Off the top of your head

This morning, I ran into the principal in the parking lot. We exchanged the cordial hellos, and she asked how it was going. I enthusiastically said, "really well!" (and did my characteristic nodding-of-head-in-agreement-with-myself). She stopped in her footsteps and asked me, "Off the top of your head, do you know how many are on your caseload?"

As if I don't open up the online IEP program and stare at my caseload number everyday including the weekends (moreso in fear that the number will increase).

"56."

Her eyes got big. "Fifty-six?"
"Yeah...56 just for [the middle school] plus the County kids."
"Does the 56 include the County kids?"
"No..."
"How many County kids are there?"
"Five...but they require a good amount of service," as I try to respond carefully b/c I'm not quite sure what she's getting at.
"Fifty-six. Wow, I thought you had around twenty of our kids."

WTH? That's crazy talk! That's a dream job! To have 20 kiddos and a VTW to assist me! Yeah right!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

I conducted snack-time with the 320s today and J320 had me cracking up again! I don't know where he got this from but today, when I prompted him to begin his request with my name, he said it in such a funny way!

Usually, he "chunks" my name and drops final consonants so it comes out as, "Mi'-Lee-A." Today, it was all drawn out and sing-songy, "MiiiLeee-aaaaa." It's the funniest thing b/c I'm working on slowing down his rushed speech.

Okay, so y'all had to be there.

I also heard him say something that I've missed hearing him say. This morning, the teacher fried some bacon so when J320 walked into the classroom, he shouted, "BACONBACON!" So awesome.

P320 was on his game, too! He didn't want many of his snacks but then he kept reaching for my hand and "throwing" it towards something (that's his way of communicating that he wants you to get something that's closer to you to give to him; kinda like an extension of his hand). Turns out he wanted N320s Chex Mix.

Mi' Lee A loves Snack Time with the kiddos!

Gullible is not in the Dictionary

I remember when saying "gullible is not in the dictionary" still fewled people. (That was waaaay back in the days!)

This morning, BF picked up Mango (my birthday gift sea turtle from LBC Aquarium) and said, "You know why sea turtles have spots? Because they live in saltwater. Our turtle has stripes b/c she's freshwater."

I paused and looked at him and said, "Lies!" Then after a few seconds, I asked him, "Are you lying?"

BF said, "No...," as he looks away. Then of course he cracks up big time. "You're so gullible!"

Humph. It's just that sometimes, the things that he makes up...sound so believable!

Clinic Days

I can't believe I'm about to say this...

Sometimes, I wish I was back in my on-campus grad school clinic days, where I could videotape my sessions with the kiddos for self-evaluation (and playbacks of comic relief). As the intensity with N320 waxes and wanes, I continue to call the "experts" in. My head spins from all of the suggestions that I receive but fortunately, the past three experts have given me extremely effective suggestions. Unbeknownst to them, a lot of their suggestions overlap (thankfully). The difference with them vs. others is that they have physically been present with me through the Battle of Wills Part VII (i.e., 7th month) vs. others who give me instructions without being present.

Yesterday and today, Ms. KT has been with me. (She is the MF'n woman. I wish she was also my CFY supervisor b/c she is a G with the 320s!) It's been amazing (and comical) the past two days with the kiddos, especially with the two more challenging ones (J320 and N320). With KT's guidance, I conducted group therapy sessions during snack time. The results were awesome as we worked on quiet sitting, turn-taking, requesting, initiation, and expanding MLU. I wish she had had the time to show me much earlier on.

