My experience of having a teaching assistant throughout my school years: An autistic adult’s perspective.
By Josh Collins: Our Newsletter writer at Reachout ASC
September 2024
Teaching Assistants can work 1:1 with some autistic children in schools.
From my first day of reception to the final question on my third physics paper in June of 2016, I have had a teaching assistant sat beside me, or with me, in some capacity. For many across the country, a teaching assistant is going to be one of the people they spend the most time with. I was not a unique case; this was also true for me.
Over my time, I have developed strong emotional bonds with teaching assistants. Other times, I have had the opposite; having either silently or very verbally wishing to have someone else in their place. Regardless of how I feel about them, they have all bagsied a plot of land in my memory and summative ideal of a teaching assistant.