In a primary school in Shapingba, Chongqing, the quiet classroom of the second grade was broken by a sudden sound of chairs dragging and dragging. Student Ning Ning suddenly stood up, pointed out the window, and repeated slowly: "Fly, fly." More than a dozen pairs of children's eyes secretly aimed at Zhuang Xue in the corner of the classroom. Zhuang Xue patted him lightly on the back, and then walked out of the classroom together.
Ning Ning is a child with autism spectrum disorder, and it often happens that she suddenly gets up or slaps the table.
And Zhuang Xue is Ning Ning's "shadow teacher". "Shadow teacher", as the name suggests, is a teacher who accompanies the child like a shadow, also known as a special education assistant and accompanying teacher.
With the advancement of integrated education, more and more children like Ning Ning are entering ordinary schools to "study with the class". The "shadow teacher" who helps them integrate into the group has become the choice of many parents.
However, the "shadow teacher" employed by parents is still a market behavior and has not yet been incorporated into the school management mechanism, and the process of accompanying students in school often falls into the embarrassing situation of unidentified identity.
When she is confused, Zhuang Xue chooses to read.
01
People who have been turned away
Ning Ning was able to enter an ordinary primary school, and there was a "shadow teacher" by her side to support her, in Wang Jing's opinion, she was "lucky" enough.
It was another year of primary school public recruitment, and after Wang Jing contacted the school near her home early to explain her daughter's situation, the school raised their concerns - "We only accept immediate family members to accompany the students. Wang Jing knew that she couldn't get into this school.
Wang Jing and her husband are leaders in their respective industries, and most of the huge bookcases in the home contain trophies and certificates won by the two of them in various periods. But when her daughter Coco reached the age of going to school, she never learned addition and subtraction within ten. Until the diagnosis of cocoa spectrum disorder, they almost did not sleep for three days, sitting in the study in a daze in the middle of the night.
Looking at Coco in her sleep, the couple decided to fully support their daughter's treatment and intervention, and the first thing to solve was to go to school. After learning about it in many ways, Wang Jing came up with the idea of hiring a "shadow teacher" for Coco.
The "Implementation Plan of Chongqing's 14th Five-Year Plan for the Development and Improvement of Special Education" proposes that by 2025, the integration of general education and special education will be promoted, and a teaching assistant system will be gradually established to provide support for children with autism to better integrate into the study and life of ordinary schools.
However, there are not many schools that can accept "shadow teachers" into the classroom. Wang Jing has eaten countless closed doors. "Almost all schools ask how to ensure that strangers can be controlled in the school." As a last resort, Wang Jing explained and assured again and again. After several twists and turns, the "shadow teacher" finally entered the school with Coco, until a phone call arrived.
The head teacher said very tactfully on the phone, saying that some parents wanted to talk to her.
"They felt that Coco would slow down the progress of the class, and asked me what to do if Coco hurt other children, who would be responsible, and whether the 'shadow teacher' was doing special ......" Facing the parents' questions, Wang Jing's tears instantly burst out of her eyes. At that moment, it felt like my child was a flood beast. ”
Parents with different positions stand at both ends of the Chu River and Han realms. Under the argument, someone said: "Since the child has a problem, why don't you send it to a special education school, if she needs a stranger to accompany her all the time, is it not suitable to stay here?" ”
Wang Jing did not expect that the existence of the "shadow teacher" would become evidence of the child's condition. "Isn't the best way for an autistic child to integrate into society is to grow up in a normal social environment?"
In the end, in desperation, Wang Jing dismissed the "shadow teacher". A few days after Coco went to school alone, Wang Jing was called by the teacher again to talk. Coco suddenly screams in the classroom, scaring the other children, and the head teacher hopes that Wang Jing can give a perfect solution.
After multi-party coordination, Wang Jing decided to accompany her for a period of time, and took Coco to an intervention rehabilitation institution to do professional training for school. And seriously consider the need for Coco to attend a special education school.
