Featured Certified Autism Specialist: Iuliia Sterpinska

Iuliia Sterpinska, Special Needs Teacher

State/Country: Ukraine, Europe

School/ Organizations: Pechersk School International

1) How has earning the Certified Autism Specialist been meaningful and satisfying?
Earning the Certified Autism Specialist opened the door to “another reality” for me whereI feel competent, meaningful and able to deal with any challenges .

2) How has the CAS credential affected your professional growth?
Thanks to the CAS credential I was able to find a job at Chadwick International School in South Korea and changed my position from Teacher Assistant to Special Education Needs Teacher.

3) How has your CAS credential been a benefit to your district/ organization/ or employer?
CAS credential helped me learn how to moderate the programs for the students with autism so they were able to participate effectively in mainstream classroom activities and take part in school social life. To be honest, there are no autism trainings in Ukraine at all. Lots of Ukrainian people don’t know what autism is at all, so I’m the first IBCCES-CAS certified   specialist in my country.

4) How do you like to be recognized, acknowledged and rewarded for a job well done?
To get positive feedback from parents, other teachers and administration.

5) What is your greatest challenge or roadblock?
Because of the absence of trainings in my country it was difficult for me to find good information about working with autistic and other disabled students. The second challenge was that English was my second language so in order to succeed with online training I had to learn lots of new specific terminology. But thank to IBCESS-CAS I succeed with all theses challenges.

6) What makes you feel like a valuable contributor?
My students reached great levels of success regardless of their academic, social and behavior life. The success was so noticeable that lots of teachers from our school came and told me about it. Verbal recognition from peers that acknowledges student growth is very rewarding too.

7) What do you enjoy most about your job?
SEN is my job, my passion and my lifestyle. Every day you come to school and see how successful your students are, how their lives are changing in a good way, knowing you can help even if they are struggling… This is the most enjoyable and satisfying part of my job.

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