Saturday, May 31, 2008

Walk Around the Block

I decided at the last minute to come home to gramma's with my bro this weekend. I was hesitating b/c I have TONS of Big Kid and Little Kid school work to do this weekend, but I'm glad I came to Gramma's. We had a delicious home-cooked dinner, and then for the first time in years, the three of us took an evening walk around the block! FYI: the "block" is not a typical street block. It is more than half a mile with intense up and down hill climbs. I could NOT believe Gramma powered through. Totally rad.

I also can't believe that Gramma can totally outdrink me any day of the week and twice on Sundays. Yesterday, I hypothesized that maybe I can't drink any more b/c I've been on the graduating-from-grad-school-diet (i.e., eating healthier b/c I have a paycheck now, combined with occasional work-outs) and the smidget of poundage lost helped my body process the ETOH...but then I looked across at tiny Gramma and my hypothesis was thrown out the window. (Gramma is 8-10 pounds less than me and can consume 3x as much wine than me.)

This zero tolerance kind of bites. I can't even be a social drinker for fear that I might unexpectedly faint in public.

On the drive home, I said to bro, "Hey! [BF] is going to Vegas on Thursday ...so, let's go out! I haven't gone out in so long!"
Bro says with his serious big-brother-pensive-look: Hm.
Me: I want to go to a club! I haven't gone in years!
Bro's expression lights up: It's Pride this weekend! We can totally go clubbing!
Me: Oh...I guess....I guess that would be the "safer" thing to do.
Bro: Don't you like it when lesbians hit on you?
...

At least I'll be sober enough to coherently turn women away...rather than literally turning around and running away from drunk, creepy men. Then again, working with my kiddos has caused my maturity to regress a bit so I just might turn around and run away regardless of whether a male or female approaches!

Back to another Journal Article Summary (same gripe: I thought I was done with these when I graduated! I thought I was done with these last quarter!)

Oh, and I call DD.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

My Favorite

It's no secret (on this blog) who my favorite kiddo is. BF used to ask me all the time, "Who's your favorite?" When I finally realized and admitted that it's J320, he stopped asking me.

Now, he often surveys, "What is your favorite thing that J320 says (or does)?" I had a hard time figuring it out b/c J320's speech can be a messy chunk so by the time I get home, I forget exactly what he says.

Today, I finally figured it out -- and remembered.

That Crazy Lady and I had been in a relatively short IEP (2 hours...vs. 3-4) but we knew that J320 had been acting up all that time...b/c we could hear him on the other side of the wall and we could feel the room shake whenever he jumped. When the meeting adjourned, we went into the classroom. His aide had gone on a break so J320 got even more antsy so TCL decided to take him on a walk. Before she did, she had to tell an aide something so he stood there, starting to whine. I walked over to him (whence he invaded my personal bubble) and I said, "I need to tie your shoe." He stood still and let me tie his shoe so TCL partially prompted, "What do you say?"
J320: I-nee-hel-plea. (translation: I need help please).
We both try to stifle our laugh and TCL prompts again, "No, what do you say?"
J320: takeawalk!
Me: Give me your other foot... [he stomps a little and then lets me tie his other shoe.]
TCL: What do you say?
J320: Iwa'mee-A!

I was laughing so hard at this point! He said, I want Miss Liang! Poor baby probably doesn't even know what he just said but it totally made my day.

This is just a classic case of him getting his language all mixed up due to anxiety and anticipation of his reinforcer. He ends up spitting out every learned phrase contextually related even if it's not in the appropriate sequence. So it's not that he "wants" me per se, but he was just trying so hard to say the "right" thing (i.e., Thank you) that he ended up recycling every possible phrase that he thinks he's supposed to say until he gets it "right." (Yes, it's my job to help him discriminate and get it right on the first try.)

In retrospect, I am actually surprised that he said my "name" without a prompt! (My name went from "Mi'Lee-A" to "Mi-Mee-A" and now to "Mee-A." Sigh.

My favorite thing that J320 says is my name. Sometimes, instead of spitting it out in a chunk like he usually does anytime he talks (except during group therapy during snack time...and apparently, it's beginning to generalize! Woohoo!), he'll kind of elongate it like he's singing, "Mi-mee-Aaaa."

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Tuesday Boys Series Continued

Yet another Tuesday with the boys. I didn't get to see my 7th period troublemakers, but I did dutifully see my 2nd period troubleteens.

I wasn't expecting them to be actin' fewls but holy snikeys were they ever! I saw D during 1st period, and he nicely asked, "are you going to call us today?" "Yes..." as we walked past each other. He yelled after me, "Have food ready!" I yelled back even louder, "Bring your own food!"

The two boys barged in demanding food, and I lectured them about how many times I have to lecture them about eating breakfast and not expecting me to feed them (last time, they looked like they seriously would have given me $50 to go to McDonald's for them). I could barely get them to do work! Today seriously took the cake. D started smacking his lips loud while he sucked away on a fiery cinnamon ball thingy and leaning back in his chair. He was really testing me...

