Educational Assistants: First Responders with Violent Students
Parents have seen me post about Educational Assistants.
I don’t think the general public and mostly parents whose kids don’t need an EA understand how important their role is.
You see, in the past five to ten years kids have been getting more challenging to manage. This is the result of the shifting economy causing more parents to have to work and work longer hours with sometimes more than one job. It is also the result of technological change where even though more connected, we are increasingly disconnected, parents from kids and kids from play and nature.
You see, we all need connections to feel secure, without which we experience anxiety, the chief disturbance seen in kids today.
It is the EA in your child’s school who seek to be the social glue, keeping some kids together and others from freaking out. However when that child freaks out, happening more often than parents know, then it is the EA who acts as the behavioral and emotional fireman, seeking to contain explosions.
So parents, appreciate that without EAs, all students would be at risk of being caught up in the explosions and aftermath of behavioral outbursts. And the EA does their job, now, in this day and age, with no to limited prior knowledge of the very students who are explosive. They at times do their job with more protective gear than the police riot squad. EAs are the first responders in the schools keeping things safe when students act out. Their job has the record for lost time injuries, greater than any other service profession including police.
So parents, if you want your children to have a good day at school, start at home finding time to spend with them, limit theirs and your online activity, and inform yourself about and support the role of the Educational Assistants.
When you see your kid after school today, give them a big hug, enjoy a snack or activity which can include making the meal together and ask if any other kid lost it at school today. Then think of the EA, working on behalf of all kids trying to keep a safe and supportive environment for all students.
If you support the role of the EA and if you want more parents to read this, then please share this post.
I am Gary Direnfeld and I am a social worker. Check out all my services and then call me if you need help with a personal issue, mental health concern, child behavior or relationship, divorce or separation issue or even help growing your practice. I am available in person and by Skype.
Gary Direnfeld, MSW, RSW
gary@yoursocialworker.com
www.yoursocialworker.com for counseling and support
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Gary Direnfeld is a social worker. Courts in Ontario, Canada, consider him an expert in social work, marital and family therapy, child development, parent-child relations and custody and access matters. Gary is the host of the TV reality show, Newlywed, Nearly Dead, parenting columnist for the Hamilton Spectator and author of Marriage Rescue: Overcoming the ten deadly sins in failing relationships. Gary maintains a private practice in Dundas and Georgina Ontario, providing a range of services for people in distress. He speaks at conferences and workshops throughout North America. He consults to mental health professionals as well as to mediators and collaborative law professionals about good practice as well as building their practice.
