Checking in

It's been quite a long time since I produced a blog entry here. Do people even do this anymore? Is the act of jotting down a few thoughts even en vogue these days? I wonder if technology has left me behind, especially since I never even bothered to open a Twitter account and I don't know what any of the little acronyms and symbols mean. Like, when I cruise through Instagram and I see something like #feedyourface, I don't understand what the little pound sign is for. And then I look at some of the other blogs out there and I see how complex they are...do these people have real jobs and kids and other stuff to do?? My little footprint looks so lame over here on blogger. It's more like booger.

Anyway, where have I been for these last months? At the risk of sounding like a "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" report, I'll sum it up like this- I set out with two goals this summer. #1 (and I know what the pound sign means in this context) Spend as much time with Mom as possible without making a nuisance of myself. #2 Spend real quality time with my children and put aside selfish personal pursuits in order to do so. This includes living on FB continuously, blogging, even reading and scrapbooking. I think I accomplished both goals #1 and 2, I even took a poll with my kids. They tell me they had an awesome summer and now they are so excited to be back at school. Yes, there have been brief flashes of inspiration to pull out the laptop and write something...but I simply could not bring myself to turn on the 'hotspot' and pull up my page and do it. If I'm to be totally honest, I think a part of me is running away from my fears and my sadness. I'm not going to dwell on that point here, at least no further than to make another appeal to my friends and readers to continue to lift Mom up in their prayers. I can tell you that we enjoyed some tacos together this evening and three of the the grandkids managed to entertain in their special way... I'll leave that to your imagination.

This school year promises to be a busy one for me and challenging for my girls. The funny thing is, as busy as I know it will be, it doesn't seem to phase me these days. I hope this positive outlook continues despite the few folks who like to fling their negativity around like stinky poo. If you see me, I'll either be smiling or I'll have my focus face on. Focus face doesn't mean I'm unhappy. It only means my head is full of my to do list...so for the love of tacos, don't say something asinine, like "smile Stephanie"- I could smack people for that. Don't ever presume that someone is unhappy and needs you to tell them to smile. Nothing makes me go from a perfectly awesome mood (albeit with a neutral, focus-face) to a totally annoyed condition faster than the directive to smile. How about you go find something productive to do since you are so bored that you have to worry about what my facial expression is. I'm not directing this to you, fine feathered friends and readers; just venting about this little pet peeve of mine. Anyway, back to my point, this is going to be a great school year, I'm positive!

The Dude will be back on stage next month in the lead for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. I was not excited about this at all until we sat down and watched the movie together. I must say, it was one of the best movies I've ever seen. I was sad when it ended. So now I'm excited to see how it goes here in our little community theater with hubby as the lead.

One last note: I had the BEST of intentions that I would write this detailed entry on our trip out to Yellowstone and surrounding areas this summer. It never happened. The closest I got was posting some random photos onto FB. I'm attaching a few of my favorite photos from the trip here. Go to Yellowstone. It's awesome. That is all I have on that for now.

Nice pants

Followers of my blog already know what this means. It rained at work.

An old dog, trying new tricks.

For anyone who read the previous post linking you to Linda Hodgdon's webinar, you will interested to note that I have followed up on the idea of Picture Talk. Today I tried it for the first time with my little friend who lives with Autism and is non-verbal. I call him my friend, although for now, I'm still trying to win his love. I literally have to make him come to my room for therapy, probably because I'm trying to get him to do what I want him to do. Today, I decided to allow my little friend a little control and put the result in a Picture Talk strip. This trick worked beautifully today! Once I got his little whimpering, resistant self in the room, I let him sort of take the lead and he really enjoyed the drawings. Of course we didn't try to do any of the challenging things that usually get him upset; I'm hoping to work up to that after he gets used to this new modality. The drawings are OH-SO-LAME, but he didn't care. This may not even work out next time, but it got me through today in a most pleasant manner. I am cautiously encouraged. I had the kid right where I want him... but then, it was time to cut out early... to take class pictures. Oh well, one more distraction in an ocean of chaos that is my day in the public school system.

