Children's Institute for Learning Differences (CHILD) Offers Special Education Students a Valuable Internship Experience

Compelled by the community's urgent need for more special education teachers, AUS this fall launched a newly designed, reality-based program for teachers to obtain special education certification in four quarters. The program, which has already drawn ten students, includes a new partnership between AUS and the Children's Institute for Learning Differences (CHILD). It gives prospective special education teachers an opportunity to get hands-on experience at the therapeutic, year-round day school for children with special needs. In addition, the program offers courses available at convenient times so teachers can continue to work and a curriculum organized around competencies teachers can really use in the classroom.

The new partnership with CHILD means working teachers seeking a special education endorsement from AUS now will spend six intense weeks learning and working at CHILD. The highly specialized school has been serving children in the Puget Sound area for more than 30 years. Students from 19 school districts are referred to CHILD. The school serves 45-55 students who range in age from four to 18, all of whom experience considerable interference in learning and socialization due to complication of emotional, behavioral, sensory and neurological disorders.

The new program allows certificated working teachers to earn a special education endorsement by taking classes twice weekly in the late afternoon and evenings and completing the internship at CHILD. Students seeking a master's degree along with the special education endorsement can achieve their goals in six quarters. The program is organized around students learning core competencies developed by OSPI (Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction) and based on best standards from the Council for Exceptional Children and earning 32-quarter credits.

Students who obtain special education certification have an advantage when applying for traditional teaching jobs. AUS student feedback indicates the program is meeting the needs of today's special education teachers.

"A little over a year ago, I was unsure about teaching, mainly because I was a substitute teacher and was not successful in finding a permanent position," said Philip Mitchell, AUS School of Education alumnus. "I am currently employed by the Evergreen School District in Vancouver, WA. Many have told me that it is one of the best school districts in the state. I teach in the special education department at Mountain View High School, in Vancouver, working with children who have emotional and behavior disorders. I believe that without my experience at Antioch, obtaining this job would not have happened."

The story of how the program developed is really the story of two institutions that have similar philosophies and a relationship between an AUS faculty member and an AUS alumna who now teachers at both Antioch and CHILD. Dominic Jimenez, now a lead teacher in the CHILD school program, was a public school classroom teacher for eight years before he earned his master's in education degree from AUS in 2007. During his time as an AUS student, he took courses from Lila Henderson, Ed.S., and later co-taught a course with her.

The two began working as colleagues when Jimenez joined AUS as an adjunct faculty member. "The best situation is when faculty at a university work with adjunct faculty and these former students come back to the same program that they finished and then draw on their experience as educators in the classroom," said Henderson. "They become the authentic leadership that Antioch students expect." The two worked out the relationship between AUS and CHILD because they thought the partnership would provide a rich experience for everyone involved.

Jimenez said that AUS students who come to CHILD for their internship will find themselves challenged in unexpected ways. "There is a high burn-out rate in this field. The 3 'Rs' are regulation, relationship and resilience. They apply to the needs of children and teachers alike. Far too many dedicated educators leave special education because something frustrates them and they have no outlet for expressing it, or support is missing and they feel isolated and uncertain. Adults are not that different from children when something is not going well in their personal life. We all get anxious until we have some sense of community and mastery," he said. Jimenez added that teaching teachers to think about their thinking, to examine their assumptions and their automatic judgments, can generate the level of self-awareness empathy and self-control that is needed to success in special education.

What makes the experience at CHILD so valuable to prospective special education teachers is the immersion and personal attention AUS students will receive as they participate with CHILD teachers, assistants and specialists during each day's experience. "The interns are part of the team," said Jimenez. "They will be not be sitting on the sidelines. They will be coached just like every other team member. They will even have four hours per week in an Integration Seminar taught by Trina Westerlund, founder and executive director of CHILD. Trina is a 45-year veteran in special education and brings wisdom and perspective to us all. Students will be propelled right into the day. It's a very intense experience and will prepare them for what they find when they complete their endorsement," he noted.

Teachers thinking about obtaining the special education endorsement from Antioch should contact Henderson at 206-268-4602, who will review the process and help prospective students fill out the application and materials.