First Full Week of the School Year

This was only the second week of school, but I almost feel like I'm back in the full swing of things. The first few weeks are always hectic. We're under the gun to schedule our students and begin seeing them ASAP, but there are so many difficulties with scheduling -- track schedules, minimum days on Thursdays, alternating block schedules on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and to top it off, I found out after I scheduled my SDC/Learning Center kids (which is about half of my caseload), their schedule will be changing who knows when since they just took a reading placement test...so it's back to the drawing board again. Somehow between all that, I need to fit in my autism kids.

With that being said, I had a really fun week seeing some kids I had when they were sixth graders (who are now eighth graders towering over me!!) and some new kids. It was also tiring since I was practically running between the Autism class and our Speech Room to see both caseloads.

As for the general middle schoolers, they are so funny! At the end of each day, no matter how tired I was, I left work with a huge smile, thanking God that I love my job (and I really enjoy the students I work with). Yesterday was a day with huge variety. I saw an eighth grader who I had when he was in sixth grade. I felt kind of bad b/c he seemed to be so shy about all his acne...and I didn't want to bring more attention to it by telling him, "Don't touch it!" (Not just because of scarring...but it's just gross hygiene to pick!)

Later on, I had two new kids. One is the younger brother of a kid I had who is now in high school. D, the brother in high school, was one of my more entertaining kids. He is so unique. D is high-functioning autism, and he used to perseverate on comic characters that he came up with and drew. By the end of his 7th grade, he had 120 characters and when I asked him who his favorite character was, he flipped through the 150 pages and found the exact one and said, "Super Sweaty Armpits Guy because the smell from his armpits kills the bad guys" as he pointed to a character with wavy lines (i.e., fumes) coming out from under its pits.

Anywho, I am delighted to have his younger brother (typically developing, in speech for a mild lisp). I asked how D is and he said he's now on the football team! I was so happy to hear that (with respect to his challenges in social interactions). This younger brother, A, and I carried on a really fun conversation that went from talking about school to careers (now that I'm writing that, it doesn't sound like you can have a fun conversation about school and careers, but we did). I prompted him to ask me a question and so he did.

A: Did you used to have a speech problem like us and did you grow out of it?"
Me: No, but why do you ask?
(Obviously I knew why, but I'm leading the conversation on.)
A: Well, some people used to have speech problems and they grow out of it and so they want to help others grow out of it, too.
Me: I think what you're trying to ask is, how did I become a speech-language pathologist (which is our fancy title) or speech teacher.
A: Yeah.

So I explained to him in brief and also mentioned that my job isn't just working on artic but sometimes, students have difficulty in other areas like forming their sentences with correct grammar, coming up with the right words to say, and understanding what others are saying.

A: So did you have to go to college and get a Bachelor's degree?
Me: Yes, but I also had to go to grad school.
A: WHOA! So you had to get like a Masters degree?
Me: Yup.
A: WHAT! You must be smarter than the principal!!!!

LOVED IT!!! Haha! (Well, there are a lot of reasons that I found this hilarious, but I can't go into the politics.)

But no, I didn't let him leave thinking that I'm smarter than the principal. I told him that we have different degrees (heck, she makes about twice as much as me). I said that she has to have what's called an Administrative Credential and that her job is very challenging. I work with up to 4 students at a time, but she is not only in charge of all 40+ teachers, but the 1,200 students at this school.

Still, that's awesome. He thinks/thought I was smarter than the principal. :)

I also had a great session with one of my autism kids. On the first day that I did snack, I was the antecedent to a major meltdown...and this kid's crazy meltdown set off 5 out of 6 of the other kids! During my first individual session with him, his non-public agency (NPA) aide sat with us and took data. At the end, I said, okay, we're done and she said, "Okay, let's see, so that was uh 13 minutes..." and jotted it down. I justified, "Well, I want to see his level of functioning and don't want to push him too much." I can't set myself up for future failure by pairing myself with such an adversive task this early on...especially since the NPA told me that he HATED speech (at his previous school). He used to throw the biggest tantrums and scream bloody murder so the other SLP barely worked with him. So yesterday, I saw him again -- this time for the full 30 minutes. The NPA was so impressed. She said at the very end, "He has NEVER sat through 30 minutes of speech! He didn't even scream [when I asked him to give me his water] and he answered so well! He didn't even need that many redirections!" That made me feel really proud (hey man, it's a lot of pressure to redeem the negative SLP image that many NPAs have). I think it really helped b/c 1) there were a lot of mini-breaks built in (he could ask for cookies or water at any time) and 2) we had a visual reward system going that the aide paced well. The big difference that I noticed was that when I would break off a piece of cookie for him, he didn't try to grab the whole cookie (which was what caused the major meltdown on Day 1). That was HUGE in my book.