D: What would you do if I fell backwards?
Me: Nothing. I don't usually scream.
D: Well, what would you do? Would you call 911?
Me: I'd tell C____ to perform CPR on you.
C: WHAT! NO WAY!
D: Seriously, what would you do if I fell backwards?!
Me: I already told you! I'd tell C___ to perform CPR on you!
D & C verbally protest.
As if I haven't answered him like 100 times, D asks again: C___ doesn't know how. What would you do?
What did he want me to say? Me: I'd tell Mr. D____, the custodian, to perform CPR on you!
D & C: AH! GROSS!

Finally, that ended the mature conversation.

Later on (more like a few minutes later), they ask me again if they could get on the internet and onto MySpace. I explain to them that there is no way; we go through this every other session. D says, "C'mon, just let me get onto MySpace! I'll put you on my Top 4!"

Please don't do me any favors! I certainly don't need barely teenage boys in my network! (For the record, the boys aren't keen enough to find my private profile; D still can't remember my name and although C sort of knows my last name, he doesn't know my first name.)

I was seriously reaching desperation, thinking that I wouldn't get any work out of them for the first time ever. Fortunately, I was successful at pulling the typical routine that gets them both working -- I force/trick C into working so that D will join in too b/c he always wants attention (his reinforcer). Our conversation veers a bit; we got to talking about natural "cataclysms" and again, they stop working. I was about to give up on the dang lesson (defining vocab based on context) when I FINALLY accidentally discovered the right reinforcer for today -- we were talking about China (i.e., earthquake, one-child policy, poverty) and when I brought up poverty and beggars, I told them how I taught BF how to say in Chinese, "go away." Their eyes and ears perked up like mad, and they begged and begged for me to tell them how to say it. I said, "finish this worksheet AND get all the answer right and then I'll tell you."

Dude, they finished the last problem literally right when the bell rang. "Okay! Done! Tell us!"

"Sorry, you guys didn't finish before the bell rang. If you hadn't messed around so much, we could have gotten through it all and with time to spare and then I would've told you."

They left mad (I heard the typical, "that's messed up!"), but whatever. After all, I'm the one whose a smidgen more (mature and) in control...!

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Another Tuesday: Typical yet Not

I really struggled today to keep up with the crazy pace; quite a few unexpected things came up during the work day. Despite having my usual cup of coffee before Little Kid School started, I still wasn't very alert. Fortunately, That Crazy Lady always has a good pot of coffee brewed, when she's there. I stopped by before hours to re-cap with her on yesterday's events, since she was MIA. During the re-cap, J320's mom called to say that she was dropping him off at the back gate and asked if we could come out and get him.

We rushed out and said hello to mom and good morning to J320. During the transition, Mom said good-bye to J320, and they gently bumped foreheads to say good-bye. Then J320 gently kissed mom on her forehead. It was such a beautiful and marvelous act of love between mother and child. It really warmed my heart and brought a smile to my face.

(It's all the more marvelous b/c J320 is often not very gentle. When he gets aggressive or throws a tantrum, it is NOT pretty! Things can fly and fists can land in your face or on your back. I actually had a very interesting session with him yesterday. B/c zero demands were placed on him for the first 3.5 hours of his day, he looked at me like I was the devil's spawn when I called him for speech. He threw two of the hugest tantrums literally two feet away from me...but not once did he hit me! I was absolutely floored!!!! He even towered over me but without physical contact, I simply directed him to sit back down and he did!!! I was amazed and proud of how far we have come in terms of behavior management. I couldn't believe how well I managed it all and remained in control...much more, I couldn't believe that he settled down enough to comply. He actually head butted his aide last week and walked away like nothing happened, while his aide held his head in pain for a while after.) Sigh -- just thinking of J320 makes me laugh.

Afterwards, I hit the ground running with my usual rowdy Tuesday boys. When I think of my Tuesday boys, I just laugh and shake my head. I was so tired by the end of the day (despite having double the amount of coffee) that I had to take a power-nap before my Big Kid School. Thankfully, our instructor is soOOoOOo laid-back. She even brought her 3-month old baby girl for the first hour and a half. We all couldn't stop gazing, oohing, and ahhing at the adorable little pumpkin! It was such a lovely sound hearing the baby girl softly coo and cry.

Today, I experienced, saw, and heard such beautiful interactions.

Saturday, May 17, 2008

First Night for Bro & FBIL

I just got home not to long ago, after bidding Bro and FBIL a good first night in their new place. :) Today was the official moving day, but really, the process began a while back.

I've been helping out whenever I can, but yesterday, there was much urgency as we prepared for today. Yesterday, I rushed over as soon as I could (after a quick 25-min power nap after work) to help out. Bro and I made a trip over to the new place, unloaded 2 carloads, and cleaned. I was really fighting heat exhaustion/stroke way after the sunset.

I have never done well with extreme L.A. heat. Although I make light of this a lot, I used to suffer from heat stroke/exhaustion quite often when I was in elementary school. I don't know how many times I've fainted in the restroom without anyone knowing, but I bet it was a lot of times.

