Knock on Wood

I've been knocking on wood whenever I say that I haven't gotten sick from the kiddos...but my immune system finally relented. I woke up this morning officially sick with a cold. I was probably sick before then, but I was in denial for 4 days, thinking it was just allergies.

Nice thoughts that got me through the day:

• Good thing I bought Costco-quantity of Emergen-C.
• 320 sessions went relatively alright.
  
• Rite-Aid brand cough drops are 2/$1!
• I actually have my first "normal" week! No IEPs, trainings, nor meetings during tx time (although I am skipping one right now).
  
• I got my dna ball! I hope this is reinforcing for my NV 320...

It's Raining

I wasn't expecting it to rain today (nor 2 nights ago), but it was a pleasant surprise. I told BF, "it's raining," but rather than saying it in my excited tone, I said it with a flat tone, reminiscing about one of my 320 kiddos.

I found out on Wednesday that when my 320 boy with unquiet hands is sad (or experiencing any negative feeling), he says, "it's raining" with a soft, flat tone. (Teacher says that this kid is scared of rain so when he says that it's raining, it means he is sad.) I'm not sure how true it is since attaching meaning or communicative intent is hit or miss, but to her defense, we had a tough session that day and the little big kiddo kept alternating every few minutes between, "It's raining" (when he was clearly upset and crying out of control) and "It's not raining" (when he calmed down/temporarily stopped crying). So it did seem appropriate.

I also thought about my very first 320 kiddo (in on-campus clinic). One time, he was scared out of his mind. He heard a vacuum in the distance and completely freaked out, grabbing me tightly out of fear. Vacuums were his worst nightmare incarnate. BF often wonders about him, as do I.

Autism is such a mystery that only God understands.

The Older I Get

Gramma is always telling me not to shop (which I really don't) or get suckered into fashion trends since they tend to die down quickly. On the other hand, she advises to save the old stuff b/c in a couple of years (or decades), the trend just might come around again (i.e., she gave me a cute new pair of wedges that she never wore; unfortunately, they were too small for me). Although I don't always listen to Gramma's shopping advice, I do try to pay attention to her sense of fashion. Gramma can definitely dress herself up prim and proper. :)

As long as I can remember, Gramma's been a big brooch fashionista. I remember when we were younger, she'd have us help her pick out brooches (at the mall or from her collection). She has got a couple of nice ones...and a couple of crazy ones ("JESUS" in rhinestones). Over the years, I find myself unable to resist scoping out the huge displays of brooches whenever I shop. The question is whether I'm scoping them out for her...or for myself. Sometimes, I'm not so sure any more!

Last week, I finally relented and bought one for myself! I keep cracking up about it because I can't believe I've "turned into" Gramma. I like that it makes me think of Gramma throughout the day, though. :)

Point of clarification: I wear it to "close" my (new) black wrap across the middle of my chest vs. wearing it on my left upper chest area.

P.S. Daddy came home yesterday from China!

Pick Me (but not for more services ;)

I think I'm more stressed than I am conscious about. Lately, I've been dreaming A LOT about my kiddos and/or workload. Last week, I had a dream that one of my kiddos who transferred away, came back onto my caseload. =P Since that night, I have had a few dreams about my kids every night. It's just hard for me to not think about my kids and what I want to and/or wish I could do to help them. I wish I could do so much more with them.

What I have been doing is leaving my door open all the time (even when I need some quiet time), and I'll snatch my kiddos for quick tx whenever I can. Those poor innocent victims. Mu-hahahaha....Yet they keep coming back! You'd think that after one body-snatching, they won't come back unless they have to, but they still come by during their recesses. It's a bizarre phenomenon. I don't know if it's ethical to provide tx during their recess time, but honestly, I doubt the parents will complain if I take away from recess. In fact, at least half of the parents have requested at IEPs for me to service their kiddos more, but I've been standing firm on not giving additional time (quite frankly, my spiel has gotten really convincing; not to mention, I have my open-door policy). One of my girls has been coming in a lot, and I was so encouraged today to hear her asking me so many, "what does ____ mean?" :)

Today, VTW observed a few good sessions...and a few busted ones. I have to admit that I am horrible at learning new board games. I have to read the instructions at least 2-3 times...and I will still end up proclaiming, "I don't get it." Well, I decided to wing it today with a new game (even though I had read the instructions 2x) and the first attempt was a disaster. After lunch, I told VTW that I was going to chance it again. She said, "Oh no, Cheryl, not again! Wasn't that one session enough?" OMG, was it really that bad? =O Fortunately for me, it went much smoother the 2nd time around. :)

My last group of kiddos was a lot of fun, too. They are all so adorable. We played a round of Go Fish with Wacky Cards, and they had me busting up. "Pick me! Pick me! Pick me!" followed by "Is it my turn?" every few seconds. They asked VTW at least 20x (no joke), "What's your name again?" It was driving her bonkers. LOL Well, I guess I shouldn't laugh too loud b/c they still don't know my name!