The "shadow teacher" was rejected by the school, which in Zhuang Xue's view, was a "common thing". In 2019, Zhuang Xue, who has three years of special education experience, changed her career to become a "shadow teacher", and in order to successfully enter the school, she will take the initiative to provide teacher qualification certificates, behavioral technicians (RBT), integrated education foundation certificates, etc., "but sometimes I will still be refused, and some schools have asked me to go to the police station to issue a certificate of no criminal record." ”
Hint cards made by Li Li for children.
02
Teach your child to adapt to the rules
When he was in the first grade, Kiki frequently disobeyed instructions and was emotionally unstable. In the second grade, he had his own "shadow teacher" Li Li.
As a special education assistant, Li Li has been with Qiqi for a year, and she has a set of student desks and chairs, which are arranged near Qiqi's seat, so that he can be reminded to pay attention to discipline in class. Li Li would wait for Qiqi at the school gate every day, and then enter the classroom together; After school in the afternoon, Li Li will help Qiqi complete his homework alone, and then send Qiqi's situation and analysis of the day to the communication group, so that Qiqi's parents can understand the progress.
Because Qiqi's mother doesn't want her child to be treated specially, Li Li has been hiding his identity. After unifying the voice with the head teacher, in the face of the curiosity of other children, Li Li would say that he was a teacher who checked discipline, and if there was any problem, he could also find her.
But Qiqi's "difference" was gradually discovered by other children.
Some children will ask, why do you talk to Qiqi and ignore people? Why is Kiki's tone different from everyone else when he reads the text? Li Li will use the form of storytelling to explain to the children. For example, every child is a small flower, and some small flowers will encounter insects and look a little different, but as long as we help him and fertilize slowly, he will get better and better.
As a "shadow teacher", Li Li's main task is to observe Qiqi, understand his thinking logic, and find out the reasons for Qiqi's behavior and adjust his behavior after Qiqi shows obvious resistance.
Kiki is sensitive to ringtones. At the beginning, as soon as the bell rang and the teacher didn't say that the class was over, Kiki rushed out of the classroom alone. In order to solve this problem, Li Li will first give visual cue cards and oral aids, and then invite other children to "lead" Qiqi to and from class. In this process, on the one hand, it can make Kiki familiar with the class and carry out the instructions of others, and on the other hand, it can also enhance the children's sense of responsibility and empathy.
According to the concept of special education, children like Kiki have unique ways of thinking and expressing themselves when experiencing the world, and if they are not understood, they will be more likely to misunderstand. The professional competence of the "shadow teacher" is "behavior analysis" and "appropriate guidance" to help children with special needs adapt to the daily social rules.
This is also the purpose of Qiqi's mother to hire Li Li, if Qiqi can learn textbook knowledge in the general school is an unexpected joy, mainly hoping to cultivate Qiqi's ability in daily life and understand social rules in different situations.
At a meeting for parents of children with special needs, parents from all over the country shared their common expectations: according to the degree of their children's illnesses, they hope to go from "having the ability to take care of themselves" to "making friends", and finally let their children have the ability to live independently and integrate into society like ordinary children.
After all, parents grow old.
But they also know in their hearts that the realization of this wish will not be easy.
In the professional training of "shadow teachers" in some institutions, the full mechanism of shadow teacher withdrawal is one of the courses.
03
It has been praised and criticized by the outside world
Fang Fang, who graduated from the special education major, had countless moments when he wanted to give up. "You will find that anyone can be a 'shadow teacher', and unprofessional people will deepen the prejudice of the outside world, so the rest of the people can only work while 'taking the blame', I really don't know what has allowed me to persist until now."
When she was misunderstood, she asked herself countless times if it was still necessary to continue to persevere. Due to the "speciality" of her work, Fang Fang even needs to race against time to go to the toilet - there have been cases where children have run out of the classroom while she is on the toilet.
At a party, Fang Fang had just finished introducing his work, and someone answered: "Isn't this a nanny?" "There was a brief silence in the air. Fang Fang wanted to explain but felt that it was unnecessary, and a huge sense of exhaustion surrounded her.
She leaned back in her chair and circled the idea of changing careers over and over again, but finally persevered.
