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.

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...!

"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.

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!"

I Can Cure Selective Mutism!

Just kidding of course.

I have this one kiddo -- sad case. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) at 2 y/o (hit by a motorcycle!). Maybe it's power of suggestion, but I see some symptoms -- poor memory, cognitive impairments, possibly anomia and aphasia...on the other hand, it's impossible to know if the TBI "caused" his SLD, and whether he has anomia/aphasia or pure SLD. I could spend hours doing mental gymnastics trying to figure his history out but I guess it really doesn't matter.

All I know is that his previous SLP and current SDC teacher (who also had him last year) think he is selectively mute. He doesn't talk in class and it took a while for the kid to say a few words to the previous SLP.

I started seeing him in a group from the get-go, and sure he didn't talk...but I didn't think it was b/c he was selectively mute. I really thought that he just had no idea WTH anyone was talking about and what to say. It also didn't help that all of the girls wanted him to talk so they'd get on his case and put pressure on him. Heck, they even put pressure on me: "Make him talk!...Can you call him into our group? We want to hear him talk!" I decided to see him individually because he was way too behind, the girls were getting way out of hand and starting to get on his nerves, and vice-versa b/c he wouldn't talk.

Today I had an awesome day with him. During the past sessions, I've worked on prompting him to at least respond with, "I don't know" rather than just sitting there -- which he is notorious for doing, especially in his classroom, despite having a 1:1 aide. I typically ask him very simple questions and persistently wait for him to respond (i.e., I stare at him until he says something). In the past, his silence usually wins in the quiet power struggle so I started prompting him with verbal + visual ("If you don't know, then say 'I don't know,'" as I point to the "I don't know" visual card). That went on for a few sessions.

Today, I upped the ante and got rid of the verbal prompt and slightly pushed or touched the visual prompt whenever he seemed like he didn't know the answer. He'd pick up on the cue and say, "I don't know." Then partway through the session, he INDEPENDENTLY said, "I don't know." I was floored! Then he said it two more times independently!! I had a moment with my therapist self, especially since others thought he was selectively mute.

I was soOooOOoO proud of him that I high-fived him at the end of the session. He must've thought I was nuts and wondered why I was so excited. I don't care b/c he said I don't know! Persistence finally paid off in the quiet power struggle; the 3 times that he responded independently, I actually sat in silence and counted up to 30 in my head before he responded. (I don't think it's an auditory processing delay/disorder. At least I hope...).

I don't think anyone else could be as happy as I am about a student saying "I don't know"! (I'm also working on expanding it so that when he doesn't know something, then he asks for help/clarification/information.)

Poetic Justice

E-mail to brother at 1:23 P.M. after 2 nauseating sessions with students:

I have a problem with some of my students.
When they stink/have B.O., it makes me want to gag.
What to do?

I think you should write a haiku for me...

At 1:28 P.M., brother responds:

Teenage Gross Odor
Raging Hormones Reek Pheromones
I want to vomit.


Buy Deodorant
I don't need to smell your funk
In fact, here's a buck.

Too awesome. My brother totally rules!

Hump Day Happy Hour

Bro and I chatted when I was on my way home and he asked me, "What are you doing tonight?" I said in a no-nonsense tone, "Watching America's Next Top Model at 8." He said, "Ai-ya! Come with me to happy hour at the Daily Grill!"

How could I resist? The way he asked me sounded kind of suspicious though so I asked him, "Who else is going?" He said, "My friend Jillian is starting a new job as [bro's former boss'] assistant." So I came home and chillaxed a bit before Bro picked me up.

I had a wild day with the kiddos so I was relieved to be home and excited about happy hour. Crazy DA and CV really tested me today. I had to let my alter-ego, Ms. Chanel, take over and lay the rules down. BF called in the midst of the mayhem b/c, sparing many details, DA had dialed BF's number on my cell. BF called twice, thinking I must have had an emergency, so I had to pick up on the second call. I told him that everything was okay, and then stopped and pointed directly at CV and said, "WORK," and then looked and pointed at DA and said, "WORK." BF was like, "What is going on??" "I'll call you back after." Right when I hung up, DA said with a devilish smile, "You're mad huh?"