The funniest was J320. He is pretty much the only one that throws a mean tantrum. Prior to escalating to a tantrum (to get what he wants), he will shout to get someone's attention. So, throughout the entire snack time, he kept barking, "CHIP PLEASE!!" (more like, "CHI-PLEE!!") to get my attention. Whenever I turned to him and asked, "huh?" or "what do you want?" or looked at him with raised eyebrows, then he'd say in a calmer tone, "Iwanchiplee." Sometimes, if he didn't say it "nice" enough or if he got ahead of himself and asked for something I didn't have ("I want grapefruit please"), then I'd make him try his request again. At times, he would get so anxious that he'd yell out, "I need help please! Chip please!" And I still wouldn't give it to him until he asked in a calmer tone, "I want chip please." It must've been torture for him, but it was a good behavior-shaping lesson. Today, I wouldn't honor any of his requests until he first had "quiet sitting" (which is immensely difficult for this one) and then asked calmly. Again, he got so anxious that when I prompted N320, "I want..." then before N320 could make his request, J320 would butt in and yell, "chip please!" or "help please! Chip please!" sometimes followed by "WATER! WATER!" You'd swear I was depriving him food and water for days!

KT continued to guide me through therapy with N320 and in the end, we had him following one-step directions. It was like a miracle. With J320, we pulled him in for a quick first lesson on Quiet Sitting. It was pretty comical b/c J320 was soOoOOoo fidgety that KT prompted him literally every 2-5 seconds, "quiet feet/hands/sitting." The longest he was able to sit without fidgeting was ~10 seconds.

...

All in all, I have to say that yesterday and today were very hectic but excellent work days. Today was a much longer and productive day than I had anticipated, since I also had 3 IEPs, the last one being semi-unexpected b/c Mom didn't call to confirm! I had just walked into my room 5 minutes before and was going to leave, when I heard the custodian let somebody in. Mom and her son showed up. The thing is that I didn't expect the IEP to be a time for Mom to lecture her son...for an hour and a half! I left at 4, when all the teachers had left at 12! I didn't even bring up that her son used to ditch speech in the very beginning.

Back to KT, I'm glad she came b/c she also filled me in on the latest summer school news...that I might have a total of nine kiddos with severe autism beginning summer school!! Holy snikeys!! If I have even one more J320 and N320, I think my hair'll be half white by the end of the summer. The other news is that TCL may not have the chance to work summer! KT had me cracking up b/c as immensely professional and mature as she is, she said to me, "[TCL] even looks crazy! She looks like she's going to have a breakdown any second! Actually, I'm surprised she hasn't yet!" I couldn't help but admit that when I talk about That Crazy Lady, I truly do refer to her as That Crazy Lady.

Let's hope that she isn't technologically savvy enough to somehow find my blog...She may be crazy, but she is also very intelligent. What's that saying? There's a fine line between genius and insanity?

Celebrity Sighting at Costco!

Even more of a reason for me to love Costco! I had a close celebrity encounter!

I visited the Hawthorne Costco after work today and was not only amazed that it was pretty empty, but I passed within a few yards of Luke Walton!!

I couldn't help but keep looking at him -- what can I say, I am easily star struck. I was pushing my cart along one of the main aisles when he came out of a side aisle with a young woman sitting in his cart with her legs dangling over. There was a camera guy recording, who asked the lady next to me, "Do you want to be on TV?" Since the camera man obviously didn't find me TV quality, I pushed my cart around but turned around to catch another glimpse of this Lakers star. I think he looked at me and smiled. ("Think" is the key word. Or more like, I hope/wish.)

Later on, while I was in line, he was two lines over and his buddies were around him (one was at the Costco services stand in the picture). Too bad the young woman is blocking him in my picture! I swear it's him!

I think he was suspicious of me holding my iPhone up to sneak a few pictures. Unfortunately, I am far from being paparazzi amateur so my photos suck. But seriously? Again, I think he smiled at me b/c I kept looking at him with my star-struck eyes and I'm sure I had a goofy smile.

Outside, I saw him and the woman again as they walked towards the concessions area (with the camera man following them). I wonder if they ate a yummy ice-cream bar.

I saw Luke Walton in real life! :D

Mini Cousins' Day

I've been lucky enough to have my grad assistant(GA) with me this entire week, so all of my kiddos are getting serviced proper this week. :) Today, I saw my 1st through 5th period kiddos as scheduled.

