We frequently hear parents of children with additional needs expressing how challenging and stressful the process of finding a good learning support assistant (LSA) for their child has been (and continues to be). Few parents would be an expert in what and how to choose an LSA when they do so for the first time. Feeling lost therefore is entirely understandable.
To help us, and we hope you, we have enlisted the help of UAE school inclusion leaders and well-known inclusion expert, Louise Dawson, who provided considerable information for this guide. We also received a great deal of input from parents, some of whom have had to learn lessons the hard way. Kindly, they have shared their reflections in the hope of easing the process for you.
So, what is an ILSA?
An Individual Learning Support Assistant (ILSA) is an additional adult whose role is providing one-to-one support to a specific child with additional needs in a mainstream classroom. These needs may be due to a physical impairment such as challenges with sight or mobility, a neuro-developmental condition such as autism or a range of other scenarios that may prevent the child from accessing the curriculum or making social connections. Previously, this role was also known as a shadow teacher.
There are three different ways that ILSAs can be employed:
1. Employed by parents, funded by parents – in this scenario parents recruit and employ the adult directly.
2. Employed by school, funded by parents – in this scenario the school will recruit and employ the adult directly, but request funding (part or full) from the parents.
3. Employed by agencies, funded by parents or school – in this scenario either the school or the parent will enter a contract with an agency to provide the ILSA.
In the UAE, the first scenario is the most common, and this guide is largely based around this scenario.
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