If I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.

What a way to spend the morning! I have worked here for almost 5 years and today I finally attended my first Special Olympics event. I've been wanting to attend one of the these for a while, but they always fall on the weekdays I have lots and lots of therapy scheduled. Thanks to a rain postponement, this event got moved to Friday! Hooray! I was able to attend for about half the time before leaving for a meeting. Many hugs from some of my favorite students later, I am back at my desk thinking about how lovely it all was. These kids are really some of the best humans I know. They don't always rise to my challenges and their frustrations show; however, they always accept and love me and all their teachers unconditionally. I was thinking that if everyone knew this kind of unconditional love on earth, how wonderful our lives would be. You know, my husband and I don't always see eye to eye on a thing and sometimes there is a little tension in our lives. But I can't help but love the dude, pretty much unconditionally. Sometimes I feel like this here monkey, desperately in love with some aloof creature who doesn't seem to notice, yet I just can't help myself. Who wouldn't love a creature with wings that soar? That kind of love hurts but can also be fairly rewarding when the creature shares his worms with you. Of course I cannot take credit for the above monkey photo, some other monkey posted that and it ended up in an email. Anyway, these kids, in all their glory, competed today as if their lives depended on it and their smiles were as big as the football field. They are brave in the attempt, not only in their event, but in their relationships as well. These young men and women know about love, if they don't know anything else. If you ever have the pleasure to work with children like this, you can't help but relish your time with them and revel in their successes.

Part of the fun of Special Olympics is the support given by the host school. Lots of clubs and classes turn out to cheer on the athletes or volunteer in other capacities. There is lots of attention and praise given to the athletes by their peers from school, which is a great learning experience for all of us. I'm so glad I got to go today and cheer on my friends from all three of my schools. The photo below is one taken of me with the cousins who said, "Aw, come on, don't we take enough of these at Christmas?" Sorry boys, I love you too, thanks for coming to cheer on the athletes! What a great morning!

Emily Colson's "Dancing with Max"

http://www.usevisualstrategies.com/AutismNewsletters.aspx From time to time, Linda Hodgdon, an expert in visual strategies and autism, sends out a newsletter and I'm so blessed to be a recipient. Today's newsletter included a free webinar for a strategy called Picture Talk. The above link is your opportunity to view this webinar, which I viewed over lunch today. It is just one more perspective from a parent in the trenches. April is Autism Awareness Month and so to honor this month, and all the parents out there who struggle with autism, I offer this for today's blog entry.

This isn't your ivory tower, babe.

The Clinical Director of Longwood University's Communication Disorders program inquired of me today about placing a graduate student with me for next year. After referring her to the powers that be, the deal was sealed. I get to supervise my first graduate student in the fall. I know this will be a new thing and a little extra work for me, but I admit that I am kind of excited about it. Here is a new chance to give back to my profession and in return, I get a fresh, green face with fresh, green ideas to work with my students. It's no secret that my enviornment is not exactly ideal for remediation of skills; however, I feel that I've been professional enough to make this thing work. My student, let's call her 'Lancer Lady', will see what it's really like out there in the wild world of public education. She'll get to explore the lovely Instructional-Pod-Complex, navigate through the twisted and sometimes wicked Child-Study/IEP process, collaborate with a variety of educators, possibly eat school lunch, and if she's really lucky, ride in a county car - WHAT AN ADVENTURE!

I just hope I don't make a total and complete goofball of myself. I mean I am a full-on goofball, and that's okay. I just want to have something to offer this young (or old) mind who is coming to work with me. She gets to look at all my anecdotal note-taking (read: total chickenscratch) and attempt to put in some system of documentation that we both can agree on and understand. And I, with my slightly controlling self, I get to relinquish a little bit of 'MINE'. This is a toughie for me. I like things done a certain way in my world, but as marriage has taught me, it's rarely my way whether I like it or not. I can face down this issue, as long as I continue to refuse to be an old fuddy-duddy. So look out, Lancer Lady, this should be a fun experience and I expect we shall each learn plenty.