If I was a cartoon character, I'd have the steam blowing out of my ears! I also know how DA is, so I couldn't give him the satisfaction of upsetting me. Instead, I looked at him, ignored his question, and took his picture that he had so politely asked me to laminate. [Bro later said, "you should have taken his picture and tore it up right in front of him!" LOL That would have been too cruel, though!] "I will hold onto this until next week." He was stunned and then said, "What! That's messed up. And I told people that we were friends." Friends?!?! LOLOL I couldn't hold a grudge.

Still, he was acting up and not wanting to do work so I ignored him and helped CV. The kid got even crazier. All that kept running through my mind was how I've been using the behavior management strategies that I use with my 320s, with these crazy ones! I even tried a little "Quiet Sitting" stint. DA was at my board screwing around and then he turned around and asked, "Can I go to the bathroom?" Fully suspecting that he was trying to ditch speech, I said, "If you can sit down in your chair for ONE minute, then you can go." He lingered at the board for a few more seconds and then said, "I really need to go!" "Well, as soon as you sit down for one minute, then you can go." He sat down (small victory for me)...for probably 5 seconds and then he got up again. "Oh, I guess you're not going to the bathroom." Somehow, my persistence (and pre-ABA skills) paid off; I plowed through with his craziness and got him to do a page of work!

But before he left, he gave me and my other students a "gift," if you will. He politely asked if he could put this picture up on my board (I put up pictures that my students draw for me). I said, "yes" without really looking at it.
After he put it up, he said, "This is to scare all of your other students." I thought, Great! I doubt it'll scare my other students, but it definitely scares me!!

And that was only my second session of the morning (the first being with J320 who kept kicking me during Quiet Sitting). By the end of the day, I was sure as heck ready for happy hour.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When Bro and I got to Daily Grill, he introduced me to the superstar of the evening. I was expecting a girl, but apparently, I had misheard my bro and stood corrected when I introduced myself to a guy.

Lots of good food and drinks were to be had. Bro's former assistant asked me, "Do you like coming to these things?" I truthfully told her that I kind of do b/c 1) complimentary delicious food (and drinks) and 2) it's very entertaining to chat with people "in the industry" as an outsider. It's easy for me to strike up a conversation with most of the people b/c socializing is practically a pre-requisite skill in the industry. As for me, I can talk anyone's ears off as that is my "specialty."

As I snarfed down delicious appetizers, my bro and I exchanged little laughs in-between our social exchanges with other people. Like when he couldn't remember the name of the girl with a mole. He kept telling me that she had a very diva-ish, celebrity-like name, "like Shakira or something" he said. The funny thing is that the girl came over and was like, "OMG! I haven't seen you in so long!" Bro introduced me so I took that as my cue to ask what her name was. Turns out her name is very similar to Madonna. Then she totally called him out on not remembering her name but he totally tried to play it off. I don't think she was convinced...as I quietly laughed to myself!

Then there was the annoying drunk guy who was crashing every social exchange for a free round. He kept bumping into us, stepping on our feet, and jabbing his fork into our delicious dishes. Thank goodness he didn't ask to sample my hazelnut crusted mahi mahi; I would've had to throw him down!

Afterwards, bro asked if I had fun. Of course I did. I always do with bro!

First Day of April

Today, I pulled my high-functioning autism (HFA) group since I have an IEP tmrw during their usual time. Three filtered in while TCL was filling me in on the latest craziness (N320 is likely transferring at the end of the year!). My fourth didn't show up until the end of the period so I saw him individually.

This one is so refreshing to see. He is the one that always smiles, laughs, and giggles (not out of context or inappropriately). I can't remember if I blogged about him before but I once said to him, "You're always laughing and smiling! Do you ever have a bad day?" He paused and thought for a second, then smiled and said, "Nope." So today, I had the lovely opportunity to really focus on his communication and social needs. I started with a functional home routine piece and opened it up with, "So, last time you mentioned you have some responsibilities at home. What chores are your responsibility?"

HFA-V: I have to clean my bedroom...and put everyone's shoes away."
Me: Do you put everyone's shoes on a shoe rack? [Subtly trying to work on semantics/vocabulary].
HFA-V looks at me kind of funny and says: No, I just put them in place. [and giggles a little bit.]
Me trying to be silly yet also probe how literal he thinks or how much he can pick up on sarcasm: OOOO, I bet that is your favorite chore!
HFA-V: Yes.
Well, that totally backfired. Me: It is?!?
HFA-V starts cracking up: April Fool!