Now that I'm grown up, I faint for other sometimes less predictable reasons. (I know, I know, I need to see a doctor.) However, I still get pretty nervous around extreme heat. I get really fatigued and sometimes feel really gnarly after a good few hours in intense heat.

Last night, it was pretty bad, but I hung in alright. We ended up going back to the old apartment to meet FBIL for a late dinner. Considering I felt all gnarly, I still ate a lot of good food. We reminisced about a lot of things.

Thinking about the residents of this old apartment has been a running joke. We often call it the "family heirloom" as it's been passed around so much. It started off with bro finding the place for Cousin Lawyer who moved in by herself. After a year or two, I moved in since cousin was away for work more often than she was home. Then Doctor cousin moved in temporarily. Three ended up being a crowd so Doctor Cousin and I moved into K-town (a crazy 6-month stint; Doc Cousin lived with me for only 2 months). I moved back in and then Cousin Lawyer eventually moved out and my college roomie moved in. Within that year, I had pretty much unofficially moved in with BF 2 miles away. Bro came back from Japan and unofficially moved in. Eventually, my college roomie moved out and FBIL came home from Japan and moved in, and they've been there ever since 2002 or 03.

The conversation also shifted to how we deal with moving. FBIL mentioned how moving is often a difficult transition for him because of the attachments he makes. He is one to really explore the neighborhoods that he lives in. For instance, he becomes a part of the community as he makes regular walking trips to the local farmers markets. On the other hand, Bro has moved around 16 or 17 times in his life. I trail him by maybe 4 or 5 moves (he moved 2 or 3 times before I was born). However, we moved more than 10 times before we graduated from high school -- a phenomenon that prompted FBIL to comment, "that's not normal!" Perhaps he's right in that all the moving has given us a different outlook on moving. I don't recall moving ever having been a big ordeal for me. I don't get really attached to places that I've lived at and moving has never been a big transition for me. I remember writing my college essay about how I easily adapt to wherever I go because I have moved homes so many times in my life. In retrospect, I realize that moving homes is much different than moving to another city, state, or country, and school more than 10 times so maybe that's also why moving hasn't been a big deal for me....just a big hassle at times.

I went home exhausted and I could tell I wasn't feeling right (likely from the heat). I knocked out but didn't sleep so well. Much to my dismay, I woke up at 6 AM feeling funky but couldn't go back to sleep. I finally got up around 7 and got ready to start the day. I stopped by Home Depot to pick up a vanity bathroom set before heading back over to the old apartment. Friends arrived b/t 9 and 9:30, and we moved like crazy. We left the old apartment around 10:40 and moved into the new place until about 1:40. Afterwards, Bro and FBIL treated us all to delicious Thai food. :)

Afterwards, we dispersed and I came home to shower and rejuvenate. I felt really gnarly (blaming the heat) so I ended up taking a nap. I got up after an hour but still felt really gnarly, but I ate, read my text a little bit, and then headed back over to help them unload the second truckload for about an hour. This time it was just us 3 and it was much cooler and it was just half a truck load of boxes, knickknacks, and big plants.

The last thing left is to help clean their old apartment tomorrow. As FBIL says, throughout all the moving, Bro and I see a lot of "silver linings." Although I am not looking forward to the heat in the old apartment, I don't mind seeing the place one last time (even if it's to clean). We've all had some great memories there.

Closing the door for the last time will be both sad and exciting as we look forward to opening new doors that house new memories.

(I had to end with something cheesy and nostalgic. :)

Congratulations to Bro and FBIL on the purchase of their first home together!

Thursday, May 15, 2008

My Shortest Post Ever?

I had the most awesome dinner of champions tonight.
First, I had an Oreo shake, and then I had natural cut fries. 0% healthy but 200% yummy.
I am thoroughly enjoying my lazy, relaxing evening. :)

Warning: Hazardous Room

In the beginning of the year, I was using my (Communist) Red Star shoulder bag, but then BF bought me an even more awesome shoulder bag -- a Hazmat bag. I use it everywhere I go. One day, I told BF, "I love this bag! Look, it even has all these pen holders!" BF said, "What are you talking about! Those aren't pen-holders. They're bullet-holders!" Oh.

Anywho, I use my Hazmat bag at school, too, because I frequently travel between the 320 classroom and my room. It's so convenient b/c it holds a good amount of materials amongst other supplies and knick-knacks that I "never know when I'm going to need."

(Not a great segue but) Speaking of hazardous stuff, I am so disgusted with my room. Earlier this year, I got an all-staff e-mail warning teachers to be careful about having food in their rooms b/c there is a rat problem. A few weeks after, the custodian came by and said in a calm manner, "I don't mean to scare you but I'm just going to put this little rat trap right here b/c someone said they saw a rat run out of your room...Don't worry, I'll come by every morning to check it. I'm sure it wasn't really in your room." Sometimes I hesitantly check it myself in the morning. I fear that one day, there will be a dead rat there.

