2. Who am I?
• My name is Alyssa and I have spent much time working with children and have
a strong passion for it.
• In my spare time I enjoy spending time with family and friends, being with my 1
year old dog Lily, being outside, traveling, going to concerts and shopping.
• Through middle school and high school I babysat for many different families
and I nannied for three summers in a row for two young boys. These summers I
was with the boys all day long each week taking them places, engaging them in
activities and caring for them.
• I have my Associate’s Degree from Columbus State Community College in Early
Childhood Development and am working towards my Bachelors in Early
Childhood From Ashland University
3. More about me…
• When I started at Columbus State I was employed at Stepping
Stones Learning Center where I was a lead toddler teacher for
about a year and half where I planned for the children and cared
for them
• I now am a Lead Toddler teacher at Bright Horizons Riverside
Children Center which is affiliated with Ohio Health. I plan for
the children, observe and assess them, care for them and
interact with all children and families
4. Why do I want to teach
Special Needs?
• I started spending some time with special needs children
early on when I was in high school and really enjoyed it
• I spent much time with these two autistic boys both in
second grade. I was fascinated by the way they carried
themselves, interacted with one another and the way they
acted with all the other children.
• It is really interesting to me to see all of the different children
classified as special needs. It amazes me to see how
differently they all get through school and the way these
teachers have to accommodate each them for them to
succeed on their own personal level especially at their early
ages in elementary.
• This experience has lead to me wanted to teach elementary
aged special needs
5. I first learned of Special needs…
•I was a junior in high school when I first was really
interested and taught about special needs children
•Up to that point I had always thought I wanted to teach
second grade until I mentored a second grade classroom
and was introduced to two autistic boys and spent a lot of
individual time with them
•Each day I was there the teacher had me work with these
two boys during the inclusion time. This was when I was
able to see how different these boys were from the other
children but also how they were each different from one
another with the same condition
•My time with them showed me how each case can be very
different and every child is unique
6. I fell in love with Special Needs…
•That point in the second grade classroom was when I fell in love with
special needs
•It fascinated me how they boys worked, how they reacted to certain
things and the ways they got through their day
•It made me really think about how there are so many different ways and
definitions of special needs it intrigued me to learn more.
•My following year of high school I did another mentorship program
where I was back at the same elementary school but in the Intervention
room
•My time in there deepened my love for Special Needs and Intervention
teaching
•I loved observing the different cases in the room, the age range, working
with them individually to better themselves and seeing what concepts,
tasks and routines worked for each specific child
7. What experiences have I had??
•Junior year of high school in a second grade classroom spending
time with 2 autistic boys
•Senior year of high school spending mornings in the intervention
wing
•Working in a toddler classroom doing assessments on a two year
old who did not speak at all. I performed many assessments on his
behavior and social skills with adults and other children. Which lead
to referring him to the Childhood League for a better
accommodation of his needs.
9. Some blogs to check out!
• http://michaelrigaud.blogspot.com/ This blog goes through a
child who has autism marking the happenings about him being
a premature infant through his day to day life living with
autism written by the mother.
• http://adhdguide.blogspot.com/ This blog goes into detail of a
mother and her daily life with children having learning
disabilities and ADHD and what they go through.
10. Video on Special Needs…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
VDmUdZwwq2I