I was laughing hysterically! Part of me was laughing b/c I was pleased at his sense of humor! My HFA group tends to be stoic, take things literally, and doesn't usually understand humor...due to their autism. Teaching figurative language (e.g., idioms) has been quite a challenge. But holy snikeys, their vocabulary blows me away!

In the session before (with my 2 HFAs and 1 SLD), I conducted a convergent-naming activity (i.e., the game "Blurt"), and so I read something like, "Any of numerous scaly, legless, sometimes venomous reptiles having a long, tapering, cylindrical body and found in most tropical and temperate regions." HFA-D "blurts" (hence the game's name), "snake! That was too easy!" (which really isn't for my SLI, SLD, or APD kids who don't have autism). Since the kiddos are quite competitive, HFA-R turned to HFA-D and said, "Oh yeah? I bet you don't know where an African Rock Python is from." Before I could process whether it was a joke/riddle or not, HFA-D says, "They're from Africa." HFA-R says, "Doh! How did you know!"

=X

I was like, WHAT! What just happened here?? LOL
They were being serious! HFA-R seriously thought he could stump HFA-D and HFA-D thought he totally outsmarted HFA-R b/c he knew the answer!

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!

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?

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!

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.

Saturn and the Moon Get Together and Mac

I am again proud of my kiddos. Today, CV came in asking about the lunar eclipse taking place right now. It was perfect timing b/c I was just thinking that I'd wing therapy and have them give me a topic to look up on the internet so that we can read, discuss, and "respond to Wh-questions related to curriculum with no more than one verbal prompt." I was so pleased with how interested they were about the eclipse, especially since DA had no idea what an eclipse was. DA even asked to take the Fox 11 news article home so he could share with his youngest sister and CV asked to take the wikipedia article about lunar eclipses to share with his homeroom!

The best thing to me is that I didn't even know about this spectacular event until CV came in and told us! The next best and somewhat sad thing is that the next time a lunar eclipse takes place will be on DA's birthday in two years, when he will have left me and gone onto his first year of high school. My kids haven't even left yet, and I'm already anticipating separation anxiety!

On the subject of "my kids," those two saw my Matt & Molly materials and asked me what they are for. I reminded them that I work with "other students with a severe disability" in the classroom next door to the class I always call them out from. CV said, "Oh yeah, those are your other kids!" Haha. :) They sure are!

I was even more pleased b/c these goofballs got all serious talking about disabilities. Turns out CV has a cousin that is Deaf. I seriously thought he was going to sign some bad words since they like to get all ghetto and crazy around me, but he actually signed a few basic conversational signs (like his cousin's name).

All in all, it was really cool to see them interested in something and serious about serious topics.

Well, aside from when CV re-defined what will happen during the lunar eclipse tonight -- "It's when Saturn and the Moon get together and mac and then dump each other and move on!"

This is so Ironic!

My "not programmed to lose boy" drew me another picture today. His drawings are quite vivid and imaginative. I'll post them as soon as I remember to take pictures.

Anywho, I thought about him earlier this morning when I worked with J320 because Programmed Boy also randomly laughs and says really loudly, "This is so ironic!" all the time.

Random: Secretly, I think it is interesting that his language appears to be above average when compared to his SDC peers (I assess him for his tri in a few weeks), but if anything, I really need to work on pragmatics with him.

Anywho, the soOoo ironic part about this morning was when I went to with J320 this AM. It was a little unplanned so that was already not in my favor. I was originally scheduled to see N320, but he was having one of his "bipolar breakdowns," crying up a storm, repeating, "it's raining." (I originally thought it was mean for That Crazy Lady to say N320 was having a "bipolar episode" whenever he started crying like that, but tonight, I saw a commercial for a medication for Bipolar Disorder...which he just happens to be on and his dosage was recently increased.) Anywho, since N320 was in his rainy day mode, I cashed in on the opportunity to work with J320.

I've been so pleased with how J320's been doing these couple of weeks. This AM, however, he seemed a little feisty...possibly in part because his great 1:1 was MIA again (and I waltzed in at an irregular time). So when I approached him, he was lazily laying on the bean bag (which is never a good thing for me, based on past traumatic experiences). So I gave him my usual transitional verbal prompt and visual cue.