After my sessions, I actually gave myself a lunch break for once. I was thinking about heading to the gym, but by the time I left (still later than planned), I didn't think I'd have enough time. On the other hand, I didn't want to get to my BCBA meeting so early. Then I had a brilliant idea. Why not call Younger Genius Cousin and see if he was free?

Turns out Older Genius Cousin was home, too! So I headed over to their house (and played with their cutie-pie doggy). We headed out for Chipotle, but ended up having ramen instead. After our delicious lunch, we drove across the plaza and decided at the last minute to have Jamba Juice! (I love smoothies and wonder why I don't have them more often!)

I had a GREAT time just hanging out with them two. I was cracking up every other minute either at our conversations or the interactions between the brothers. Too funny. :) It was really such a special treat for me to hang out with just them, in the middle of the week, and in the middle of a work day!

I reluctantly left for my BCBA meeting. :( I hope to see them again before they head back up North for school. Thanks cousins!

Hormones

I often allude to the fact that my kiddos are in a "funny" stage in life. They are growing so fast that sometimes, I feel like they've sprouted an inch since I last saw them a week ago. For many, the hormones are raging...and most of the overly-confident boys aren't afraid to make comments about girls around me. I try my best to remain professional and mature, but sometimes, I can barely stifle my laugh.

This morning, I saw my two boys CV and DA. I hadn't seen CV in two weeks so I entered my typical teacher-conversation-mode:

Me to CV: Well, hello! I haven't seen you in forever!
CV: Yeah, maestra! You got any food? I'm hungry!
Me: No.
CV: Any gum?
Me: No! What did I tell you about coming in here hungry?
DA: I'm hyper! I ate breakfast!
Me: You're hyper?

[Great! DA is naturally very hyper! When I first started seeing him, I seriously thought he had undiagnosed ADHD.]

Me: Well, I'm glad to hear that you ate breakfast for once, but not exactly thrilled that it made you hyper.
Me turning to DA: Well, I saw you last week alone since [CV] wasn't here.
CV to DA: You did? You saw her alone?
DA says with a totally suggestive tone and facial expression: Yeah, A-LONE.

[And he flashes the hugest, goofiest, toothy smile.]

I was like EEK!! Stop! Way to get me fired over false allegations of sexual harassment!

Moving forward, I must've told them "stop" at least 10 times today! I had them working on formulating sentences and at least half of them ended with, "...in bed" or something totally PG-13. When the session ended, my grad assistant turned to me and said, "I don't know how you deal with them. I was ready to kill them for you!"

Later on in the day, J320 walked by with TCL so I joined them so I could further confer with TCL about my insane session with N320 today. The bell rang and so tons of kids started filling the hallways. Out of my nervous nature, I slightly extended my hand out so that J320 could hold onto my pinky for security. I never know how he is going to react to the typical kiddos. Sometimes, he gets so excited that he squeals, jumps, and takes off running. TCL was holding his other hand, when he suddenly let go, gently swung his arm around my neck...and pulled me in as if he was going to kiss me!

Again, I completely and immaturely freaked out and ran to the other side of TCL! Then it took me a few minutes to recuperate from laughing so hard!

Yay, Finally!

I had a really comical speech session with J320 this morning.

J320 is a crazy, extremely lovable kid. (I can't imagine what life at home must be like.) Not enough words could describe this kiddo; you just have to be there to get the full effect. He is what we might consider high maintenance; one must always keep an eye on him or else he will get into trouble! I often come home with stories about him and find myself echoing some of his unintelligible speech.

For instance, he often says, "shoshofee." None of us knew what that meant until last week, when I had a breakthrough J320-interpretative moment. I asked him a function match-up question, "What do you wear on your feet?" He spat out, "shoshofee!" I had a sudden revelation/J320 interpretation! He means, "shoes on feet!" Which totally makes sense b/c he likes to take his shoes off...so what do adults constantly tell him? "Put your shoes on your feet!"