Random Update

Yesterday, Bro and I helped Genius Aunt and Uncle unpack a little bit in their new home! They moved on Saturday (but left poor Cookie behind for now). It's a lovely home. They have offered Younger Genius Cousin's room for me to take over (haha!). Boy, I love new homes complete with fancy "smart" appliances; I got to load and set their new dishwasher that has all these cool features like an anti-bacteria setting, delayed start setting, and countdown clock! I also got to set up their new smart Brita filter. :) (I can't believe I get a kick out of doing that stuff.)

Other randoms:

• On my way home, I stopped by Albertson's to pick up some drinks for BF. He totally considers Tropicana Fruit Punch and Hawaiian Punch as "real" fruit punch. Never mind that I always point out how little real juice they consist of. Tonight, I stood in the aisle and compared the nutritional value of both. I was floored when I saw that Hawaiian Punch has 5% real fruit juice...and Tropicana has 3%! How could Hawaiian Punch have more real fruit juice? Craziness!
• I cannot believe that it is going to be a high of 91 degrees today. My kids and I are going to sizzle in my room! :(

Busy Bee

This week has been exhausting. Aside from seeing as many of my kiddos as I can in a day, I was out a total of 2 days for trainings and meetings. On Tuesday, I was out all day for a County training (and had a snazzy, yummy candied walnut 3-berry salad at the Nordstrom Cafe) and then I had two IEPs and a District meeting on Wednesday. On Thursday, I attended another District meeting; come to find out, it was training on a program that I had previously received 3.5 hours of training for through the County.

One thing (maybe the only thing) that I don't like about working for the County but acting as if I work for the District is that there is a lot of confusion on policies, and I end up going to trainings...on the same things.

Yesterday was my VTW's first day with me, so she observed me trudge through my pulling-teeth-sessions. I'm not too confident she'll learn kosher therapy techniques from me. I find myself cashing in on "teachable moments" every few minutes while throwing in a potpourri of cognitive therapy, just b/c my poor potatoes need so much language stimulation. Luckily, she was MIA for my disastrous 320 session. It was so bad that two aides and the teacher kept intervening to help me get the student to sit with me. Not to mention, the head honcho 320 teacher specialist was there to observe...so I got lots of constructive criticism (translation: lots of homework for me this weekend). Needless to say, I felt like the worst therapist.

On the other hand, the feelings I've had between yesterday and today are similar to this one time in my grad program when Former Dept Chair cracked down on me hard about how I am capable of doing better and he expects nothing less (not that I was slacking off; I tried my darnedest to get an A in his class and couldn't). So, after a total of 14 hours of sleep (I took a nap this afternoon), I am feeling revived and mentally ready to tackle my workload in preparation for next week.

Despite having a disastrous day with the 320s, I still enjoy working with them. The thing is, it's like they are so forgiving. They have their off-days, just like any of us (only, we can communicate that to others effectively). But when the sun rises the next day (or on Monday), we all start anew and put the past events behind.

P.S. I am having a blast shopping for sensory toys for my other 320 kiddo that I am starting PECS with.

Taboo

I am loving my new career. :) Despite all the chaos and cramming days into minutes, it is rewarding and fun. Not that I've made any life-altering changes with my kiddos, but there have been small things to celebrate.

For my regular S/L caseload, some of the kiddos come in a real funk and/or cop a real attitude. Although I am secretly nervous and praying to God that it doesn't show, the sessions usually turn out all right in the end, thanks to Hasbro! It's amazing how Cheryl's Language-Building Version of Taboo can really break barriers. My kids are having a blast (as am I). E.g., I was totally surprised when two of my stoic kiddos in two separate sessions actually wanted to do one more round! Yesterday, the younger brother of one of the stoic kiddo's stopped by my room and actually asked, "Hey, when are you going to call me in again?" This was coming from a kid who asked to close the door the first time we met, likely b/c he didn't want anyone to know that he was coming into Ms. Liang's Speech Room.