Well, he had been laying there stimming (or as ABAs would say, engaging in automatic reinforcements), and he ironically whacks me while simultaneously saying/echoing, "No hitting!"

I can't remember if I chuckled at the irony, but I remember thinking, For crying out loud, how in the world do I respond to that?!

I guess that was more of a rhetorical question b/c I know that I need to just ignore (not draw attention to it therefore reinforce the behavior), which I think I did...but it's always like this -- after the first hit, I'm traumatized for the rest of the session.

I also ran out real quick for a lasik eye surgery follow-up appointment mid-day. Left eye is between 20/30 and 20/40...and borderline eligible for an enhancement procedure. Not sure if I should be thrilled about that. I need to wait to see if my vision will stabilize some more (hopefully at 20/20) and go back in 4 months for another check-up. I told BF that if I get the lifetime warranty insurance, I would only want to get it in my left eye. I totally should've done that! Would have saved myself $150. =P Of course that would have sucked if I got insurance on the wrong eye...

Homework Help

My dynamic duo showed up for therapy today (technically, yesterday), asking (in Spanish) if I had anything for them to eat. I nagged, "What did I say about coming in here hungry and asking for food?" and didn't give them anything. They were big babies for a minute until CV asked if I could help him with his History homework.

A little background: the teachers, especially the Special Ed teachers, are very verbal about this "open" policy towards helping students with their homework. Most homeroom periods are pretty much times to simply work on homework. Of course these kiddos would much rather goof off and space out than work on their homework.

So, I always tell my kids that if they ever need help with their homework ('help' is the keyword; I emphasize that I will not give answers, but I will help them get to the answer), they can always bring it to speech therapy or come in before school, during lunch, or after school. This was the first time anyone took me up on my offer. I was pleased about that but not for long.

Soon after he took his notebook out, I thought, boy, I'm gonna have a field day trying to figure out from this language disordered kid what he needs to do. It was like playing 20 questions before I realized what his assignment was. It made me really appreciate a "normal" session where I have absolute control (i.e., materials). I finally figured out that he had to answer 5 short questions based on textbook reading.

Me: Okay, where's your book?
CV: At home.
Me: What?!
CV: My book is too heavy! I didn't want to bring it!
Me: How are you going to find the answers? Do your notes say anything?
CV: No, but my friend let me borrow his homework to copy. It's right here.
CV pulls the "borrowed" homework out.
Me: Don't tell me that!
Me saying in a joking tone: I hope you gave your friend something good in return at least.
CV: Yeah, I gave him a buck fifty.
Me thinking for a moment about BF and how people used to pay him so that they could copy his homework. Quick, get back to reality...
Me: What?! You gave somebody a dollar fifty? Who did you pay?

I turned the paper around...just to see that it belongs to another one of my kids with a specific learning disability and auditory processing disorder! Goodness gracious!

I, laughing inside, lectured him with a straight face about how he needs to do his own work -- and beforehand. Furthermore, if he expects me to help him, then he MUST bring his book. We didn't get through his 3 questions, which must have peeved him because he asked me to call him out of 4th to help him finish. Sucks to be him because I had to leave for a meeting. Otherwise, I would have since I need to make-up one of his sessions.

Later on, my Blackjack boy came in tired and asked for a paper towel. I gave him one, but then asked him, "Do you need a paper towel or Kleenex?" He paused and said, "Paper towel; I got lots of boogersh." "You mean you need Kleenex," and I quickly gave it to him. =P Unfortunately, we regressed to /s/ at the phoneme level (he expressed that he was tired; he came home late from the movies). At the end of the session, he tried to strike a deal with me -- if he produces 60 initial-/s/ in single-words with 100% accuracy, will I give him a Blackjack? Just kidding, he immediately said. Then he asked for money. "What?! No, I can't give you money. That's called bribery, and I am not allowed to bribe you." Then we had a 4-year old argument, "Yes you can!" "No I can't!" Repeat x 2. In retrospect, I should have given him the cheesy talk about how I am here to help him, and he should do this for intrinsic rewards, blahblahblah, but apparently, I was still thinking like an immature 4 year-old.

Sometimes, I find it very challenging to be mature and grown-up around these crazy kids. I'm sure I'll have another story to tell tomorrow, when I see my kiddo who doesn't want "all the ladies" to see him in the Speech Room or the two boys who accuse me of cheating.