Fast forward to today's session -- too bad I can't remember everything about our session that had me ROFL. I do remember that at one point, when I was delivering his reinforcer (a food item), it went like this:

Me: What do you want? Sausage, pancake, or strawberry?
J320: I want strawberry please. [Only, he is not as intelligible and he speaks in "chunks" so it comes out more like, "Iwanstrabewyplee!" but I was thrilled that he used "all his words" without a prompt.]
Me: Oh, good asking! Here you go...
J320: Yay.

I was like, WHAT?! Did he really say, "yay"?? If he did and he meant it, then shoot, I should have packed my bags and called it day! It would be an appropriate, social comment!

Then when speech time was over, I said, "Ok, take your breakfast and go to the table to finish." He stood up and picked his tray up and impulsively grabbed a strawberry to stuff in his mouth. I stopped him and said, "Wait. First bring your breakfast to that table and then you can eat." He followed through with the two-step direction, so I was thrilled (we are also working on the "wait" concept b/c he can be quite impulsive). As he approached the table, one of the paraeducators asked, "All done with speech?"

J320 says, "Finally." We were dying! (Sometimes, we carry on conversations with the kiddos as if they are typically developing. And sometimes the things that the kids respond with makes us wonder if they get the best of us!)

This is probably one of those 'you had to be there sessions.' Never a dull moment at Little Kid School, especially on Mondays and Fridays.

Happy Easter!

He is risen and alive!

Even though I've been going to church a lot more regularly since maybe mid-summer of last year, I still have not made the "move" to become a member. Today, I invited my brother to attend Easter service with me. I've been plotting it for a month, but for whatever lame reason, I've been nervous about asking him (mainly b/c I really want him to come with me and am afraid he will reject my invite. Do I sound like one of those crazy religious nuts who really wants to convert someone?). When I invited him, he jokingly said, "It better be entertaining." I was secretly jumping for joy when he agreed and especially happy that he enjoyed the message and service. (He also did find the service entertaining.)

Afterwards, we went home and I baked Marie Callendar's corn bread and my "specialty," Cocoa Krispies treats. Shortly after, I headed to Tita Dina's house for her annual Easter get-together. I had such a blast as always. I remembered when I first started going over. All of the kids were little and shorter than me. Today, I couldn't believe how fast all the kids have "suddenly" grown. One recently graduated from college! (I remember when Bro and FBIL were helping her pack for college!)

The best part of the gathering is that there is so much love in the atmosphere. Everyone present is considered family. :) Every year, the get-together has some new faces present and some old faces missing...so even though some of the kids weren't there (i.e., FBIL's nephew), we had a special guest! BSILF came!

I had completely blanked on inviting BSILF, so thankfully, Bro did! Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), she was working so she was only a few minutes away! We were all extremely excited to see her, me especially! We were bummed that BSILF's hubby couldn't make it ("he is such a swell guy.") but definitely glad that she was present. BF was absent, too, since he was working on the Top of the Swirl project.*

*Did I ever mention that he will get free fro-yo for life?? Too bad he doesn't even like fro-yo/Pinkberry!!

We talked and ate until the sun set. It was truly a wonderful holiday surrounded by loved ones.

Teacher Discount

It has been an extremely tough week at work for me. This "phase" began last Thursday and rolled into this week, when I felt extremely overwhelmed, stressed, and frustrated by a complicated situation at work.

Of course I am exhausted from all of it...and mere lack of sleep. To rewind a little, I woke up at 4:30 AM yesterday morning to drop BF off at LAX. He got a last minute call to fly to SF for a day to meet with ebay people. :) He is re-designing something for them (what a talented man I have!). By the time I got to work, he had called with disastrous news -- his flight had been canceled! So I worked fast to book a ticket and then he ran practically half way around LAX and literally boarded the plane as the door was closing (just like in the movies!). Somehow, he managed to leave me the sweetest voicemail before he boarded. I have to point that out b/c he is typically really goofy with me (vs. sappy) so that really made my morning.

