Thursday, August 22, 2013
Introduction- Catherine Valantasis
Hi all! My name is Catherine Valantasis and I currently live in Warren with my parents and my two brothers. I am in the Autism and Related Disabilities program. I have been an Instruction Specialist at The Rich Center for Autism for about a year and have primarily worked with children of preschool age. I have two co-teachers and there are four children in my classroom altogether. Out of those four children, two of them are my attachments. I am responsible for conducting two Discrete Trial Training sessions for each child throughout the day, as well as developing lesson plans and assisting my co-teachers during structured and unstructured group activities. This is my first experience taking an online course and, I have to admit, I am a little nervous. I look forward to working with and getting to know all of you throughout the semester!
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Welcome Catherine! This is my first online class and blog! I am super nervous about it but excited at the same time. I found it so interesting to hear what it is that you do. I am a general Ed teacher with very little formal special education training. I am interested to learn what you meant by "attachment". Never heard that term. It sounds like you really enjoy what you do. ;)
ReplyDeleteI absolutely do enjoy what I do! What I mean by attachment is that I am assigned to two children and am responsible for creating their lesson plans, based on the goals of their IEP's, conducting work times with them, and tracking their progress. It is definitely a challenging job, but I am proud to say that I love what I do! :)
ReplyDeleteI have little experience in your field but and extremely interest in the information I have read about the growing number of students with Autism. I am not familiar with the center and wanted to know how families choose between he public school options or a specialized center? Is the public school system responsible for paying for the child's education at the center?
ReplyDeleteHi my name is Kelly also. I have no experience in the field and am very much out of my element. Although I feel that education is never a waste. I look forward to ideas from classmates and information that I may received from them. Nice to meet you!
DeleteTo answer your question Kelley B., The Rich Center for Autism is actually located on Youngstown State University's campus. A lot of families choose to send their newly-diagnosed children to the center in order to provide an early intervention for their children. We have even gained students from their school district because of teasing or bullying. So, I would definitely say there are a number of reasons why families choose our center. As far as funding is concerned, our students are eligible for what is called the Ohio Autism Scholarship, which provides our center with the funds to educate our students. I hope this answered your questions! :)
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