I completed my one-week work experience at the Helen Allison School in Meopham, a school that helps autistic children with various needs. During the week, I mainly worked as a classroom assistant, supporting students during lessons by helping them stay focused, understand instructions, and complete tasks. I assisted teachers and teaching assistants with daily classroom activities. This also included helping to create a calm and structured environment, which I learned is particularly important for autistic students. I also spent some time with the school’s psychology team, giving me some insight into how professionals assess students’ needs and create strategies to support their learning and wellbeing. I found it really interesting to be able to see how routines, visual aids, and positive reinforcement helped the students to feel safe and confident in the classroom.
From this experience, I gained a better understanding of how autism can affect communication, behaviour, and learning in different ways for each person. I developed important skills such as patience, teamwork, and clear communication, as well as the ability to change my approach based on each student’s needs. I particularly enjoyed working directly with the children and seeing how tailored strategies could positively affect their engagement and progress. However, I also found the social and emotional aspects of the role quite challenging at times as supporting students who may struggle to express their feelings requires a high level of understanding and sensitivity.
Overall, this work experience helped me understand the importance of individual support and inclusive education. It showed me how important it is for schools to recognize and respond to each student’s unique strengths and challenges. This experience confirmed my decision to continue studying psychology in the future, as it allowed me to see how psychological theories are applied in real-life settings. The skills and knowledge I gained will be very useful in my future studies and career. The experience has also strengthened my interest in working in a role that supports and helps others.
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