Navigating Discomfort: Working with Special Needs Individuals

Abstract

[Name] Discussion Board #2 I have never personally worked at a job that made me feel discomfort or that was conflicting with my personal beliefs, but I have seen my current job not be a fit for some people. I currently work with severe special needs and behavioral children and adults. A lot of these children and adults cannot care for themselves so there is a need for staff to be there for them and to clean them. Sometimes, females, I asked to clean male students or male clients and this can make some women feel uncomfortable. I can imagine this made them feel uncomfortable and not wanting to do their job in its entirety. This would put extra work and stress on the other employees as they would have to pick up more of the workload because someone didn’t want to do something, or they didn’t feel comfortable with completing the task.                When working with severe special needs and behavioral children you must have an open mind and not take anything too seriously. These children and adults can’t control how they act some of the time and don’t always mean what they are saying. I have seen staff walk out of their shifts and never come back to the job because of students and adults verbally abusing the staff and verbally threatening them. This scares the staff that makes them feel nervous and uncomfortable. They feel that the student or adult may come after them and that they are placed in an unsafe situation. When they are put into these types of situations it creates a bad situation for all staff in surrounding areas. Especially if the staff shows weakness. When you show weakness to the wrong student at the wrong time the student may take the opportunity to...