As for the kiddos on the other end, I've made some leaps from a behavioral POV. I've quickly learned that with these kiddos w/ severe autism, I have to go through hazing with almost every one of them. It's not fun, but it's absolutely necessary. I am fortunate to say that after 2 sessions, Baconnator (he perseverates on "bacon" when I do DTT with him) has stopped whacking me upside the head. It was pretty scary when that happened. I had flashbacks of when I was in Downtown LA and a random girl clocked me really hard on the side of my head and then ran off, yelling, "stop following me, b!tch!" As for Happy Hands, hazing was relatively quick, too! His 1:1 was so shocked (yet pleased) that she high-5'd me the other day and hugged me the next day. I only had to chase him the first time. The next 2-3 sessions, he stayed put. Today, his mom snuck in and fortunately, we had what I hope is a "normal" session from hereon.

The sad news is that Mr. Where the Wild Things Are has transferred out. I am still getting updates since my friend is now working with him.

Okay, this blog post is called task-avoidance. I need to get going on updating tx goals and writing an assessment report. I know I'm not supposed to work from home or work OT, but that's impossible until I get some assistance. The good thing is that my assistant should begin in 2 weeks or so!

Busy Weekend

Yesterday, my bro picked me up. When he saw my big-@$$ nerdy tote cart of stuff, he asked, "Why are you bringing all that home? We have a busy weekend!" Actually, it was a very busy and very fun weekend!

After he picked me up, we went to meet Dentist Aunty for some business stuff. Cousin Gnat and I were just there for the ride, but bro was needed since he moonlights as a real estate agent. That was probably the least fun part of the weekend, since we were there for like 2.5 hours. I ended up sitting in the car and reading a few pages of the PECS manual before I dozed off. Afterwards, bro and I zoomed home to Gramma.

We only reached San Marino when bro spotted a sign that signified that our elementary school was having a special event. After he guessed it was the annual school fair, we couldn't resist checking out the haps so we parked at the Junior High, walked down memory lane (a.k.a. the hallway from Huntington to Valentine) and even passed by the Kindergarten gate where my bro used to wave hello to me while I rode the tricycle. We finally ventured out onto the playground where the fair really was happening! We checked out several booths and reminisced about the good ol' times. Although lots has changed (Wolfgang Pucks was catering! WTH?!), some things still remain the same. The Cake Walk still takes place around the same location (and the cakes still look the same!). We quickly hopped back into Dad's car and straight shot home to Gramma's.

On our way home to Gramma's, I played with my newest techy toy. My dad and bro got me a Garmin Nuvi 650! This thing is AWESOME! More importantly, I so need it. I embarrass myself with how directionally-challenged I've become. With each aging year, my sense of direction decreases exponentially. Thankfully, Elsa came standard with a compass. Even more thankfully, my bro had the greatest sense of finding this for me!

Rewind: So earlier in the week, I spoke with Gramma who said, "Since it's your birthday, I will treat you out to dinner when you come home this weekend." I said, "No gramma, it's (finally) my turn to treat...especially since I got my first paycheck!" She laughed and then said, "Oh! Okay." :)

So when we got to Gramma's Saturday afternoon, we picked her up for dinner. Bro made the excellent suggestion of the Melting Pot, which neither gramma nor I have ever been to. Unfortunately, we found out when we got there that reservations were usually required for the busy weekends, and it seemed like many of the people were dressed nicely. Luckily, the assistant manager finagled a spot for us (basically, if the 5:00 RSVP didn't show up by 5:30, then we could get their table). We got lucky; we were promptly seated at 5:30.

We went all out and ordered the Big Night Out. Our dinner began with the spinach artichoke cheese fondue where we dipped breads, vegetables, and green apples. Shortly after, I had a spinach and portabello mushroom salad which I promptly switched with my bro for his California salad. Next, we had the Coq au Vin Fondue Fusion. Lastly, we had the Flaming Turtle chocolate fondue. Bro and gramma also had white wine and champagne. The entire meal and experience was wonderful!

I was just really happy to finally bring my bro and gramma out to eat. I was also really glad that bro suggested this place. :)

Afterwards, we stopped by Home Depot (the 2nd least fun part of the weekend for me) and then we were home. I was knocked out by 10:30 or 11.

This morning, we rushed out to Santa Anita Oak Tree (Race Track) for the Breeders' Cup Challenge Day. This was my 3rd time at a horse race and even though I don't bid, it's still really exciting to watch and cheer (especially when there's an upset during the last few seconds). Dentist Aunty's family met us there and we watched a few more races. Dentist Aunty picked 2 horses...but sadly, both came in last place and 2nd to the last place for that one race. Haha. :) We parted ways then and Bro and I picked up some Chinese food for dinner (and for our S.O.) before we headed back home.

Now, Lil F and I are waiting for BF to come home. He spontaneously flew out to Vegas yesterday to visit his parents and best friend and to watch the Pacquiao vs. Barrera match (funny, random thing is that he ran into his rapper cousin and other cousin last night at a club).

