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sugarplumkittyTuesday morning I got a call at 7:30 AM to come in to the same class for two more days. Yay! I got myself together and got there. I don't remember feeling this weary from a job before. Yesterday I thought their usual aide was coming back and told them I wished I could come back today. This morning after I gave up on the call coming, the phone rang. I'm finishing out the week there. My immediate response was, "Yay! I get to go back!"
I've really gotten to know the kids as individuals and have worked with all of them now. Tuesday during PE, one of the boys had a seizure. When he came out of it, I escorted him back to the classroom to rest. I noticed a teacher from my days at that school substituting in one of the rooms. We smiled at each other. I still know her because she and my friend Joyce care for each others horses. We sat together at lunch and talked. Now the other teachers talk to me. :)
The less-verbal autistic boy (I'll call him "C") and I have forged a relationship. He's a hard worker, so after we finished a lesson on the letter A, we had time to relax a bit before the next topic started. I don't remember how it began, but we started tossing a stuffed bear back and forth between us. Every few throws, the bear would shoot past my shoulder or go just past my elbow. He'd grin. I said, "Uh oh!" and he'd laugh. When it went too far, I made him go to get it. At first he'd sit tight and say, "No no no," but now he grins and goes to get it. Then he got an idea and sat at the center seat at a half-circle table. He slid the bear to me across the table and I slid it back. The faster I pushed it the more he laughed. Again, every so often it would fly off in a random direction and he had to go get it. That's his idea of a joke. If I managed to catch it anyway, he laughed harder. When the other kids finished their reading lesson it was game time. Since "C" and I were still playing slide the bear, I handed the game off to one of the other boys. Pretty soon most of the kids were playing it with him. He was relating to several other people at once! When they got out the cards to play Uno, he stayed at the table and played too. He needed help with the game but to have him willing to be with the group was a major breakthrough for him.
Yesterday I tied the bear into the letter B by making him say "Bear" and "Brown" and "Brown Bear" before I'd throw it. Today we played slide the bear in between the exercises for the letter C and he was more cooperative than ever before. I warned him that the next time the bear fell off the table we needed to do the next task. It worked wonderfully! Each time, he was rewarded with a game of slide the bear. Mr. W is so excited with our progress. My arm muscles are sore! lol
It's gotten so that when the kids are starting to play Uno, they want me to play with them. Two of the boys tend to cheat, so I play. I ran into some true discipline problems with them today. The two of them started calling one of the girls names. I tried to nip it in the bud but it only escalated. She got very upset and wanted to talk to the principal about it. I talked her into letting Mr. W. deal with it first. I told her if they needed the principal to talk to them, they'd be in a lot more trouble if Mr. W. sent them down there. She liked that idea. :) After lunch started, we discussed it with Mr. W. He had a serious talk with the boys and when the afternoon game time started they had to sit at their desks and write "I will not bully others" over and over. When they finished they were allowed to join the game. When one of them started to tease almost immediately, I was able to stop him by reminding him he'd already been in trouble once today. Did he want to be in trouble again? He behaved. As it got close to time to leave, the other started acting up. His mom walked in about that time and he changed right away. LOL It's obvious she doesn't let him act that way, either.
On the way home today, I stopped to buy a pair of pants at Target. I've gone down another size! If I keep working this much, I'll be slim by next year! LOL Those kids really keep me going.
I've really gotten to know the kids as individuals and have worked with all of them now. Tuesday during PE, one of the boys had a seizure. When he came out of it, I escorted him back to the classroom to rest. I noticed a teacher from my days at that school substituting in one of the rooms. We smiled at each other. I still know her because she and my friend Joyce care for each others horses. We sat together at lunch and talked. Now the other teachers talk to me. :)
The less-verbal autistic boy (I'll call him "C") and I have forged a relationship. He's a hard worker, so after we finished a lesson on the letter A, we had time to relax a bit before the next topic started. I don't remember how it began, but we started tossing a stuffed bear back and forth between us. Every few throws, the bear would shoot past my shoulder or go just past my elbow. He'd grin. I said, "Uh oh!" and he'd laugh. When it went too far, I made him go to get it. At first he'd sit tight and say, "No no no," but now he grins and goes to get it. Then he got an idea and sat at the center seat at a half-circle table. He slid the bear to me across the table and I slid it back. The faster I pushed it the more he laughed. Again, every so often it would fly off in a random direction and he had to go get it. That's his idea of a joke. If I managed to catch it anyway, he laughed harder. When the other kids finished their reading lesson it was game time. Since "C" and I were still playing slide the bear, I handed the game off to one of the other boys. Pretty soon most of the kids were playing it with him. He was relating to several other people at once! When they got out the cards to play Uno, he stayed at the table and played too. He needed help with the game but to have him willing to be with the group was a major breakthrough for him.
Yesterday I tied the bear into the letter B by making him say "Bear" and "Brown" and "Brown Bear" before I'd throw it. Today we played slide the bear in between the exercises for the letter C and he was more cooperative than ever before. I warned him that the next time the bear fell off the table we needed to do the next task. It worked wonderfully! Each time, he was rewarded with a game of slide the bear. Mr. W is so excited with our progress. My arm muscles are sore! lol
It's gotten so that when the kids are starting to play Uno, they want me to play with them. Two of the boys tend to cheat, so I play. I ran into some true discipline problems with them today. The two of them started calling one of the girls names. I tried to nip it in the bud but it only escalated. She got very upset and wanted to talk to the principal about it. I talked her into letting Mr. W. deal with it first. I told her if they needed the principal to talk to them, they'd be in a lot more trouble if Mr. W. sent them down there. She liked that idea. :) After lunch started, we discussed it with Mr. W. He had a serious talk with the boys and when the afternoon game time started they had to sit at their desks and write "I will not bully others" over and over. When they finished they were allowed to join the game. When one of them started to tease almost immediately, I was able to stop him by reminding him he'd already been in trouble once today. Did he want to be in trouble again? He behaved. As it got close to time to leave, the other started acting up. His mom walked in about that time and he changed right away. LOL It's obvious she doesn't let him act that way, either.
On the way home today, I stopped to buy a pair of pants at Target. I've gone down another size! If I keep working this much, I'll be slim by next year! LOL Those kids really keep me going.