For now, I need to finish up an assessment report for my boy who LOVES Scooby-Doo...

An Atypically Atypical Work Day

Granted, my days are typically atypical, today was an especially atypically atypical work day. At the end of the day, BF asked his usual question, "So, did anything funny happen today?" Much to my own surprise, today was the first time that I really didn't have any funny stories! He dismissed it by saying, "Oh, yeah, you didn't see your autism kiddos today, huh?" Although my 320s usually give me many things to laugh about, my "regular" Special Ed kiddos usually do, too.

I actually got to work around 7 (the earliest since the new year started) mainly b/c I had two IEPs to lead. This would be the 2nd and 3rd time in my life that I held them on my own (since I am the case manager for these two). Fortunately, I've been through a number of triennials (psych leads them) so I've kind of gotten into the groove of things.

Seeing the red VM light button first thing in the morning really threw me off. Unfortunately, it was CJ, my grad student assistant, telling me she was not coming in today. I decided that in between meetings, I would see the "regular" SPED kiddos, since I haven't seen the Friday crew for a few months now (and I was positive the 320s wouldn't miss me). I kind of like to see them every so often to gauge how they're doing.

So, my two IEPs went fine. On a general note, every IEP has been eye-opening for me. It's really sobering to see how the child and parent interact, hear what concerns the parent has, and realize what a different picture I have of the student (even in comparison to how s/he is in a classroom setting). The most important thing for me is meeting the parent. For some reason, seeing how involved and concerned (or not) the parent is drives me to want to work even harder with the kid. The nice thing is that it's a win-win situation for the kid -- if the parent is concerned and involved, I'm excited and work hard with the kid. If the parent is the opposite, personal sympathy and concern pushes me to work hard with the kid.

So in-between, I accidentally pulled a Monday 3rd period group. If I've learned anything, it's that working with middle school students can be a battle of wills. Actually, I learned this from my autism kiddos (mainly, J320 and N320). So Stanky Attitude girl kept rolling her eyes at me and refusing to participate. I knew she was fully capable of completing the activity, but I still gave her max verbal prompts to even get one word out of her (note: she's not selectively mute). When the 3rd girl arrived, she looked at Stanky girl and something told me that there was weird tension between all three (mind you, the last I remember, the other 2 are sweety-pies). Halfway through the teeth-pulling with Stanky Girl, even the 3rd girl slightly rolled her eyes at Stanky girl b/c we all sat there waiting for what felt like an eternity for her to respond. Finally, I said to the other two girls that I would finish up with them two and let them go. They whizzed through it smiling and laughing and then left. I talked to Stanky Girl (or moreso, "at" her) and then drilled her with 5 more trials and then let her go.

I know I can't expect every one of my students to work hard, but holy snikeys, she is the only one that hasn't come around. I have several boys who I thought had the stankiest attitudes and now, they have become my favorites. Even the one that literally stomped to my room from the beginning of the hallway has really come around and even messes with me (actually, he makes me feel like I'm the one that has a language disorder b/c he accuses me of not explaining directions clearly...therefore, I "cheat" during activities b/c I "keep changing the rules" -- which is so not true! Secretly, I think it's a clever defense, though.)

After my 2nd IEP, I took a lunch break and had my first laminating disaster. I let go of one card, and it shifted while the first card was already laminated so now I have two expensive pictures slightly overlapping a corner. Worst, it's material for my 320s! So bummed. On the other hand, I finally laminated a real mini-Oreos and Gummi Bears wrapper for P320 to use for PECS. I hope it works. I keep saying that I need to create 3-D symbols but I haven't done it. I'm hoping that using real wrappers will be concrete enough.

During the last period, I called one of my stutterers in and was going to call the other but decided to see this one individually after his Language Arts teacher expressed some concern about him. I couldn't tell if he was happy or disappointed to see me b/c when he walked in; he almost cracked a smile and then stifled it. By the end of the session, I was convinced that he was not pleased to see me b/c although I didn't explicitly address his teacher's concern, I made many implications. Deep inside, I was bummed about what he was doing and how poor he was doing.

I guess all in all, today was an atypically atypical day b/c nothing funny really happened. I usually have many serious times/sessions/meetings in a day, but it's always counter-balanced with lots of funny moments. Today felt more like a heavy and serious day of damage control, counseling, and reality-checking. I'm exhausted. Thank goodness I have two 3-day weekends.