A few weeks ago, a huge cockroach was roaming my room. When I finally remembered to bring Raid, it disappeared for two days. Then it scurried across my small room and I sprayed like 2 ounces of Raid on it but it wouldn't die! Out of desperation, I stuck the Raid can over it and ran to get the custodian. Of course it was dead by the time the custodian lifted the can and promptly disposed the carcass (and I felt so silly). The custodian said, "I'll put a bait plug-in; because your room is right here, there are probably some cracks for them to come in." My room is at the end of a corridor, surrounded by marshy, swampy lawns that spawn mosquitoes and gnats; sometimes when I open my door first thing in the morning, a small swarm of them almost fly into my face. No roach bait yet, but I hadn't had any problems with the roaches again until today.

Today, I was double-booked for two IEPs (the parent for the later one came early and the earlier one came late; I've learned my lesson to not book IEPs back-to-back!) so I excused myself to go outside to meet the late-earlier one. We stood in the marshy swamps to talk a little bit, when I felt something on my foot. I looked down in time to see a huge roach crawling across my foot. I quickly jerked my foot so it flew somewhere. Thankfully, I didn't scream but just carried on (I'm not much of a screamer when other people are around).

Later, when we moved back into my room, I saw another roach crawl across my room! I didn't say anything, but when the Aunty walked in, I saw her gesture to the student about something on the floor. After they left, I found a dead roach around where my student was sitting. She must have graciously stomped on it during the meeting!

Lastly, yesterday and today, there have been big clumps of dirt falling from the vent directly above where I normally sit.

Yesterday, the principal threatened to take this room away from me. Truth be told, I don't take it as a serious threat for several reasons, including the aforementioned and especially since the summer heat is approaching. My room does not have adequate ventilation (i.e., no A/C nor heater). My kids are constantly freezing to the point that they hog my space heater and use my extra fleece blanket. Tomorrow is supposed to be a scorcher so it'll be an oven in my room. Hopefully, I don't get any heat strokes in my room and faint onto the floor where roaches will scurry across me.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Happy Mommy's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mommies and mommies-to-be!

I barely made it in time to wish my mommy a Happy Mother's Day. I just called her a few moments ago, right when she was about to fall asleep. It's been difficult getting a hold of her, now that she doesn't have a cell phone any more...Bro and I are hoping to bring her out next weekend since she didn't have time this weekend.

Today was another booked day. I went to church, and then came home for BF to put my spare tire on before I headed over to help bro move a carload of stuff over to their new place. Their place is really coming along. On Wednesday, I went over to put primer on their closet and bedroom walls. When I saw their place today, their bathroom tiles were already finished and their bedroom and closet walls were painted. :) Hopefully, their kitchen and bathroom will be finished soon! They're place is going to look fabulous.

Later, we all met around 5 P.M. to celebrate with the Moms on my dad's side by meeting up at the Daily Grill in Santa Monica (sans oldest Aunt and her family). We had a wonderful time having a gang of appetizers, a few drinks (i.e., a like 5 sips of beer for me), and delicious desserts. All the women also got $15 gift cards in honor of Mother's Day! That was so neat! Afterwards, we went to Third Street Promenade and walked the whole length and back. I am reminded as to why I am easily entertained (i.e., it must be genetic).

One of the first performers we came across was a duo breakdancing and popping & locking. Gramma immediately sat down but their performance ended shortly and they humorously asked for tips. It was so cute -- Gramma (who doesn't understand English very well) pulled a bill out, walked over to the big container in the middle of the crowd, and dropped her donation in! Shortly after a few others donated, the party/performance continued. :) Gramma totally rules. And she is so hip, being all into the dance moves!

It was really nice to spend time with the family and appreciate the mothers who have done so much for us.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

You Don't Have to be...

Sometimes I wonder if I've ever been so rude to someone and just don't remember it, but karma is just getting me back.

A few months ago, I encountered the absolute rudest customer service in my life at Best Buy. BF and I usually get crappy service and I religiously complete the online survey for good and bad service. Last time, it was so bad that I went completely out of my element, lost my cool, and yelled across the way to the customer representative behind the counter as I was already at the exit, "You don't have to be so rude!!!"

Seriously, can you imagine me REALLY yelling that? My friends, on the real, I did. I was that upset. I even filed a formal complaint to the 800 customer service.

Today, I attended a workshop with my grad-co. Afterwards, we stopped by a Costco along the way. We were walking on the sidewalk, when I clumsily knocked off my beautiful Christmas present bracelet that Ate made me, and all the beads fell onto the floor and into the shrubs. Grad-co felt so bad that she immediately crouched down to frantically pick up as many beads as possible. I kept insisting it was okay and tried to get her up. The second time I bent down, I gently pulled her back up. Right when I looked up, an older man and his wife were pushing their cart right toward me. He said in a loud, annoyed voice as others were pushing their carts past, "WATCH WHERE YOU WALK!!" Did you not see that I was picking something up?!