Fang Fang counted with his fingers, last year, when the child reached the exit standard, the child's mother held her hand, didn't say anything for five minutes, and finally choked up and said thank you; Earlier, a child drew a crooked little girl, pointing at Fang Fang and saying that it was her, and before he could ask why, he heard "like" and "......" Maybe these moments are the moments, so I was reluctant to leave when I wanted to. ”
But not all parents with special needs can get along well with "shadow teachers". He Yue is a resistant to hiring "shadow teachers", and she once changed 5 "shadow teachers" for her children in a month, and the reason is not that she is picky.
Some people talk wildly during the interview, and when they really get started, they find that they don't know anything; Someone accompanied him halfway through the reading, and said that he couldn't deal with it; Others worked two days and said they would have to increase the cost...... After coming and going, He Yue was extremely annoyed, she thought that her salary of more than 6,000 per month was not a lot, and she could settle it in advance by semester.
Fang Fang admits that a large part of the reason for these situations is that the industry has just emerged, there is no universal qualification certification and assessment method, and many people are "crossing the river by feeling the stones".
With the implementation of the "full coverage, zero refusal" policy of integrated education, more and more children with special needs are entering schools, and the demand for "shadow teachers" is increasing year by year. Under the large demand of the market, many institutions in China have launched corresponding training courses for special education assistants.
For example, in February 2020, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security issued a document to add the job category of "employment counselor for the disabled" to coordinate and solve the difficulties faced by the disabled after employment in a timely manner, and improve the employment stability and quality of the disabled.
In this regard, Fang Fang is eager to be able to introduce relevant policies by the state to detail industry standards and standardize them, "The uneven market is the fundamental reason for the mixed praise and criticism of the outside world." ”
04
The desire is to be "unemployed"
"A shadow teacher who is ready to be unemployed at any time is the best shadow teacher." This sentence comes from Dai Yurong, the initiator of the "Shadow Teacher" project in Shanghai and the head of the "Youyu Education" institution.
In the professional training of "shadow teachers" in some institutions, the whole mechanism of shadow teacher withdrawal is listed as an important course.
Zhuang Xue has had two successful exit experiences, unlike most professions in society, every time she is "unemployed", she is very happy, for her, "unemployment" means success, but also a recognition of her efforts.
Ning Ning is not the biggest challenge that Zhuang Xue has been exposed to in her career. In recent years, with the improvement of the level of diagnosis, the incidence of autism, ADHD and other mental disorders is getting higher and higher.
Niu Niu, a patient with high-functioning autism, has a lot of behavioral problems. There are still a few shallow nail marks on the back of Ning Ning's hand, which were left by pinching Niu Niu's hand after her appeal was not met in time.
Niu Niu didn't know how to express his inner thoughts, and when he saw the children getting together to play, he wanted to join, so he rushed over and took the toys away; When the other children came to get it, he immediately showed obvious resistance.
Zhuang Xue became a bridge of communication, she helped Niu Niu up, patiently comforted and returned the toys to other children: "Niu Niu doesn't want to grab toys, but wants to play with you, but he grows up slowly, and he doesn't know how to do it, are you willing to give him a chance?" ”
After a long time, some children will take the initiative to come over and ask Niu Niu if they want to join. Usually, Zhuang Xue will observe which children in the class are patient and helpful, and will guide Niu Niu to contact them and gradually build friendships.
The effect was immediate, and after half a year, Niuniu made great progress. Gradually, he was able to follow discipline, follow group instructions, and make friends. Occasionally, there are some special situations, and the teacher can also handle them. In this case, he no longer needs a shadow teacher.
Although schools cannot refuse children's enrollment due to the policy, Zhuang Xue does not recommend that all children with special needs enter ordinary schools, "The role of 'shadow teachers' is always limited, and the conditions for integrated education in some schools are not yet mature.
Zhuang Xue hopes that after the compulsory education stage, children can continue to learn, and learn a skill in the vocational education department (class) of a special education school or the special education department (class) of a vocational school, so that they can support themselves, after all, the purpose of integrated education is to let all children finally integrate into society.
If there is anything else to wish, Zhuang Xue smiled, then let me be "unemployed" a few more times.
(At the request of the interviewee, the names in the article have been changed)
Hualong.com Tang Yu/Text Interviewee/Picture Dong Jin/Host