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!