Lakeside teacher goes back to school to work with special-needs children

Shawn Erickson is no stranger to special education.

The new part-time special education teacher at Lakeside Elementary graduated from the University of Great Falls in May, and though this is her first teaching position, she’s spent several years working with special needs students in classrooms and at home. Two of her children have special needs. Erickson moved to the Valley from Portland Ore., in 2001 to be near her father and work as a medical assistant.

Then she met her husband and started a family.

This was around the time of the economic crash, Erickson’s son, who has muscular dystrophy, went into a wheel chair, and with her position as a medical assistant being cut, she decided it was time for a change. She worked as a paraprofessional in special education classrooms for three years, and went back to school, while her husband took a job in North Dakota. It was a tough few years for Erickson, but now her husband is back, she has finished her degree and is working in a field she loves. Two hundred of her student teaching hours were in special education classrooms. “I just love working with those kids,” she said. “They’re a different bunch of kids, but they’re great kids.”

She works with about 12 to 15 students at Lakeside along with Janelle Wells, the other special education teacher. She enjoys getting to work with the students in small groups and seeing them grow.

“Some days they just surprise you with things that they say or do,” she said. And she can tell something she’s doing is working and helping the students learn.

Erickson knew Somers/Lakeside school district superintendent Paul Jenkins before applying for the position, having worked as a paraprofessional at Helena Flats in Kalispell while Jenkins was principal there.

And so far she really enjoys being at Lakeside. “I really like it there, it’s a great staff,” she said. She enjoys working with all the other teachers, which is important since much of her job involves collaborating with classroom teachers to make sure each student gets the attention they need. It can be a challenge, “but it’s fun. It’s worth it,” Erickson said.