Marilyn Abney recounts how one of her students barely spoke a word when she arrived in the classroom at Boyn-ton Elementary School.

The student wasn’t deaf, but she had developmental disabilities that kept her from speaking, confining her to communicating through sign language. Abney, a paraprofessional educator who works mainly with autistic chil-dren, knew sign language too, but she pushed the student to use her voice. Soon, the child was speaking back to her.

“Now she doesn’t shut up,” Abney said proudly.

Abney is one of 26 parapros at Boynton Elementary, where there are also 47 teachers. Principal Belinda Crisman said parapros deserve praise but don’t often get it because they tend to work in the background. Gov. Sonny Perdue declared Tuesday, March 11, Paraprofessionals Appreciation Day in honor of those who assist teachers in the class-room.

“I think instruction would suffer if we didn’t have them,” Crisman said. “When you have 20 kids in the classroom with one adult that would be very difficult.”

Marshall Guest, deputy press secretary for the governor, said the one-time proclamation came about at the be-ginning of the school year after a Rossville Middle School teacher requested it.

“It’s a special recognition for the hard work they put into educating the state’s children,” Guest said.

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Governor’s proclamation

“The challenge of educating students to face the demands of today’s world is a great one. The future of Georgia’s children depends on the quality of the education they receive, and paraprofessionals play an important role in pro-viding this essential tool for success…”

Signed Aug. 6, 2007.

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Parapros must have two years of college or be able to pass a test. They must also complete 100 hours of training every five years to maintain certification, Crisman said.

Retta Harris said she has been a parapro for 20 years and works with the kindergarten program, in the cafeteria, and in the after-school program at Boynton.

“I’d always wanted to be in education,” she said.

Harris said she assists the teacher in any way possible from wiping wet noses to tying loose shoe strings to help-ing children understand the material. The hardest part of the job, she said, is keeping kids calm in the cafeteria.

In other classrooms, parapros were handing out snacks, teaching speech skills and giving students some extra individual attention.

Jane Horton said she has been a parapro for nine years and enjoys working with special needs children. She said the hardest part of the job is knowing what to do when one of the students becomes upset. Each situation is different, she said, but the job is always rewarding.

Tammy Doughtie volunteered and substituted at the school before becoming a parapro four years ago. She said she fell in love with the children so much that she eventually decided to take a full-time job when it became avail-able.

“Sometimes I dream about them,” she said. “If one of them is nonverbal, we kind of dream that they’ve said a word or something.”

Crisman said there are 34 children with autism at the school and 16 parapros dedicated specifically to special education.

“I know that they work so hard,” Crisman said of all the school’s parapros, “and most of them, they do it for the love of the job...They do it because they’re committed to the school and the children.”