What a busy but fun weekend!

How old am I?

Sometimes I forget how old I am. I turned another year older yesterday, so of course I got a few cracks at my age. There was the expected "Dang you're old!" and a few, "How old are you now -- 21? 22?" The funny thing is that I feel young (again). I go through these phases of feeling old, then young, wash, rinse, spin, and repeat. Maybe it's b/c I still sleep w/ my Hello Kitty. Maybe it's b/c I still like kid's stuff. Maybe it's b/c I work with such fun kiddos that make me feel young.

I took the day off yesterday, which was sooOoOOoo nice (since there are no school holidays in October). BF and I went to the Aquarium of the Pacific and checked out every exhibit. Unfortunately, we didn't know to do the behind-the-scenes tour until we were done (and I was starving). We saw beautiful aquarium life -- fish, sharks, sting rays, anemones, poisonous frogs, etc....and of course a sea turtle! It was an Olive Ridley. It was totally knocked out, but the nice thing is that I got a good glimpse relatively closely. We saw some adorable sea otters, too. :)

Before we left, we stopped by the gift shop, and BF bought me a sea turtle! I opted for the juvenile one (as opposed to the adult one that's like a foot big). I love it! I think I'll call her Mango...after the sea turtle that I want to adopt.

After the Aquarium, we ate at Bubba Gump Shrimp since it was conveniently located next door. I have never had it before and I love shrimp, so it was perfect! :) BF ordered Shrimper's Heaven; contrarily, I had Boat Trash. Both were delicious!

We went home and rested a little bit before I freshened up w/ my new Bare Escentuals kit, generous compliments from BF. The night before, BF brought me shopping, but all I really wanted was to hit that store. It was my first time, but I definitely felt like a kid in a candy store! I got a Getting Started kit and then he threw in an eye cream kit, iQuad shadow kit, and I chose a nice blush that doubles as eye shadow. This is all part of the "I am no longer a poor student, but a paid professional who should look like it" transformation.

After I freshened up, we went out to do the "we are paid professionals who need to have some fun sometimes" thing and met up with Bro, FBIL, and BGF and Enterprise Fish Co. for happy hour. This time, I managed to have about maybe 8-10 oz. of beer. Much better than my weak 4 oz. consumption last week.

Afterwards, BF and I went to my bro's to meet up w/ Lynnie for some kahlua cream cheese pie (my fave MC pie!). At the end of the night, I was so exhausted but all smiles (and a few sappy tears). It was a really nice birthday filled with wonderful wishes and thoughts from all of my loved ones. Thanks everyone!

P.S. Even Lil F got a treat b/c it was my birthday. She got extra turtle pellets for breakfast. :)

Semi-update

I worked through most of the weekend, yet I still found the weekend to be pretty relaxing. I think it's that residual enthusiasm associated with not being in school any more.

On the other hand, I had a split-second thought tonight of -- why did I work and study so hard in the grad program? I'm sure my employer (and possibly others) would have hired me in a heartbeat, regardless of grades (as long as I was above LOW). Heck, even when I go to trainings where it is clear that I am already employed by the same beings, other administrators will still say, "Darn! I was going to say that you should come work for my District/SELPA." =P

I am still struggling to accept my role as a professional (albeit a newbie). It's a weird transition to go from struggling student who seeks guidance and reassurance from every professional within 3 feet (and e-mail) to suddenly being the one that professionals are looking to for clinical judgments and decisions. This entire weekend, I've been perseverating, if you will, on making a clinical executive decision for 2 of my more severe kiddos. Fortunately, I have a great mentor to consult with, who has 14 years on me. Yesterday, she said something that really made me feel empowered. She said something to the effect of, "[Autism Teacher Specialist who has 20+ years of experience] does know a lot about autism, but she does not have a degree in SLP and sometimes, she may unknowingly cross those boundaries. You are the expert whether you feel like it or not...Trust your own judgment."

That's probably one of the hardest factors in this transition -- learning to trust my own clinical judgment, but thankfully, I have many great professionals around me to consult with. Just weird to call them my colleagues when they are leagues ahead...

Despite cramming 48 hour days into 24, I am enjoying my new career. :)

~~~~~~~~~~

Bro and I visited Genius Aunty and Uncle this afternoon. (Hi Younger Genius Cousin!) They are getting ready to move in a few weeks. Both seemed quite happy (albeit exhausted from packing). I also visited their adorable doggie. I was cracking up b/c poor Cookie had some nappy fur! I'm happy to report that she, too, will eventually be moving with them...after her home is newly landscaped!