[senco-forum] Positive attitude

jan
I know you are an experienced senco - i've been following your postings for  
years, and I can see you have tricky situation here. I think David's advice is 
 way too harsh but he does have a point - If you provide the training for all 
 your TAs, how will you get the message home to her specifically? I would 
expect  that they could model and reinforce your message (that a positive 
attitude is  essential) but she may not realise that she isn't being positive.
I wouldn't like to be in your shoes but I do think you need to speak  to her 
directly given your concerns. Why do you think she is being so  negative? Lots 
of people think this is the way to deal with children - has she  just not 
considered an alternative?
Perhaps you could do it through planning strategies with her for a  
particular child she supports - You think this child needs lots of positive  
reinforcement - how can she give it? What results does she notice?  Review  it regularly 
- maybe then she can report her findings back to your team.The  first thing I 
realised when I started in SEN 26 years ago was that praise  works so much 
better than criticism, but it isn't always easy to maintain a  positive 
attitude. If she doesn't realise this after having deliberately  tried it - then she 
really isn't the right person for the job.
Good luck
trish