Classroom Therapist Job – Friendship Academy
The Watson Institute is hiring a full-time Classroom Therapist I at Friendship Academy, a special education school for children ages 5 to 21 located 4 miles east of Pittsburgh, PA. This position will work Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Job Benefits
At the Watson Institute, we invest in our employees personally and professionally. Check out a few of the employee benefits you’ll receive as a Watson employee:
- Access to Tuition Reimbursement to pursue further education and advanced degrees.
- Qualifying employer for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program
- Ongoing professional development through continued education opportunities, training, and direct staff support
- Excellent medical, dental, and vision coverage, and additional voluntary benefits
- 403b retirement plan with employer contributions and match after 1 year of employment
Learn more about what it’s like to work at the Watson Institute!
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Classroom Therapist Job Responsibilities:
The Classroom Therapist I is responsible, along with the teacher, for overall management of the classroom milieu and assisting and implementing a safe environment for the academic programming.
- Under the supervision of the teacher, support the implementation of students’ Individualized Education Plan.
- Support students in classrooms, hallways, cafeteria, gymnasium, during emergency drills and community-based instruction.
- Escorts students to the bathroom and monitors the student until they return to the class.
- Is cognizant of the whereabouts of students assigned to the classroom at all times and in conjunction with the teacher, requests help as needed from the crisis desk.
- Assist in maintaining safe organization of classroom environment an adhere to all policies and procedures.
- Complete cab/lunch duty as scheduled.
- Organize and prepare lesson materials, bulletin boards, and equipment (stock supplies, copy, laminate), as requested by the teacher
- Helps support emotional control in the face of stressful situations and requests help when needed.
- Use effective interpersonal skills to communicate with staff and to motivate and encourage students
The Classroom Therapist I and the teacher are responsible for implementation of the school wide behavioral support system (Watson Financial) and monitoring of student behavioral goals.
- Collects and records behavioral data on each student daily.
- Gives feedback to the students on areas of strength and needed improvement.
- Evaluates the communication skills and behavioral strengths and weaknesses of a new student and may provide input into the completion of a Functional Behavioral Assessment and the development of the Positive Behavior Intervention Plan and/or Individual Behavior Contracts for identified students.
- Maintains the environment and reports potential safety issues.
- Responsible for documentation of time outs and behavior reports.
Other duties as assigned.
Classroom Therapist Requirements:
- Bachelor’s Degree in Counseling, Sociology, Social Work, Psychology or a closely related field is required
- Related work experience is strongly preferred
- The essential functions of the job described require the ability to exert moderate physical effort in light work, typically involving some combination of bending, stooping, squatting, reaching, kneeling, crouching and brisk walking, and which may involve lifting, carrying, pushing and/or pulling of objects and material of moderate weight (40 pounds)
- Ability to physically restrain students for their safety and the safety of others
- Current Act 34, 114 and 151 clearances required