Emily the life guard is Pookie’s one-on-one aide during swim lessons. Pookie loves her because:

1. she lets him jump off the edge of the pool
2. when he asks her to dunk her head underwater (which he finds funny) she does it
3. she has these rubber squids that she throws into the water and he gets to chase them
4. she smiles alot
5. when the rest of the class is doing something interesting, she takes him to rejoin the class. If they are doing something boring like waiting their turn to practice kicking with the teacher, she takes him off to the side and they practice their swimming arms.

We love her beacause:

1. Emily is not afraid of Pookie or his responses
2. if he wants to jump off the edge of the pool a few times, she first makes him practice his floating
3. she smiles alot and takes her job seriously
4. she never takes her eyes off him in the pool and knows when to give him a little space to practice his form of swimming and when to rein him in because he is trying to make a break for the waterslide.
5. she always brings him over to us after class and tells us how well he did. She helps him transition.
6. she understands that she is there to help him during class not to babysit him during class. If she does her job right, he will get alot out of the class. She does and he does. She modifies the lessons to make them more Pookie-freindly, but does not treat him like a baby or assume he cannot do what the other kids are doing.

When evaluating the success of a classroom or program aide, these seem to be the things that you should consider.