Oh wait! I did eventually tell BF about my one very odd SDC kiddo. He always asks me "hard" questions, ("Why are [fill in blank] called [fill in blank]?"). How do I explain to an SDC kid that language is arbitrary? Anywho, he always stops by on his way to the Nurse's office for his inhaler before P.E. to ask when I'm going to call him again. LOL Whenever I tell him and then send him off with a farewell greeting, he always reciprocates, "you too!" That cracks me up b/c he says it moreso out of a polite habit without regards to what a person is saying. Like I usually say something like, "well, thanks for stopping by" to which he says, "you too!" or if I bid him farewell in my sing-songy tone ("see you toMORRow!!") then he'll say "you toOOooo" in an imitative sing-songy tone. I find this kid to be soOOoo strange in a non-creepy way; when we play language games and he loses a card or something, he dramatically holds his head, laughs maniacially and says, "No!!!! I'm not programmed to lose!" So I did that all night during dinner.

As strange as my kids can be, I certainly have a special place in my heart for all of them. I guess even Stanky Attitude girl.

Now I know I'm rambling and need to get some rest...

The mini-victories

I had an awesome day at work. :)

On the contrary, I thought it'd be a blah day. I started it off a little behind schedule so that put me in a mini funk. My alarm went off at 5:30 and -- this rarely happens -- I snoozed without even realizing it until BF came in to check on me. He asked, "What time are you supposed to wake up?" "5:30." "Um, it's past 5:30..." "What?! Did I snooze and not realize it?" "I don't know." But then I laid in bed for another half hour (or 2 snoozes) until I finally forced myself to get up. I got to work around 7:20 and proceeded to finish my triennial report for an unconfirmed IEP meeting (note to BSILF: it took me probably 10 minutes to compose/edit the first 2 pages; I just had to fill in the assessment results this AM). Fortunately, I had first period to work on it; Hump Days have turned into my "day off" with the 320s. I switched my usual morning 320 session with his occupational therapist and right after that, they all leave for their Community Based Instruction -- they get to go out into the community every Wednesday to socially interact. They're so lucky; they go to the mall, library, etc.

During second period, I couldn't find two of my students so I called my usual Tuesday 2nd perioders -- DA and CV. Unsurprisingly, they barged in like a hungry pair of wolves, asking for food. At first I lied and said I didn't have anything. They whined about how hungry they were so I lectured them again, and then said that IF they worked hard, then I would give them a granola bar at the end. They whined some more about how they were starving so I told them to give me a good reason as to why I should give it to them before. "Because it gives us strength." "And it's good for our brain." (Actually, it was more like this: DA yelled, "strength!" and CV paused and said, "Brain?") So I gave them my yummy Nature Valley Yogurt bars. =P They munched away so I snuck in some 'boring' tx.

I was quite proud of my logic behind it, though. Both boys need a lot of help with their language (grammar, vocabulary, reading, and spelling). So I decided that every session, I would introduce two pairs of homophones -- and make sure they knew how to spell the words and use them in a grammatically-correct sentence. Of course they didn't know what a homophone was so I explained and then snuck in a side-mini-lesson of prefixes. Being typical middle-school aged boys, they laughed when I said, "homo." I didn't care -- I flat out gave them the taboo example (homosexual) and explained it further. =P They begged to stay after the bell ring...which meant funny business. Turns out DA was trying to avoid running in P.E. I promptly kicked them out.

Later on, I saw my Blackjack boy (all he ever wants to talk about is cell phones and other electronic gadgets. I can't count how many times he has begged me to ask BF for the Blackjack that he already gave to his parents). Blackjack boy is in speech simply for a severe lateral lisp. But it's not such a simple thing for me to help him remediate. For crying out loud, I've been seeing him 1:1 since September (and finally changed his service time to group at his IEP this past week). I've tried all kinds of prompts and cues and read this and that but I hadn't been effective. But today, I tried a crapshoot move. I told him to do what one of his previous SLPs told him to do (i.e., roll his tongue up) but try to keep it behind his teeth and keep that tongue "skinny". Note: I can't even do this; how horrible is that?! Well, for the love of God, he produced the /s/-phoneme!!!!! I made him do 10 x 3 sets (with breaks in between). The poor guy was so tense doing them.