Considering I haven't had much experience nor practice responding back out of impulsiveness nor anger, I couldn't think of a good comeback (which is also why my Best Buy statement across the floor was a glorious, albeit immature, moment for me). Instead, I yelled, "Excuse me!"

I know, that doesn't even qualify as a comeback. Even something like, "Excuse YOU!" would have been 50% better. Random unhappy events like that are hard for me to immediately get over. I kept mulling over it, trying to think of how I could have better responded. Grad-co suggested, "You don't have to be a jerk!"

So I think I'm ready for the next time a stranger says something rude to me and the immature, impulsive Chanel needs to woman up.

Clarification: it'll also be a case-by-case thing. I'd be a little more afraid of picking a fight with a girl my size than an older, bigger man -- I can't imagine the latter getting into a fist fight with me.

Friday, May 09, 2008

Conflicted

I have used that word a lot to describe when I am unsure of what is the right thing to do or when I know what is right but my instinct is telling me otherwise.

Today, That Crazy Lady said she was conflicted...about whether to come back in the Fall! Apparently, she got a "glowing" review from the Assistant Principal which will supposedly open the doors for her to come back. That didn't bother me as much as what she also said.

She asked me about becoming a speech-language pathologist (i.e., requirements). I told her, but I spared lots of details (e.g., all the tears, sweat, and blood). Later on, when she told me about her "conflicted" state, she said, "I would love to be an SLP because what you do is really about working with the kids" -- which is very true as opposed to spending more energy and time on office politics -- "and I pretty much do what you do already and it's not hard."

The more I mulled over it, the more insulted I felt. I did tell her in my polite, peace-maintaining way that yes, it may seem like what we do is kind of the same, but our philosophy is different -- we go to graduate school for all the theory, which is important. We have to know why we do what we're doing. Our field is based on research and the application of theory is evidence-based, not practiced based on "gut feeling" which she loves to go off of (no exaggeration -- she put down the Autism Specialist with 20+ years experience in J320's IEP by saying that her "gut feeling" told her something about J320, which pretty much discounts decades of research on autism). Not to mention, I did not go through two years of intense schooling for someone to tell me that anyone can do my job.

How I service my different populations can look very basic and led by "common sense." However, I have an evidence-based and theoretical approach to what I do and why. For instance, I got a cheesy standing ovation from the aides today when I worked with J320 (this story actually cracks me up!).

It was time for group therapy (i.e., snack time) but J320 was throwing a major tantrum. His sub-aide was sitting with him at his station, yelling at him to "stop it! Stop crying!" and then she must have seen me approaching because she quickly switched to saying, "quiet sitting" (which is what I've been working on with him and verbally prompting). Aside from the yelling at him to stop, I was pleased that she was telling him that he had to first quietly sit before he could come to the snack table. Then TCL went over and told him two minutes of quiet sitting before coming over.

I was like, wait a minute Ms. Non-SLP-Non-BCBA. 1) The boy can't do quiet sitting for two minutes. I have gradually shaped his sitting behavior (and taken data) from 10 counts to 60 counts for a month and counting. 2) Do you even know what Quiet Sitting entails? (J320 probably knew more than her.)

So I asked the aide if I could quickly work with him. I had the crying kiddo stand up as usual, turn the chair, and sit down facing me. I squeezed his legs together between mine (for the
"quiet feet"). I also held his hands palm down onto his lap for quiet hands. This is all typical, but the next part was so awesome. I usually count with a whisper, but today, I counted barely audibly, but the kid has like hearing better than dogs (well, individuals with autism generally have hypersensitive hearing). He actually heard me and sporadically chimed into the counting, which distracted him from crying. Not only that, but around 20 counts, I let go of his legs for the first time (I usually have to hold his legs the entire 60 counts) and prompted only one time for quiet feet. Next, I let go of his hands around 40 counts (with one prompt for quiet hands, when he impulsively reached for a water bottle). Last, he was completely quiet by 60 counts and I threw the biggest social-praise party for him ("Wow! Give me 10! EXCELLENT QUIET SITTING! Let's get snack now!") --- And he just kept sitting there quietly!!! I was floored (in a good way). The aides literally clapped. LOL

J320 came over and started the crying at the table so I ignored it and only attended to him when he was quietly sitting. By the end, he was good. He actually finished snack time earlier than usual so I instructed him to clean up and then off he went, galloping around the room, stimming like crazy. The funniest part was that I was still working with two other kiddos when he sauntered back to see what goodies I still had. I asked him, "do you want popcorn?" He said, "popcorn please" and we started the whole snack time routine again! (I made him sit down, request for a napkin, and then the popcorn). I was laughing so hard about him coming back for a second round of snacks! That, too, was a first!

Anywho, that is speech-language pathology plus a touch of applied behavior analysis. I worked on modeling, fading the prompts (physical and verbal), used visual cues, and provided Functional Communication Training and differential reinforcement.