...Until he landed in the middle of my CFY observation and called to tell me that there was more bad news -- he had landed at the wrong airport! He was supposed to land in San Jose! So he got whisked away in a $150 cab ride. (FYI: this is not his fault).

The rest of his day was jam packed with meetings. He waited until I picked him up in the evening to tell me this part...He also met with somebody else who picked him up in his luxury vehicle. BF thought, wow, this guy must do really well; he has his own company and drives a nice car. Well, little did he know that the guy's office (with 1.5 employees) turns out to be the guy's garage! It gets better. They're sitting at a dining table (i.e., "conference table") in the "office" discussing business when the guy's wife walks in to do the laundry! That was awesome! Xtn didn't know whether to laugh or be impressed b/c the guy really knew how to put up a good front. Homeboy even has an "office line" with an extension!

Anywho, it was nice for BF to be back home as I've been in this funk for a few days. I was feeling better last night until it was time to sleep. I couldn't fall asleep b/c I kept thinking about 2 of my kiddos (with respect to everything going on). I tried to remind myself of what my therapist brother e-mailed me earlier on in the day:

"You really are too hard on yourself. You only have two hands and so much time, so make sure to not overwhelm yourself. It's like solving poverty or homelessness. There is only so much you can do at one time...Remember to be confident in yourself. You have lots of innate skills that no on can teach!"

I eventually fell asleep but when I woke this morning, I was even more tired and really not feelin' the day...and what lay ahead. This doesn't happen often, but considering how the week has been going, I reluctantly saw my kiddos (which are not the "problem").

I have to give it up for my Blackberry boy. He was the highlight of my day b/c he had me LMAO (while the entire day was stressful and intense). Review: We typically have great conversations interjected with intense articulation drills. He is in general ed but in speech for his severe lateral lisp. So we were talking about pets, and he reminded me that his family has a miniature poodle. The rest of our conversation goes sort of like this:

Blackberry Boy (BB): I have a question. Why do pure breds cost so much?
Me: honestly, I'm not sure. My guess is that it's rare to have pure breds these days. [Then I went on a tangent about mixed breeding causing high rates of health problems...but how there are also expensive "designer" dogs that are intentionally mixed.] You know, the dogs that are so small that the celebrities carry them in their expensive purses.
BB: Oh. Well, I guess that's why my parents are trying to find our poodle a spouse.
Me laughing b/c he used the word "spouse" for his dog's mate!: Spouse? I see.
BB: Yeah, they want to find our dog a spouse so they can...[pause]...have fun [he gestures the "walking" gesture consisting of moving his index and middle finger] and create pure breds so that we can sell them for a lot of money.
Me laughing hysterically at his "have fun" implication: really! I bet you could sell them for a lot if they are pure bred.
BB: Yeah, my parents are saying maybe $2,000.
Me: Wow, $2,000?
BB: Yeah. Do you like dogs? You could buy one from us!
Me: Um--
Before I could respond any more, BB says: Don't worry, I'll give you a teacher's discount!

I was LMAO at that! He even said again on his way out, "Don't forget, I can give you a teacher's discount if you want to buy a pure bred poodle!" I couldn't believe the kid! I was cracking up so much that I immediately called BF up; this story was one of the rare ones that couldn't wait until the end of the day.

If only he knew how much 1) that lightened up my week and 2) how much of a sucker I am for discounts! Especially student or teacher discounts! Still, I didn't expect such cleverness from this one. That was awesome.

Spring Forward

Dang, I just lost an hour of sleep. Boo! I am suddenly tired.


Other bigger and better news -- Lil F is officially 7 inches! Hope to post new pictures of my big green eating machine soon. I love my turtle so much. :)

Fake Weekday

In my haste to leave work yesterday, I left my textbook in my office! I couldn't believe it. I was eager to leave b/c I had been looking forward to a Souplantation date with BF all week. So I went to Little Kid School today and "broke in." The last time I went to school on a Saturday, I set the corridor alarm off. Thankfully, a squad of policemen didn't show up (on second thought, that's not good either).

