Lynn McDonald - Learning Support Assistant  Rainbow II

Lynn McDonald became the full-time Learning Support Assistant for Rainbow II when it opened in September 2007. She has long been involved with Egerton Rothesay School, first as a parent (her son, now at University, attended here from the age of 3 to 16), and then in a supporting role as classroom assistant for the last 13 years. During this period Lynn has worked as classroom assistant  with children of different ages  in various departments within the school.

It  was through her experience of giving full time 1:1 support to a child with special educational needs that Lynn came to fully appreciate the impact these can have on a child.

Her specific interest in language and communication difficulties arose as a result of observing the difficulties a child with expressive language difficulties had in communicating and interacting appropriately with his peers during play ground activities.  

Lynn is very aware of the risk of children with special needs becoming over dependent on a classroom assistant and how this ‘learned helplessness’ can be extremely detrimental to their development and feelings of self-worth. Through close liaison and shared planning with the Rainbow II class teacher, the speech and language therapist and her own observations, Lynn is aware of each child’s strengths and weaknesses. This allows her to provide just the right amount of  support so that the children gradually take more and more responsibility for their own work and learn to ask for help only when  they really need it. 

Lynn facilitates integration of  those Rainbow II children who join Year 2 children for part of afternoon lessons by accompanying them to the mainstream classes. Here, once again, her expertise in judging just when to help and when to hold back is vital if these children are to fully benefit from such integration.