Weekly Happenings

I've had a busy week!

First of all, I've been at orientation for work all week. Our first two days were classroom set-up days. I have a good basis for what's happening this year since I was in the same classroom last year, but there are major some differences this school year. Last year we had six kids, one teacher, two classroom associates, and three individual associates for three particularly involved kids (I'm an individual associate). We had six staff for six kids... and we still had our hands full. This year we have eight kids, one teacher, one classroom associate, and five individual associates for five particularly involved kids. That would be seven staff for eight kids. It is truly going to be a nuthouse this year with all the people in one room. We spent our classroom set-up days organizing and scheduling and such. I got busy setting up a space for my student, who I will henceforth refer to on this blog as LG, short for little guy, because he's, well, little.

The past few days our whole department is being trained in the new aggression and restraint techniques - it's an all-new program this year. I actually had this training before when I worked at the detention center, but now it's supposed to be used in classrooms for kids with autism. Unfortunately, although the behavior management techniques work very well for kids with emotional problems (I know since I used the techniques myself), it's not really designed for kids with autism. It's kind of surreal trying to go through our workbooks and apply the questions to our, uh, very different classrooms. Here's an example of the questions and my attempts to answer.

Question:Describe a situation in your classroom where a youth was experiencing an emotional behavior.

LG was sitting at the desk doing a puzzle when he suddenly jumped up, flapped his arms emphatically, and started running in circles. I told him to sit down and took away his puzzle until he could demonstrate nice sitting. LG responded by saying "DAH DAH DAH DAH" in a very angry tone. He then had an emotional crisis and punched me in the stomach.

Question: Using the steps provided in your workbook, describe how you should use active listening and problem solving techniques to help the youth through the behavior.

1. Give LG space to calm down.
2. Tell LG, "When I took away your puzzle, you punched me in the stomach. That made it seem like you might be angry about something I did."
3. Discuss possible other outlets for frustration with LG.

Question: Describe how you think the youth would respond to your active listening and empathy.

Based on my prior experience, LG would probably drop to the floor immediately and attempt to crawl under his desk and go to sleep.

Yeah. True that.

I've also been back and forth to the eye doctor this week. After the spectacular failure that was my appointment last August (my lenses were so thick that my eyelashes smudged the lenses constantly, making my glasses unwearable), I've been counting the days until our insurance will pay for a new pair.

My actual appointment was on Tuesday evening. I had my eye exam and picked out a new pair of glasses. It's a huge pain in the neck for me to get frames. I have a fairly lengthy list of requirements, none of which are cosmetic.

1. The glasses must fit my face. I grew, thankfully, which means I am now out of child-sized frames, but I haven't grown enough to fit into adult-sized frames. Yay.
2. The glasses must not be long and rectangular. If they are, my ridiculous prescription lenses will exceed a third of an inch thick and refract too much light, possibly blinding me as I drive down the road.
3. The glasses must not have too thick of an edge on the earpieces. If they are, my ridiculous prescription lenses will exceed a third of an inch thick and refract too much light, possibly blinding me as I drive down the road.
4. The glasses must have nose pads. I learned the hard way last year that plastic frames cannot be adjusted, and if your eyelashes hit your lenses, you're out of luck.

When all was said and done, I had my pick of two frames. One frame was small and round, screamed Coke bottle glasses, and was immediately eliminated. The other frame came in electric green and brown. Thus, I am now the proud new owner of a pair of brown frames that are slightly rectangular, not too elongated, have nose pads, and have just the right amount of edge on the earpieces. Unfortunately, they are not especially fashion-forward, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do from now on, since I only post flattering photos of myself on this blog.

There was only one (large) downside to getting new glasses. A $394.00 downside. After I picked my jaw off the floor, I asked to see the detailed receipt. Basically, had I been someone with normal, everyday nearsightedness, I would have only had a $180.00 charge for the frames, since everything else was picked up by our insurance. But no, I'm too special to be normal. I also have to have the following.

1. An Ultra Violet Coat, which reflects light and protects me from crashing my car due to sudden blindness.
2. A Scratch Coat, which ensures that the Ultra Violet Coat stays on and I don't have a random moment of sudden blindness.
3. A Hi-Index, which is the insurance people's way of nicely hinting that I'm just so incredibly myopic that I should really, really, like really, go get Lasik eye surgery.
4. An Anti-Reflective, which also reflects light and protects me from the evils of sun blindness and accidentally frying my eyes out with my magnifying glass lenses.
5. A Hi-Minus, which I'm convinced is only on there because the insurance people know that I can't not acquiesce to their demands, given my general blindness.

Busy, busy, busy. At least I'll be able to see, though. At least until LG flaps his hands right into my frames.

Also, insurance people, just so you know, my eye doctor said that I can't actually have Lasik surgery. I'm so nearsighted that Lasik will only take my eyesight from Blind As A Bat to Moderately Myopic. In the end, I'd still need glasses.