Today, I went back and didn't set the alarm off. I hypothesized that if I didn't do something, I wouldn't trip the alarm and sure enough, I was right. Well, I'll find out on Monday if I really did get out scot-free.

Anywho, I took my sweet time getting my textbook and gathering some therapy materials to modify for one of my kiddos. Afterwards, I stopped at the nearby Costco.

As I was waiting in line, I glanced over at the large cart next to me and had a lame, random thought -- why would they use one of those large carts if the stuff they were buying didn't span the whole cart? Oh, wait, j/k -- they have 3 tables laying across the cart... Then my visual track went from the cart up to the people, and I was like, OMG! It's one of my 320s with his parents! :)

It was M320 (who is sOOOOoOOo awesome to work with). He is the highest functioning of the 320s that I work with. I especially look forward to working with him b/c our sessions are ridonkulously rewarding for me. He ceases to amaze me with his vocabulary, and he practically absorbs the language and communication skills that we work on.

I'm not sure if he was confused or thrown off b/c he is used to seeing me in the school context, but he seemed a little bit shy and hesitant to say hello to me. I'm sure it also didn't help that when I introduced myself to his parents, I gave them my first name, when M320 calls me by my last name (and then Mom kept telling him what my first name was...when he doesn't have the first and last name concept down yet -- I'm working on it though!). Anywho, his father said to me, "We noticed that [M320] is talking so much more now." Whether I have contributed to that or not -- I'm taking it and running with it!!!

But really, parents of kiddos with special needs are the ones that should get more recognition.

Moritification

I haven't had an uber-embarrassing moment in a long time so I guess I was long overdue for one.

This morning, I went to use the unisex faculty restroom and apparently, I locked the door prematurely (as in pushed the pop-lock before I closed the door; if you do that, then the door unlocks once you close the door). I was already doing my natural thing when the door opened and immediately closed. I was mortified!

Thankfully, it was a woman (don't know who). It could have been worse by 1) a male co-worker opening it, 2) there could have been two people using the xerox machines (the restroom directly faces the xerox machines less than 2 yards away), and 3) the lady swinging the door wide open.

Let's hope I can avoid any more uber-embarrassment for the rest of the school year at least.

P.S. I just discovered that if I blanch sweet pea crisps, they taste even more delicious! And that hard-boiled Omega-3 egg whites actually have a sweet taste. Who knew!

Reset Program

BF is doing the Usana Reset Progam again, and he is on day 2 out of 5. For this week that he is resetting himself, I'm gonna do my best to do a modified resetting of my own -- mainly, avoiding junk food, a huge weakness of mine (caffeine takes the cake by a landslide, though). Mine will begin tomorrow...considering I already snuck a serving and a half of chips while he was in the shower just now. :)

For a month now, I've been doing pretty well eating lotsa raw veggies and eating more fruits, but then I get home and eat crazy sweets (ice-cream, kahlua cream cheese pie, frosted cookies, Girl Scout cookies, etc.). Plus, lately my brother, associates, and TCL keep feeding me b/c they think I don't eat when I do! But who am I to resist chocolate chip bagels, vanilla lattes (actually, I treated two different associates and of course had to get one for myself both times), large 3-topping Pinkberry from Bro, and pollo asada on hecka-buttery couscous?

But I'm afraid my cholesterol is running a tad bit too high these days so it's best I chillax on the junk and do a little resetting of my own while the BF can't tempt me to have fast food with him. :)

Good luck to the both of us!

1 Down, 4 to Go!

I got my final grade in my first ABA/BCBA class: 163.5 out of 165. Woo-hoo!

And I even got to skip the optional final exam. I can't remember if I have ever skipped a final. I did get a little nervous b/c we turned in 30 points worth of Excel graphs which I could have bombed and brought me down to a C, but it turns out I did just fine.

I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing but my classmates now have confirmation (from the instructor) that I am indeed a nerd.