I often feel sorry for my lateral lispers -- they've been in therapy for at least 5 years and they still sound like they haven't gotten anywhere. One speaks so softly...and my guess is that he is embarrassed. As for Blackjack boy seriously doesn't have any friends. I wouldn't've known that at all, considering how he is one of the best conversationalists on my caseload. I know counseling is not within my scope of practice so I just leave all that alone. But I still can't help but feel for them.

My last bunch were the rowdy bunch of boys. I had promised them that I would alternate seeing them, but I haven't kept up to my promise so I finally did today. I think we had a pretty successful session, despite the slight change in group (replaced 2 boys with a girl and my other lisper).

With a job like this, you gotta do a mental song and dance for the small victories.

Crazy Kids

DA walks into the Speech Room and glances at the materials on the table in front of me. With his typical defiant tone, he says, "I'm not doing that!" and walks out. CV comes in and reports that DA is walking farther and farther away. I pretend to not be phased -- in fact, I don't even get out of my chair. For all I know, DA and CV are probably in cahoots. I calmly tell CV, "Well, I'll call his teacher if he doesn't come back." Next thing I know, DA rushes in. Instead of sitting down, he goes to my dry erase board and starts drawing the following.

As soon as he finished drawing, he asks me,"Hey! You know what that is?"
I'm thinking, how cute, he drew a happy face inside a travel pillow. "No, what is it?" I naively ask.
DA says, "A face wrapped in butt cheeks!"

ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø

Where in the world do kids come up with this stuff?? The saddest thing is that I actually think that was funny!

A little history about these two kiddos. I secretly really enjoy seeing them because I know I'm always in for a good laugh. It wasn't always this way, though. I used to dread seeing DA because he was soOOoOOoOo difficult to work with in a group. If I didn't know any better, I'd think he has ADHD or ED (but he doesn't; he's in for language impairment). So I started seeing him 1:1, like all the other kiddos of mine that exhibit challenging behaviors in a group. I like to think it's like punishment for them, but on the real, I think they kind of enjoy it because they can be themselves and not have to front like they know more than they do (and feel lesser if they make mistakes). Ironically, ALL of the kiddos that I've "punished" have turned out to be my favorites to work with. It's just so different and usually pleasant to work individually with a student.

Since DA was doing really well 1:1, I introduced CV into the dynamic. Well, turns out these two rascals are homies. These two fewls clown around so much that the first time I saw them together for therapy, I made them promise that as long as they really work when they're with me, then I will keep them together. I had never seen DA soOoOo serious and compliant. So far, it has worked out incredibly well.

My history with DA: he is the only one that openly defies me. He still tries, but we always get past it. It's like a routine every time, but I don't really care b/c it's really just a battle of wills and I always win anyways. =P

About CV: he likes to speak to me in Spanglish, just to test me and see how much I know. Much to both of our surprise, I usually know more than we both expect. He is also the one that I am constantly feeding. Actually, they both come into sessions "starving," and I, being the sucker, feel bad for these growing boys so I end up giving them healthy snacks if I have any (with the usual, "Dude, you HAVE to start eating breakfast! Don't expect to get fed when you come to speech!"). CV is ALWAYS asking if I can go to Taco Bell for him. Totally cracks me up. Last week, he told me how he sold his $25 Toys R' Us gift card for cash...and then he busted open his velcro wallet to entice and bribe me to go to Burger King or Taco Bell for him! CV is also the one that is always messing with me about MySpace; i.e., telling me that he sends messages on MySpace to my BF and that BF tells him about how bad I treat my BF! Crazy kid!

I don't know how we get any work done, but we really do. If I've learned anything about scheduling for group therapy, it's that putting the kiddos with challenging behaviors with a buddy proves to be really effective; somehow the chemistry creates the right amount of healthy competition and motivation.

Holla at a Homie

Sometimes, I think my kids get a little too comfortable with me.

(I have one that constantly passes gas. It's so gross and makes all the other kids upset b/c then he blames his neighbors!)

I have this one kid (the "Holla atcha later!" kid) that I was really hoping would test out -- just for his sake. Unfortunately, he didn't...meaning I get him for another year. I don't mind b/c he is great comedy relief. (He also perplexes me; it's like he has dysnomia or something...but I'm not sure if I really believe in kids having dysnomia/anomia). Anywho, the kid swears we're like homies and stuff.

