50% Direct Support Professional III-IV / 50% Teacher Aide I-II

DEPARTMENT:  Weekends Home / Comprehensive Programs

POSTING #:  22-082

TWC JOB ORDER:  15380135

MONTHLY SALARY: 

• Direct Support Professional III –  IV – $1,575.00 or $1,800.00
• Teacher Aide I –   $1,386.94 – $1,452.46
• Teacher Aide II – $1,386.94 – $1,723.00

SHIFT:  Weekends Home department – 20 hrs./wk- Friday 1:30pm – 11:30 p.m. & Sun 9:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. Shift may change to Thursday or Monday once monthly. Must be available all these days. Comprehensive Programs department – 20 hrs/wk. – 3-4 days a week between the hours of 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

OPENING DATE:  7/8/2022

CLOSING DATE:   Until Filled

CLASSIFICATION /GROUP #:  5123 or 5124 / 0812 or 0813; A12 or A14 / A9 or A11  

Ways to Apply

Essential Job Functions

Direct Support Professional III

• Accompanies students to and from their home communities on weekend trips, ensuring their safety and well-being
• Supervises and assists students at departure, during the trip, and at all stops
• Participates as a member of student teams and implements the student’s educational plans during the weekends home trips
• Fosters the education of the students in academic, daily living, leisure time and social skills based upon the programs written by the teachers and team
• Maintains Vehicles and weekends home facilities so as to provide for safe transportation of students and a safe environment
• Attends work regularly in accordance with TSBVI leave policy
• Complies with all agency policies and procedures
• Performs related work as assigned

Direct Support Professional IV

• Supports the Weekends Home (WH) Manager to develop and maintain programs and routines, including activities adapted for students with visual impairments in the following areas: boarding and debussing, safe public travel methods, restroom and other vehicle stop activities, social, recreational and leisure activities, etc.
• Ensures appropriate implementation of the programs in the absence of the WH Manager.
• Provides constructive feedback on staff performance and develops ways to support other Direct Support Professionals and Drivers in teaching and transporting students with visual impairments.
• Effectively uses and demonstrates behavior analysis and management techniques; follows established guidelines and procedures for behavior management/student discipline.
• Ensures students are effectively and appropriately supervised in a manner to ensure their physical and psychological safety, health, and well-being.  
• Facilitates and teaches to maximize the greatest level of independence for each student in all situations.
• In the absence of the WH Manager, ensures incident reports, route notes and shift notes are professional, objectively stated, free of factual error, and without the need for significant editing.
• Attends work regularly in accordance with TSBVI leave policy.
• Complies with all agency policies and procedures.
• Performs related work as assigned.

Teacher Aide I – II

• Maintains familiarity with health and instructional information regarding assigned students, and adheres to those specifications when implementing programming
• Cooperates with other staff in implementing the instructional program for assigned students
• Informs teacher of all significant events or changes related to students in classroom
• Assists in the assessment of student needs as requested by teacher
• Assists teachers in preparing IEP progress reports, behavior plans and other documentation for program monitoring
•  Participates in ARD and team meetings for students as required
• Monitors, implements effective programming for, and documents student behavior in a prompt manner as required by teacher
• Continued professional growth and development, including participating in all assigned in-service training
• Utilizes effective teaching techniques and classroom strategies to accommodate the various learning styles and modes of students
• Monitors the safety of students
• Interacts and responds with verbal and non-verbal blind or visually impaired students
• Attends work regularly in accordance with TSBVI leave policy
• Complies with all agency policies and procedures
• Performs related work as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

Direct Support Professional III

• High school graduation or equivalent
• Skill in working harmoniously with children and adults
• Must know or be willing to learn basic sign language (for certain assignments)
• Must have sufficient physical strength to assist in lifting and/or transferring students up to adult age
•  Ability to communicate, receptively and expressively, through both sign language and oral speech, or just oral speech, with ASL fluent and non-signing staff and students

Direct Support Professional IV

• High school graduation or equivalent
• Six months part-time direct care experience at TSBVI
• Skill in completing assigned tasks and meeting established deadlines
• Skill in data collection and report writing
• Skill in developing professional relationships with parents, staff and the community 
• Demonstrated leadership and organizational skills 
• Must have sufficient physical strength to assist in lifting and/or transferring students up to adult age

Teacher Aide I 

• High school graduation or equivalent 

AND

• Completion of two years (60 hours if institution considers 15 hours/semester as full-time or 48 hours if institution considers 12 hours/semester as full-time) coursework from an accredited college or university [Original college or university transcript(s) required at time of interview]

OR 

• One-year full-time experience working with children with disabilities plus one year of college plus a passing score on a local or state paraprofessional assessment**

OR 

• Two years’ full-time experience working with children with disabilities plus a passing score on a local or state paraprofessional assessment

** If the applicant selected for the position has not passed a local or state assessment, the applicant will be offered the position contingent upon passing the TSBVI paraprofessional assessment administered during the interview.

Teacher Aide II (Teacher Aide I qualifications PLUS)

• Teacher Aide I qualifications 

             AND

• Two years full-time experience as a Teacher Aide I at TSBVI with all areas of meeting or exceeding expectations on last performance appraisal

             OR 

• Two years of external classroom experience as a teacher or teacher aide 

             OR 

• One year full-time experience as a Teacher Aide I at TSBVI with all areas of meeting or exceeding expectations on last performance appraisal plus one year of external classroom experience as a teacher or teacher aide 

             OR 

• Completion of college level coursework in child development, education, psychology, vocational education or a closely related field plus one year external classroom experience as a teacher or teacher aide

Preferred Qualifications

Direct Support Professional III

• One-year full-time experience as a Residential Instructor at TSBVI OR one-year full-time experience in a closely related direct care capacity
• Skill in using sign language
• Experience working with children
• CPR and First Aid certification

Direct Support Professional IV

• CPR and First Aid certification
• Texas Bus Driver certification
• ASL and adapted Sign Language
• Spanish Speaker

Teacher Aide I –II 

• Experience as a Resident Specialist III
• Intermediate Sign Language Proficiency: Able to discuss with some confidence routine social and work topics within a conversational format with some elaboration; generally, 3-to-5 sentences. Good knowledge and control of everyday/basic sign language vocabulary with some sign vocabulary errors. Fairly clear signing at a moderate signing rate with some sign mis-productions. Fair use of some sign language grammatical features and fairly good comprehension for a moderate-to-normal signing rate; a few repetitions and rephrasing of questions may be needed.
•  Completion of college level coursework in child development, education, psychology, vocational or closely related field
•  Experience working with children and youth with disabilities in a classroom or work setting
• Experience working with students with multiple disabilities
• Must be approved to drive state vehicles
• Familiar with Braille
• Bilingual in English and Spanish
• Completion of training related to students with visual and multiple impairments