Learning Support Assistant

About the Role

Special Minds is recruiting a Learning Support Assistant, also called a shadow teacher, for an on-site placement with a family in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. You will support one child with additional needs inside their mainstream classroom, at the school's invitation and under its inclusion policy. The aim is for the child to follow instructions, stay regulated, take part, and keep up, without you doing the work for them.

Key Responsibilities

• Work one-to-one with the child through the school day, following the class lesson and the school's timetable.
• Carry strategies from the child's therapists and the school's plan into the classroom, including visual schedules, transitions, sensory breaks, and prompts for joining in.
• Keep a short daily record that the family, the school, and the child's therapists can all read.
• Join the first-week, thirty-day, and ninety-day reviews with the family, the school, and your Special Minds supervisor.
• Follow the safeguarding code and report issues early.

Note: You educate and support; you do not diagnose, treat, or advise on medication.

Qualifications

• A qualification in special education, education, psychology, or child development, OR a teaching or teaching-assistant background with documented experience of children with additional needs.
• Experience supporting a child with autism, ADHD, a learning disability, Down syndrome, or similar needs, in a school, centre, or home.
• Professional working proficiency in English (spoken and written).
• Hindi or Tamil is an asset for working with the family and the school.
• Two referees who have seen you work with a child and can speak to Special Minds by phone or video.
• Patience for progress measured in small, repeated steps, and the discipline to keep a daily record.