Today, he was talking about how he gets on MySpace. I played dumb and asked, "What's that?" For a hot moment, I started panicking, wondering if he's found my page (which is set to private) b/c he was talking as if he found my page. I asked him if he knew what my first name was, and he quickly looked around. Phew, he didn't know (nor was I wearing my badge). Dude, the day my kids ask me to add them is the day I need to start tying my jean hems with my shoelaces (what is up with that ridiculous fad? And WTH is it called so I can talk more trash about it?).

At the end of the session, the kid asked me for a ride home, since it was pouring. WHAT?! "No, I cannot give you a ride home!" "C'mon!" "No!" "WHY?" "Do you want to stay until 5?" "Oh, never mind." Crazy kid!

Proud SLP

I've had an awesome week with my kiddos. Although I didn't see everyone I was supposed to (due to meetings and Veteran's Day holiday), I was soOoOOO proud of many of the ones I did see. The huge difference was seeing some 1:1 or just with one other student.

This week, one of the Study Skills lesson topics was on coffee (how it's grown, the different types, history, etc.). The first time I did this lesson, I wasn't prepared to discuss all the vocabulary in it. I also happened to be seeing one kid 1:1 (whom reminds me of a chipmunk, b/c he is so cute -- round cheeks with bigger front teeth). I don't usually see him individually, but the circumstance presented itself. I was so amazed with how the session went! It made me realize even more how 1) students really can benefit from individual sessions but unfortunately, that is impossible for every child; 2) sometimes my job is really about helping these kids make that connection between word knowledge and world knowledge. One of my favorite parts about working with these kids is when I help them make that connection and their eyes get all big and that proverbial light bulb goes off above their head (sometimes, I get the accompanying exclamation, "Oh!! (I get it!)"

Yesterday, I had VTW see the groups while I chimed in here and there. It's actually quite interesting to see how different our styles are. She has observed me for 2 days out of 3-4 weeks, and I felt comfortable about her seeing all the groups (especially since she saw them all last Friday due to my incident). I laid out my lesson plan for her step by step, including all the vocab I wanted them to discuss, definitions, and examples. I kind of felt bad for my kids b/c she has a different presence so she makes everything sound like a test (even though I always assure my kids that in our sessions, they are never being graded nor tested, but I sure as heck look for improvement to get them out of here. I say that so that they are not afraid to participate and ask questions.). After reading about why grinding coffee a little bit at a time is better, she asked, "What does 'grind' mean?" One of our crazier kids said, "Oh! I know!" We should've expected what came next, but I sure didn't. "It's like the dance!" DUDE! AH! I was grossed out! Haha!

On the other hand, I was pleased that at least he participated b/c on the outside, him and his bro act like they're too cool for this and don't care, but when it comes down to it, they try harder than the rest of the group. They are some of my favorites as well (although I shouldn't really have favorites). Really, it's not hard to impress me and become my favorite. It's simple: 1) don't touch nor steal my stuff, especially after I've asked you to sit down and you don't listen; 2) ask questions and participate with a decent effort; 3) don't come in with a funky attitude and disrespect everyone.

Perhaps I should replace my class rules with those qualifications.

Anywho, we had another group and both of us were dreading calling in one particular kid (he has the ultimate funky attitude). For whatever reason, he didn't show up, and we had an AWESOME session between two kiddos. One is my 1x/month consult kid with a lisp, whom I had honestly just about given up on for several reasons (K3, see the forum), and my other kiddo is a smarty-pants who makes other people feel dumb but she is slowly letting down her guard. First, it was nice to see that the girl was actually having fun, more relaxed, smiling, and not making the other kid feel dumb (also b/c he was equally as smart as her). What really made my day was seeing the consult kid. I seriously almost teared up b/c my lisper whom I had just about given up on, has been working soOOoOoOOO hard since the last time we met! There was such a noticeable difference! I couldn't believe my ears! (And he was so cute b/c when he came in, he said, "I've been working really hard on my 's'.") I am still glowing off of it. :) Okay, I doubt I did much to help him (except keep drilling into him why he needs to step up to the challenge), but something made the difference. His previous 2 SLPs had said in all sincerity, dismiss him due to lack of motivation and progress after more than 5 years of working on his 's,' and I seriously almost did. And then he shows up making significant progress since the last time. It's beautiful.

As my bro said, "What a great way to end the work week!"