Later on, I serviced another kid that I think is my most challenging one. She is probably the only high-profile case and by a landslide. I talked with my colleague and shared my personal opinion. For me, I find students with Asperger's and high-functioning autism (HFA) to be my most challenging. (Yes, I actually find the kids with severe autism to be "easier" to work with.) It's because they are so aware...yet not. I think it takes a special skill and art to work with Asperger's and HFA...one that I have certainly not honed yet but I hope to gain a lot of practice and knowledge in my years working.

A little more history. I only got to work with her for 1 month last year before my assignment was switched. We worked on pragmatics, since she perseverates on topics which I think makes her interrupt conversations to ask questions on the topic still on her mind. My colleague (that I share this assignment with) had her over the summer, and she gladly had me take this case because over the summer, C threatened my colleague and said crazy things like, "I'm going to take this pen and stab you in your old ugly heart and kill you." I was shocked that 1) her NPA didn't stop her from saying that and 2) she was even saying that!

So when C came in, I said we were just going to talk. (This girl is VERY smart but needs to work on social skills.) I asked her how her summer was and she said she did nothing except watch an action-drama about 14 campers.

Me: Okay, tell me more.
C: Well, there were 14 campers and they all died.
Me: Wait a minute. First you told me there were 14 campers and suddenly they all died. We're missing a lot of details in between! What happened?
C: They were poisoned.

So the conversation goes on...and before I know it, she was perseverating on poison and death and had me drawn deep into the discussion. So I had to give both of us a reality check. I flat out said, "I noticed you like to talk about violence and death. Why is that?"
C: I don't know.
Me: I ask this because it's not very normal for girls your age to talk about these things. What do girls your age like to talk about?
C: I don't know...make-up, boy bands, magazines.
Me: Exactly! So when you go out to recess and lunch and talk with other girls, do you think they want to hear you talk about poison and death?
C: No...
Me: Right, they want to talk about make-up and all those things you mentioned.
(I was so proud of myself for that one...even though you might think it's so logical to say that!)

I noticed that she also liked to ask questions that she already knew the answer to (like where does poison come from? She thought of poisonous puffer fish, poisonous snakes, etc.). So we talked about that. In retrospect analysis, I think that's her way of initiating the topic she wants to talk about. Clever! But still, not okay if it's about topics that "typical" kids don't talk about.

The last thing I noticed is that she doesn't like to tell the truth. She showed me a millefiori heart she had in her hand. (I had a mini-flashback of Husband and my honeymoon, when we went to the glass factory and learned how milliefiori/mosaic glass pieces are made. Quite thrilled about this unique teachable moment.)

Me: Where did you get that?
C: I made it.
Okay, please girl, you think I was born yesterday? (Even though I just learned about this profess a month ago?)
Me: Really? Tell me how YOU made it.
C: Um, I don't remember.
Me: I'll tell you how it's made.
And I had her count how many different pieces there were (7) and explained that each design she saw was cut from a piece of glass and then they were all laid out and melted together and cut into the form of the heart.

Then my closing statement: I want to talk to you about something. When I asked you about this, you told me you made it, but I know that you can not make that. That means you are lying to me, and I don't appreciate that. I tell you the truth so I expect the same respect from you. Can we agree on that?

She didn't answer but asked another question.

So I said, I'll answer your question after you answer mine. Can we agree to not lie to each other? She acquiesced and we were cool. (Later on, she asked me a question that I didn't know the answer to so I said, "I honestly don't know. If I knew the answer, I'd tell you." Just to reaffirm what I was trying to get across.)

In retrospect, I feel like working with these types of social skills challenges is a lot of stepping out of my comfort zone. I'm not used to being so blunt, but what I've learned (from fabulous experts) is that we do these kids a disservice if we don't speak forthright with them, and we play into their perseverations and off-topic comments, questions, and discussions. It's just that as adults, we have been trained socially to not say certain things. We now intuitively now what communication lines/topics to not cross...but with kids with AS or HFA, our job as therapists is to continue to bridge that gap.

When she left, my colleague, who could hear the whole session, said, "Wow, I can't believe she responded to you that way. She would see me and start with the threats and not even give me the time of day."

Believe me, it was no easy task for me. Even though I had a "great day of therapy," I know there will be days where sessions don't go so successfully, but what is always comforting to know is that in the grand scheme of things, I'm helping others and I love what I do.