Helping children reach their potential: Explaining the role of special needs assistants

By helping children with educational needs, special needs assistants play a key role in mainstream schools, writes Andrea Mara.

SNA is an acronym with which most parents are familiar — many of our kids have a special needs assistant in the classroom, and anecdotally, it’s seen as an advantage for everyone to have an extra adult there to help.

But what exactly is the role of the SNA, what are the common misperceptions, and what benefits do they bring?