Amanda Lid graduated from UIC in 2008 with a degree in criminal justice and sociology. She would like to work for the federal government, but right now she works for the Oak Lawn/hometown district 123 as an instructional aide.
Amanda says, “I work in a ptp classroom, which has special needs kids in kindergarten and 1st grade. Ptp is a program to help kids with special needs so they can be put into a general education classroom in the future.” Her job consists of doing everything with the kids such as taking them to all special programs including music, art and gym. There are a variety of diagnosis our kids have including developmental delay, autism and down syndrome. She says, “When I was hired in 2009, I worked in an early childhood classroom with kids ages 3 to 5 who also had special needs. Unlike ptp, the early childhood program is self contained which means we do not have special programs like gym, art or music. We do those things with the kids.”