Speaking of applied behavior analysis (ABA), That Crazy Lady also wrote on one of the aides evaluation today that he needs to learn more about ABA. I thought, dude, don't get me started on that. For four months now, I've been studying like crazy and getting weekly lectures on what is and is not ABA ...and how the layperson calls a lot of approaches ABA when they're not (like TCL). Every week, one of us gets totally reamed because we called something ABA when it apparently wasn't. And for some reason, my supervisor gives us 2 SLPs the hardest time; he keeps insinuating week after week that our clocked clinical hours are probably not truly applying ABA.

Back to TCL -- that's two strikes from her in one day. Not that I want to throwdown with a crazy lady. By the time I got home, I was okay because I figured that if she is so adamant about not taking the CSET to become a Special Education teacher (I have no idea why; it's not like she wouldn't pass. She is quite intelligent), then there is no way that she would take the GRE, right?

Anywho, my work day ended even more anticlimactic. I drove for 46 minutes in traffic (usual commute is 20 minutes), and when I walked away from my parked car, I heard a hissing noise. I walked back to my car...and bless it, I had a nail in the same tire that I just patched a few weeks ago!! I must have gotten it in the alley. Thank goodness it happened in the alley vs. during my 46-minute commute.

I went upstairs and told BF (and I got the usual, "why do these things always happen to you? You have such bad luck." Did I mention that I seriously killed my work laptop for reals this time?). He suggested we go out for sushi (we discovered a delicious restaurant nearby). When we went down to swap parking spots not 20 minutes later, my low tire pressure sensor light already tripped.

Thank goodness I also didn't return the new wheel lock I bought and that I haven't gotten the wheel locks put on that tire.

At least it's the weekend!

Thursday, May 08, 2008

The Nerd Legacy

Much to my ginormous surprise, I got an A in my second Big Kid School class!

I think he must have curved it b/c there was no way I could have gotten 100% on the final exam (raising grade an entire "level"). I missed a class, which made my grade drop from low 90% something to 79.1%. The last week of class was a marathon of papers, experiments, quizzes, and the final exam -- again, no way I could have gotten 100% on all of those things.

BTW, ever since last, last Tuesday that marked the end of the stress marathon, I have been on chillaxation mode ever since. The GREAT news is that the next two courses will not be as stressful (i.e., more room to slack off); but does that mean that I will have double the stress when I study for the national exam? =X I will still do my best to keep up with my studies, but I gotta say, intrinsic motivation is often a challenge for me.

On a semi-separate note, one of my adopted mentors who completed the coursework and took the national exam in March...didn't pass! I was floored when she told me the news! It sounds like the exam is really cracked out for several suspicious reasons (that I won't go into yet)...especially for an international organization that touts reliable and valid data.

I am encouraged to see that the more I learn about applied behavior analysis, the stronger I continue to grow as a therapist. Hm, I guess that's the intrinsic motivation/positive reinforcement.

"In-Between Teacher" Appreciation Week

I had quite an appreciated and appreciative day. :)

After settling in at Little Kid School (i.e., work), I headed over to the Teacher's Lounge, totally dressed casual and in my Adidas, reasoning that it's a minimum day, everyone usually dresses down, and I wouldn't see anyone anyways. Of course I ran into 1/4 of the staff and the principal! There was a nice breakfast spread in honor of the teachers for Teacher's Appreciation Week. I was a little embarrassed about dressing more like a student than a teacher (ironically, today's student competition was "Dress Like a Teacher"), but I still went about with my business. I was even more embarrassed when the principal was standing next to me (the one, whom I just told my Big Kid School classmate on Tuesday, that doesn't even know my name), said hello + my name after I greeted her. I guess she does know my name after all!

Later, I saw N320 and even though he was all giggly (it was right after snack, a horrible time to work with him), I was proud of some of the modifications I quickly thought of and implemented. Since he was being mischievous (and he has the BEST smile to go with it), I really simplified the tasks. By the third activity, I was really losing his attention, but thankfully, we were done with the boring drill stuff. We were on "What-Bingo," but it was still challenging for him b/c it was the first time I wasn't letting him see the picture to match the answer on his Bingo board. I also tried, at first, to get him to use his knowledge of colors functionally (i.e, take the RED chip and put it on...) but that wasn't going so well so I quickly altered the task. I put out 5 chips (a mini-duration "visual"; "only 5 more chips then all done...4 more, then lunch, etc.) and covered up his entire board except for one row or column that had the particular answer (two modifications that totally helped!). Totally maximum prompting and structuring but at this point, it was about getting him to complete the task (i.e., extinction of behavior maintained by negative reinforcement; i.e., misbehaving to escape from the task). We barely made it and then he reached to paw me. No harm done; we diverted it with an appropriate handshake.

Afterwards, I was en route to the Teacher's Lounge when one of my HFA boys saw me, looked me in the eye, and greeted me! I was THRILLED!! I thought he was going to ignore me as their disorder really hinders this simple social skill that we often take for granted. True, he saw me look at him as I walked past, which probably prompted him to greet me, but I was taking it for all it's worth! Over the past few months, when I've seen him, he doesn't even look up, much more look at me and say hello. The social skills therapy and "assignments" I give them just might be generalizing after only three weeks!! Woohoo!!