The Entrance to the 78th Level of Dante's Inferno

As I endure the morning announcements at the decibel level of a vaccum cleaner, please permit me to display today's special photo. If you have read my last entry, you will know exactly what this is. Please don't ask what the little rubber mat is for, I'm still trying to figure that out. Good day and let us hope it's a dryer one.

...and there are some who think facilities don't need improvement... Tell that to the Moms who are doing the laundry...

The 78th Level of Dante's Inferno

Okay, naturally, I picked a number at random since I'm not sure how many levels Hell REALLY has. But I'm sure that on some days, I'm in one of them. Today's weather in the Instuctional-Pod-Compound (otherwise known as the trailer park at my school) is rain, rain, and more rain. Which wouldn't be so bad if there were awnings and an adequate sidewalk, but I have neither at my disposal. It's so laughable, it's humorous and ridiculous. I expect that anyday now, I'll have pneumonia as I must trudge out in the weather every 30 minutes to change groups. I hate it for my students too as their mothers didn't really expect them to have to go outside on this cold, rainy day. The single line of stepping stones leading to the trailer's front door is surrounded by a small pond and mostly immersed in mud. Before I leave the main building with each group of children, I must preface the trip with the following advice: "Please walk carefully on the stepping stones in front of my door, dear children. The mud puddle-boobie-trap is set and if you walk too fast or too heavy on the stones, mud will fly up to drench and permenantly stain your clothes." For 3, 4 and 5 year olds, this concept is difficult to grasp. All they want to do is run as fast as possible to stay out of the rain, hence all the muddy little pantlegs around the school. You always know a Special Ed. kid by the mud on his pants around here. It's heartbreaking really. Then, once the children have doffed their drenched little jackets and gotten settled, we begin what is loosely called 'therapy.' I say loosely because typically therapy requires a non-distracting environment, which this particular environment is not. It's hard to avoid distraction when there is merely a 3/4 partition between the 'therapy' room and a very active special education classroom. It can be difficult and trying to compete with a boistrous teacher and his band of brooding students. I would like to obtain a sound-level-meter to check decibel levels on some days. And let us not forget, the ongoing announcements throughout the day over the loudspeaker. It is a dizzying, never-ending parade of interruption. It's no wonder many of my students just aren't making all that much progress. Is it not criminal? Children with special needs deserve so much more. Not exactly how I pictured my career when I walked across the stage at Appalachian State University to receive my Master's Degree.
I have also given up on the futile attempts to park anywhere near my instructional-pod. The parking area (again, I use that term loosely as well) is merely a mudbog that hasn't seen gravel since I was a child here at this school. Although I do drive a LandRover, I would prefer to keep my vehicle as clean as possible until such time for rooting by choice occurs (this isn't it). At 3:45, you should see all the tire spinning and flying mud which occurs around these parts. I regret, today, that I don't have my smartphone to take a photo of the walkway to my instructional-pod, which is more like World 6 of Super Mario Brothers on days like this. Rain, rain and more rain.

Waxing Poetic

Lunch Break inspiration! This morning I opened an email from a company tauting a game called Sentence Samurai, in which you cut out all these little words and your student gets points for making longer and longer sentences with the words. The email included a free sample which I promptly printed out and took to the middle school to try out on one of my syntax-challenged students. I liked it, although she didn't seem too impressed. Enter Max Instructional Scaffolding. Oh well. Anyway, the concept was somehow familiar; it reminded me of something... oh what could it be? Driving over to the High School, listening to Dublin's finest on Sirius 18 (quick, do a little jig), it hit me- Magnetic Poetry! Come now, if you didn't own one, you know one of your college pals did and you became an instant poetic genius in its presence, no? So today, on my lunch break, I just found the website, thinking, "This is perfect for therapy" and of course there's an opportunity to play on-line! I'm so excited about it, I'm including the link below so you too can go be an on-line poetic master! You guessed it, I'm going to order a set of the original Magnetic Poetry for use in therapy because that's a whole lot easier than cutting out all those little words and it comes in the cute little box. And who doesn't love a cute little box?
Enjoy!
http://play.magpogames.com/