Sophie MacRitchie

I am currently working as a Au pair where I live with a family and care for their two young girls with disabilities. The youngest girl has cerebral palsy, is blind and non verbal, has drug and fetal alcohol syndrome, lung disease and is fully tube fed. She is under the foster care system at the moment and requires 24 hour care. The other girl has Down syndrome and ADHD and was adopted by the family at a very young age. I help the mother with their morning routine, giving both girls medication and tub feeding the youngest, as well as helping with jobs around the house such as cleaning, cooking and running errands. I feel that communication is extremely important between others and that each piece of information in the house is clear and well received so everyone is aware of what is going on, what needs to be done and how we can best support each other.

My role was to provide support and learning within a classroom setting for pupils from S1-S6 with additional support needs. I worked mainly in the learning support department within the school where I would help and care for pupils while ensuring their learning and education was given to them in a way that best supported their level and abilities. I thoroughly enjoyed my time working at such a populated school, getting to know the pupils personally was something I aimed for because I feel it then benefited greatly when trying to provide help and encouragement. These pupils felt safe and above all, they felt heard and understood.

• In this role I supported adults with disability’s. This meant encouraging and assisting them in their day to day lives, showering and changing, providing personal care, taking them on outings, helping with cleaning and cooking and also distributing medication for each core member. I gained a lot of experience in this role, at times I would be left to care for 5 to 6 adults with various disabilities and needs on my own. This involved a lot of problem solving and endurance. This helped me operate responsibly and in a professional manner to ensure that each core member was safe and cared for at all times.

There were a wide range of needs to support from severe and complex to Autism and ADHD. When the pool area was closed for various reasons I would assist in the classrooms also. My role was to supervise and maintain the pool area while lessons were on, assisting with changing and personal care and also hoisting and supporting children in and out of the pool.

During my years studying at school I volunteered at SNAP ( Special Needs Action Project) where I got to build relationships with young people of various disabilities. This required a lot of one to one supervision as well as doing personal care.