should be emailed to all teachers!!)

I have not had many experiences with professional non-teacher assessments with the exception of my students being pulled out for speech therapy or art therapy.

The SERT performs the speech therapy with my student and I have not been able to go into the room to see what it is like with the constraining schedules we have, and lack of support in class (if I had someone to cover me then I would like to go and see this in progress). However, we have had days where 1/3 and 2/3 of the staff have not shown up for work and then all teachers are stretched thin and the EAs (for our school we have Native Language Teachers and Tutor Escorts that work one-on-one with students) then are dispersed to cover classrooms that do not have a teacher or are missing an “EA” for the children that are higher needs.

What I remember is that the students that are pulled out of class for speech therapy some are very reluctant as if they are embarrassed or feel like are different from others. They really do not like to be taken out of class and have their routine disrupted.

Students that are taken out of class for art therapy (we have a couple of people that work for the Pikangikum Health Authority that come 1-2 times monthly to work with high risk students that have suicidal ideation, are self-harming etc. The students in my class that are taken out for this LOVE IT! They always ask when the non-teacher professional is coming back and they always tell me what they worked on and they have even given me some of there work.  See the picture attached of a painting created by one of my grade 4 students. Art therapy has been a very positive impact on my students and have brought them closer to the other girls who are part of the workshops as well.