But I love speech....

Behavior situation is a nice way of putting it! I am assigned to two schools. One school, who are all children who are either in kindergarten or pre-k, are your typical artic/lang. kids. The other school, however, I see all kids who are in self contained classrooms. Monday, I went to the school with the self contained kids and was to the part of my day where I see the "behavior unit" kids (most are high level autistic). Might I add that I have never had an issue with these boys, they have always been good with me. One of the students was having issues that day. When he came to speech, he refused to do anything. I heard phrases like "make mupe" and "what are you gonna do about it?" I proceeded to take away one of his sticks (each child has 5 tongue depressors with their name on them. If they do not have all of their sticks at the end of session, they do not get a sticker that helps them get to the treasure chest later). I put it in my pocket and the next thing I knew, he was coming around the desk after me to get his stick. He said, "give me my stick back!" This child is large enough where he could actually do damage. I redirected him back to the other side of his desk and threatened to take another away and take away an incentive in his classroom. He was still a terror! It was the end of session and one student was able to go to the treasure chest. He took a finger trap thing out of the box and I quickly got it back. Next time I turned around, he did it again and then it broke in half. I was angry and he knew it. I turned around and ignored him. Do not ever do this!!! I turned back around and he was turning over desks....heavy ones. My brand new materials were flying everywhere. He broke my Token Towers from Super Duper. I was furious. I had to get my 2 studens..who have major issues themselves to go down the hall and get their teacher. Thank God they did what they were told. While waiting, I told him to do things like "stop!" to which he replied...."Make Me!" After the principal was called, pictures were taken(which made him furious) he finally calmed down and started cleaning up the mess. He asked the principal if he was expelled and she said not this time but next time this happens I will have to expell you. He then asked if he could come back to speech and the reply was the same...if you do this again you will loose your privilage to come to speech. His reply was "But I love speech." That moment is what keeps me going. It's moments like those that keep me going back every day.

"GET ME OUT OF HERE"

If you're anything like me, you get tired of doing therapy inside a room all day! I really get tired of it! So, one day I decided to take two of my kids outside. I thought they would love it. We were walking around playing games and talking and then all of a sudden I could tell that one of the little boys was getting extremely nervous. I looked around, saw nothing, and kept on going. Luckily we were right by a door when everything else started happening. I see the boy backing up against the doors and I asked, "What's wrong?" His reply was, "A b-b-butterfly!" I looked around and saw one on the ground, which by the way was no where close to us! I was a little confused because I think butterflies are so pretty and I responded by saying, "Oh yeah, a butterfly, isn't it pretty?" Then the butterfly decided to fly. It was coming towards us and the little boy started screaming, "Get me out of here." Since we were by the door everything the boy was screaming was echoing. It wasn't just screaming. I mean this boy was terrified. It was the loudest thing I have ever heard! I started panicing and ran over to him, took his hand, and started to ring the bell to let us back in the building (it's so crazy how schools have to be locked down these days). It takes forever for the lady to let us in and then to top it off the door always gets stuck. So, I'm pulling on the door as hard as I can to get it open while this child is screaming for his life. I felt so bad for him. He was so scared. I'll think twice now before I ever think about taking a kid outside!

I'd love to hear some other funny stories anyone has to share! I know you have them... especially you Jessica!!! Thanks Kay for letting us know about the personal user account! As you can see at the bottom of my post it says "the sessions"... it's by where you can comment if you can't find it! Hope everyone is doing well! I miss everyone!

Yes, I Live with a Computer Geek

I thought I'd pass along some knowledge that I gained from my husband related to our blog. Typically, I tend to smile and nod when my husband gives me a computer suggestion, but here's a tidbit of information that is actually useful! (I love you, Chris)

Steps to Setup A Personal User Account on the Blog:

1) Sign in with the information that Kristin provided us in an email.
2) Click on Settings
3) Click on the Permissions tab
4) Click on Add Authors
5) Type in your personal email address
6) Click Invite

If you follow these steps, you will be able to sign into our blog with your personal email address. When you post to the blog or make a comment, it will automatically put your name at the end of your message rather than putting the standard 'acuslps.' Try it out!

I still haven't seen any kids. I start with them on Monday! I have been going to training for a month now and learning all the processes of my school. I have participated in many ARDs and tested a child, but I am so ready to begin therapy! I feel so young and inexperienced. I constantly ask questions of others around me. They all call me sweetie and honey and make me feel like a little kid. I want to be seen as a professional.

I'm glad to hear that you are all doing well and enjoying your jobs.