Lessons learned

The second week of school started out with a bang.  My assistant was out on Monday, which left me with a sub.  Fortunately, the sub was fantastic (which is rare) and the day went fairly smoothly.  The students were fairly well behaved and the day ran as normal as possible.  I did learn a few valuable lessons yesterday:

1.

When you put up picture symbols of the steps to using the bathroom, it is best to put up ALL the steps.  I left out two critical steps (pull up underwear, pull up pants).  Last week, it wasn’t an issue.  The students didn’t pay much attention to the pictures (other than “pull down underwear” and “go to the bathroom”).  However, one student was absent all last week…and she notices EVERY SINGLE DETAIL!  So, first thing in the morning, she called me into the bathroom to point out the pictures (in case I hadn’t noticed).  And of course, she pointed out the “pull down underwear” and “go to the bathroom.”  We didn’t have any issues in the morning.  At snack time, she apparently decided she wanted to follow every single step.  So, when she reached the missing steps, she stood in the bathroom, panties and pants at her ankles and spoke to me in her English/Spanish mix.  When I walked in to see what was wrong, she walked over to show me the missing pictures.  Do you know what happens when you try to walk and your pants and underwear are at your ankles?  So, she fell, her butt up in the air and she looked back at me, as if to say, “What should I do?”  I told her to get up and she did and finished telling me what I was missing.  Lesson learned…we now have all the steps to using the bathroom in our bathroom!

2.

Hell hath no fury like a child who just wants to eat alone!  One of my little bitties just wanted to sit by himself at lunch and took offense to the other students who sat with him.  Lunch started off fairly okay.  The ABA therapist never came and the sub had one of the students at music, so it was just me and four children, eating in the cafeteria with the 8th graders, their teachers, and custodial staff.  The kids all sat at the same table and we were peachy for the first few minutes.  And then the student apparently realized he was not alone like he wanted to be.  Although he is speaking a lot more than he was last year, he still does not have enough words to convey his feelings, so…he uses actions.  It started off with him throwing a random sausage across the table and then his plastic container at another student.  When I told him to stop and picked up the container off the floor…all hell broke loose.  The whole debacle probably only lasted about 10 minutes, but in those ten minutes, I was hit, scratched, head-butted, slapped, and accosted with his nasty little sausages.  He had a death grip on my shirt and name badge, which I finally pried myself loose.  I knew what he wanted, but it was difficult to get to my other kids and help them move over one table while getting pelted with sausage, his lunchbox and his plastic container.  I finally sang “Wheels on the bus” enough to calm him down for a few moments to move the kids over and the situation was resolved.  Not one single adult came to check on me or ask if I needed assistance.  The 8thgraders at the table next to me had a nice show and provided commentary during the sausage debacle (“oooh”  “Oh, man”  “shoot”).  Fortunately, one of my students made sure I was okay and acknowledged my injuries by pointing to her face and saying “ouch.”

3.

A student will improvise if he doesn’t have the desired toys to play with.  One of my students loves to play with our doll house, horse and carriage, etc.  He will ask for it all the time when he’s finished with his work.  He also knows too much for his age and understands the whole man-woman thing.  He apparently needed a date for Little RedRidinghood to go in Cinderella’s carriage.  I don’t really have any male dolls, so he improvised…with an Elmer’sGluestick!  I saw the carriage sitting out in the morning and looked in to find Little Red and Elmer Gluestick sitting in the seat.  I thought it was strange and I removed thegluestick and put it away.  Imagine my surprise in the afternoon when I saw him playing with the carriage and another gluestick (where he finds them, I don’t know)!  I guess Little Red just really needed a date!

4.

If there is a staple anywhere on the floor, a child will find it and put it in his mouth.  This one is pretty self-explanatory, but it did happen yesterday!  On a positive note, the student did sit longer in his seat!  I guess spending an hour of putting him in his seat really pays off!

5.

If you send home a note about a child being in a daze and asking if his medication has changed, you better be prepared for the opposite the next time the student comes to school. I learned this lesson today!  One of my students seemed over-medicated last week and didn’t eat anything all week.  He was a complete zombie and not himself.  So, Friday, I sent a note home, just asking if anything had changed.  He was absent yesterday, but came to school today...seemingly with no meds!  He did finally eat, which was a good thing.  But, in the morning, he ran around in circles, clapping his hands.  And then, he was overly emotional.  He cried over the most random things.  One of my other students started wailing, which caused another student to put his hands over his ears and yell out “oohwah, oowah”, over and over, which in turn, apparently, caused this student to start crying!  All the while, we had a new ABA therapist start, because apparently the other one quit.  Fortunately, the student did calm down in the afternoon, which was a blessing and I happily sent them home.

The main lesson to take away from all these other lessons is that we never stop learning!  Even teachers need to be taught sometimes!  I’m sure there will be many more lessons taught this year!  Stay tuned!