When I got to the Teacher's Lounge to check my mailbox, I ran into the teacher who doubles as the school ASB coordinator. He commented on my survey from Tuesday and how he is totally with me on Nacho Libre being an awesome movie. (Phew! I'm not the only dork on campus!) When I asked him what it was for, he said that it was for Teacher's Appreciation (ASB is going to post them up for students to get to know their teachers). He also commented about how I'm not really a teacher, but it would be nice for the students to know a little bit about me. He didn't say the faux-teacher-comment in an offensive way, but it did strike me funny.

I went back to my room to prep and called two of my SDC kids. I've narrowed the group down to seeing these two in one session b/c they both need work on social skills and their language and cognition is higher than the other SDC kids. Again, I was thrilled with my two kids! My unprogrammed boy self-corrected holding his pencil correctly! His teacher has been nagging him ALL year. Last week, I talked to him for like a minute about holding his pencil right and why he should ("you don't want people to look at you funny, do you?" Seriously, that's all it takes with this one, sometimes) and today, he picked up the pencil his usual way. I was about to prompt him, but he independently stopped and repositioned it into the correct grip. I was like, HOLY SNIKEYS! Beaming from ear to ear. :) (Who knew that SLPs would also double as OTs?) Not only that, but for the first time, I didn't have to prompt him every single time it was his turn! I only prompted him once out of the entire session vs. literally 10 times! I was floored! At the end, I told him how proud I was about all those things. I'm sure that social praise was positive reinforcement to the umpteenth power for him. As for my ASD girl, I was really pleased with the sentences she wrote and the thoughts conveyed. I've struggled to see her full potential b/c when she is with the other SDC girls, she is often overshadowed and she gives up easily out of frustration. I sent them both back to call the rest of the SDC girls.

Only three out of the four were present. Right away, the talkative one said/asked, "We can play a game today?" "No." "Why not?" "Because you didn't ask me correctly. If you're asking me a question, then you start it off with, 'can we..." Dude, that taught them fast! They immediately tried again, "Miss L___, can we play a game?" "No, it's too late. That will teach you to remember to ask me correctly next week on the first try." And for the rest of the period, she never once asked me with the wrong structure! Why didn't I do this like in September with her?! Oh yeah, b/c I didn't know what the heck I was doing back then until January. She even corrected one of the girls. LOL

At one point during the session, another ASB rep stopped by to drop off this wonderful card!
My talkative girl that loves to stall asked, "Can you read it?" I said, "Yes I will since you asked so nicely."
I was so touched! The funny thing is that after I read the message (and replaced "problems" with "difficulties"), the quieter, curious one who always asks me questions about me, commented, "But you're not really a teacher, are you?" The talkative one chimed in, "Yeah, what are you?" I said, "Well, I sort of am, but am not. I'm what you call a therapist--" Before I could blab more, the talkative one said, "Oh, you're almost like a teacher, but you're not! You're in-between!" LOL I guess so.

So funny that twice in one day, I get the faux-teacher comment, too! I kinda like this in-between teacher status. Haha. :)

Since Mother's Day is coming up, they asked if I have any kids. I said, no, unless you count my turtle. In truth, I consider all of them as my kids.

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Street Credits

I don't know why I schedule my craziest RSPED kiddos all in one day. I don't have that many...but the four that I have really work me!

In the morning, I saw my usual Tuesday 2nd period boys (C and D). Since Chanel last warned them about "behaving better," they have straightened up. I don't think I've mentioned this, but they totally have a bipolar relationship with each other. For the most part, they get along very nicely, but D will (literally) pound on C if something that C does/says triggers him. Today, after they started off smoothly, C got on D's nerves. When it was time to write responses, D threatened, "You better not finish before me..." but C did so D punched C's arm really hard. I said, "Hey, do I need to separate you two? [C], have a seat over here" so C moved to the other end of the table and said dramatically, "It's over between us!" I often tease that they are inseparable which they sometimes feed off of (and pretend to be all loving) and sometimes vehemently deny (y'know, they have to be all macho) so when C said that, I was laughing so hard! Then D said, "Oh, I see how it is. I was going to celebrate our anniversary with some champagne, too. But I guess it's over between us!"

I was like, WTH!! LOL Crazy kids! They were saved by the bell (rather, I was saved by the bell) but before they got to the door, I said, "Hey, guys, I noticed that both of your reading skills have really improved since the beginning of the year. I think that's great." D screamed, "WOOHOO!!" I think they left before they saw me shaking my head and letting out a sigh of relief.

Later on, I saw my other two crazy boys. I've gotten to the point where when G walks in, I attempt two conversational turns (if even) and then ignore him until D comes in. G is really hard-core about keeping his street credits so he always walks in like he's hot stuff and way too cool to talk to me. But the moment D walks in, it's like a shouting match between the three of us! A few weeks ago, I called for G, and his teacher said, he may not want to come b/c they just started watching a fun movie. So she put him on the phone and I gave him the option of coming. Much to my huge surprise, he came. Of course it was like pulling teeth working with His Coolness since D wasn't there.

