Week 14

Nov. 11-15, 2013

On Monday, one of our wheelchair-bound students' parents joined us on our lesson to see the progress their daughter has made. It was pretty awesome. They invested in this extremely expensive wheelchair and the company is currently loaning them this headrest device and that is what we were impressing them with (how well she has adjusted to the use of the headrest and certain positions of her head to make it move). She is able to move forward, turn left and right with purpose and it is just the coolest thing to watch (especially since when we first started working with her, she could barely put her head back to move forward at all).

I also got some big success in working with a deafblind student on Bryan's caseload. This student has CHARGE syndrome and sometimes she acts out for no apparent reason. On this particular day, we took a walk outside (freezing) and she started to react by stomping her feet and groaning and whaling her arms. Immediately, I motioned for her to enter the building and we headed to the library. I just wanted to try something new. So, I had her put on some headphones and listen to a story. I was amazed to find her loving the story as she listened. She started clapping, smiling, making pleasant groans, and stomping her feet in a happy way. That was very rewarding for me.

I am definitely getting close to 100% independence with these kids. I've experienced so much and I can imagine it would even be so much more if this lasted through the whole school year. There is really so much to write about and it's hard to choose which experiences to focus on.

I'm learning how to work with a student who recently broke his finger. This kid is wheelchair-bound and he uses his hands to wheel himself in the chair. This is good experience for me, b/c I'm learning to work through exactly what to do. I feel so limited with this situation and I've had great success where he loves to work (cafeteria with all the sensory things going on and Sandra, who he LOVES). He does not have much success anywhere else, but it is also a challenge, b/c the time I have him is when it is lunch time so it is hard to have the lesson in the back of the kitchen at lunch time.

It was neat to challenge Lucas with something I hadn't challenged him with before - reversing the route. I had him do his usual route from class to playground, but this time I told him to reverse the route. At first, he was so confused and ready to go into the door that we normally go in from the playground, but I continued to stand by the gate of the playground and call his name. After he started heading my way, I told him what we were doing and he didn't seem opposed to it (which I thought he would be - b/c of his limitations). I have seen such a big progress in his abilities since we first started working with him. Or, is it b/c I'm paying more attention to the kids now than when I first met them?

This week, I'm learning how to work through a student's behavior in working with me. Our "honeymoon phase" has quickly ended and now all he wants to do when he hears me coming is attack me (with his nails or with his cane). The first time he did it (threw the cane at me several times), I just kept giving it back to him and encouraging him to work through it. The second time he threw it at me, I left it in the classroom and shortened his walking time and just took him out to the sensory playground. It really is such a tough decision, b/c either way we are rewarding bad behavior.

I saved the best for last, b/c that is when it happened this particular week. I was walking Daniel down the hall after working with him (walking with his walker from class to playground and back to class). About 10 ft away from his class, all of a sudden, his pants start to fall down (out of nowhere) along with his diaper. He started to moan and I started to panic and push him faster. Finally, we made it to the class (where there was help for this kind of thing inside). Hoping to find just an assistant there, it was a full class. The first person I saw was the assistant. I was so relieved and I asked him for help, but then I looked over and saw the rest of the class and other teachers. I could not help myself and out of embarrassment and humor, I could not stop laughing for the life of me. I really couldn't tell anyone at the time why I was so awestruck on what to do in that moment, but later as I reflected upon it, I guess I was just afraid of getting in trouble for touching this kid and being the one to blame for pulling his pants down. I don't remember learning about this in any of my classes before. Then  again, I only had 1 multiple disabilities class! So, in the classroom - the assistants taught me what to do should that kind of thing happen again - to simply pull up the diaper and pants back up again.