Compliance for the sake of compliance (vent)

Mostly a vent please remove if not okay.

I’ll start off saying there’s absolutely a time and place to push compliance: safety issues, kindness, best effort for academics/ life skills, ect. That being said there are some issues people force where there’s absolutely a solution that dosnt result in power struggles or melt downs.

I’m a para in a resource room with a lot of kids with asd that are on the line between most of the day in general ed with supports and needing a self contained classroom. This year I have a mostly nonverbal kindergartner who really likes to lay on their belly on the floor. They can sit in their expected spot for about 10 minutes and then if their on the carpet they’ll start laying on their belly and (accidentally) invade classmates space, if their at their desk they’ll get up and start wandering around. In specials me and the art teacher have talked and decided we’ll do our best to keep them at the table for whole group instruction, but once it’s work time they can go to a specific spot in the room where they won’t get stepped on or be in anyone’s personal bubble and lay down. It’s working great they get a clipboard and do their work, maintains personal space, everyone’s happy. In the gen ed class their teacher wants them to sit the same as everyone else and it results in peers being frustrated that my kids in their space, hiding under tables crying, and elopement.

It’s frustrating when this is a sensory thing that can be easily accommodated, and the accommodations are working at other locations and resulting in less learning disruptions for everyone. As an adult I don’t like sitting for long periods so in meetings or pds I find a seat in the back so when I get antsy sitting I can stand and stay engaged without blocking anyone else’s view, and no one would ever force me to sit down because I’ve found a way to accommodate myself without impacting others. I feel like even in kinder this is a really easy way to teach this kid to find ways to meet sensory needs when appropriate without impacting others. And that’s a better lesson then do things my way because I said so.

That being said I’ve worked with this teacher for a few years now and she’s genuinely a great teacher. It’s much more a problem of being able to provide adequate support, this kid would absolutely benefit from a 1 on 1 if the district were willing to pay for it. I’m only with this kid for an hour a day and half of it’s specials so the specials teacher can just let me reinforce expectations and it’s not extra work for her where as in gen ed a lot of that would fall on the teacher while the kids learning the expectations and I’m not in the room. I’m empathetic to that even if I think accommodating this would make everyone’s lives so much easier in the long run.