So we started working and of course they asked, "Why can't we just play a game?" I said, "If you finish reading this and answer ALL of the questions correctly -- no mistakes and in complete sentences, then we can play this game." Dude, they worked so fast and hard. It was awesome and hilarious. One of the questions was, "Describe what country you would visit and why." I was impressed with G's answer. He said, "I would visit a place that is nice and peaceful." I totally didn't expect that from him! I tell you, this crazy kid could do so much better for himself if he always put in the effort and stayed out of trouble! What happened next:

D hollered: I don't know what country I'd visit!
G: Dude, just put Mexico.
D: No! I don't like tacos.
In my mind (and I'm sure my expression spoke for itself), I was like, WHAT!!!!!
G: Dude! That's racist!
(FYI: both are African-Americans)
D: That's not racist. So what if I don't like eating tacos.
G: You just can't say that! How would you like it if someone came up to you and said, "Hey, you like eating fried chicken all day?"
D: I'd say, yeah. Cuz I do like fried chicken.
What in the world?!

The best was when after they left, and I was finishing correcting D's responses, he wrote, "Mexico because of the tacos." LOL (No credit b/c it wasn't a complete sentence nor did he "describe" the country.) But on the real, I was extremely impressed with G. If anything, I would've imagined it the other way around (D being the one with manners, schooling G, and writing good responses; then again, D has his own funny attitude.)

At some point during that session, one of the 320 aides came in to pick up a questionnaire I filled out of her. She asked me to write my e-mail address on the back of the form and when I finished writing it, I noticed that G was frantically trying to scribble my address down! Unbelievable! (He didn't get it, but I totally called him out on it.)

(Maybe all the interruptions added to the craziness) Also during this session, a student came by again to see if I had finished filling out a teacher survey about myself based on Ellen Degeneres' AMEX print ad. I didn't even think twice to ask what it was for (I know which teacher it was for) so I filled it out. What did I put for favorite movie? Of course Nacho Libre!!!

I told BF afterwards and he was mortified. He thinks that I embarrass him waaaaay too much. Shoot, what's there to be embarrassed about? :) Still, I almost felt bad for putting that down, but why lie? It is my favorite movie (even if it's part of CBnR's "Bad Movie Day" collection).

Later on, I shared in Big Kid School about my fave movie and my classmate said, "dude, now they're totally going to be like, "wow, I thought my speech teacher was such a dork, but she's actually really cool."

I said, "Um, I doubt it. I probably just confirmed that their speech teacher is the biggest dork!"

Sunday, May 04, 2008

Good Deed?

Shortly after BF reluctantly left for a client meeting, I went on a walk around the neighborhood. He called me a little after I started off and he warned me with the usual, "be careful." I never think much as I feel like our neighborhood is relatively safe; there are always many (decent-looking) people strolling, running, or walking their doggies.

Suddenly, I saw two loose terriers. I managed to grab a hold of one but the other ran across the street. I called the number on the tag but nobody picked up so I stood there, clueless as to what to do. BF called back but he didn't have any good solutions either. Right then, I saw a gentleman walking his (beautiful) labrador.

"Excuse me! Do you know whose dog this is?" The man oriented to me, saw the dog, and his body language exuded an, "oh great" message.

"Yeah, I know whose dog that is. It's this corner house--" and he pointed to the house just across the street. I told him that the other ran away. The man brought me over to the corner house and yelled over the fence 3 times for the terrier's owner. Finally, we heard someone respond. The gentleman said, "your dogs got loose again." The guy said, "oh, I'll meet you in the front." I am so glad the gentleman was still with me b/c this guy looked CREEPY!!!! (Maybe this is what BF means whenever he tells me "be careful" when I go on walks!) I gave him his terrier and he literally dropped the dog into the "pen" and mumbled, "I don't know how they keep getting out; I have them penned up." The place looked like a junkyard -- very contradicting to the rest of the neighborhood where houses are easily a million dollars (mind you, we "just" rent a condo down the street from these homes).

Afterwards, I turned to the gentleman and said, "Thanks for helping me. I seriously don't know what I would've done with the dog. Now, can I pet your dog?" Of course he let me and introduced me to his beautiful labrador, Abby. We walked back across the street and he said quietly, "My wife and I don't think those dogs are going to survive much longer there. They keep getting out and those people aren't fit to care for dogs," and briefly described in a few seconds the history of how those dogs got there.

Now I'm not so sure I did a good deed by returning the dog to the owner that doesn't care. Later, I told my bro, "I rescued a dog!" and told him all that transpired and he said, "maybe you should report the owners to animal cruelty." :(

P.S. The other yorky somehow made it back into its yard b/c when I returned the terrier I found, I saw the other one in the yard already.

P.P.S. The house (with owners that Bro says I should also report to Animal Cruelty) with the duckies got more duckies!