An important part of what I do for a living is following schedules. Alot of the kids I work with Live by their schedules that we call PECS schedules. They are made with either real pictures or drawings of an area, or a function. It is important to know how to make these schedules, although a boring process. You have to consider what time a child wakes up in the morning, what their morning routine is, and possibly what they eat. Now these schedules start from the time they wake up, until the time they go to sleep at night. I had to learn how to put these schedules together for kids, and their different needs. Obviously not every child needs a picture reminder, " oh yeah, I need to go to the bathroom".
The first thing you do when making an individual schedule is consider if the child showers at night, lets say for the sake of this essay, Johnnie showers in the morning. So I would put on his schedule for the morning, first shower with a picture of a shower. The next picture would be use shampoo to wash your hair, and a picture of soap with hands on a head. The next step would be a diagram of how to wash the body starting with the face then body, legs feet, then private areas. Some kids also need hand over hand direction until they learn how to bathe properly. I know to you or I alot of the hygiene stuff seems normal, and we should know how to do it ourselves. To a child whom has had this done for them their whole lives, they do not know how to properly bathe themselves. After this, there would be a diagram on how to properly dry off, and how to dress, which some still may need help with this also.
Onto breakfast. Monday thru Saturday, the kids are given an option of two bowls of cereal two juices, and a piece of fruit. They are also given the option of toast, juice and fruit.
One would also have picture of these options in a childs PECs book. From there, there would be a diagram of how to properly brush ones teeth, and how much time it would take, also along with that some may need a timer telling them how long tweo minutes is. In essence, when setting up a PECs book for their schedules, it is important to have all the pictures one would possibly need. The books are set up with velcore so you can take out the pictures, and show them to the child. With the none verbal children, they will usually respond with moving towards the area, or start doing the activity within their processing time, which I have mentioned before in another post.
This schedule, and or book would include all of their individual class times, and a picture to go along with it. These schedules are also offered on the weekend if they would like to join in weekend activites we have on campus, such as tech lab, various arts and crafts, and community outings. They are also individualized to include childrens sensory needs, such as deep pressure- squeezing a child from and appropraite angle, which is basically a hug, but not called that for professional and personal reasons. So you would need to think about a child and individual needs from the time they wake up, until the time they go to sleep. It is very difficult unless you really understand, and respect the needs of these kids, and indiviuality. Like everything else, I was not perfect at this, but after time, I have become a pro in knowing, and thinking for a child, and being his or her advocate.
Monday, October 21, 2013
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Illustartive essay
The very meaning of Austism is a faliure of communication. To be honest when I first started working at Chileda, I had no idea what Autism was all about, and that every child was different. I had no idea that some kids needed different processing time. By this what I mean is I could say the same thing over and over again, but if I spoke to fast the child would still have no idea what I was trying to say. Autism is like a piece of a puzzle, no two pieces are the same, but eventually, they all fight together to form a big picture.
Shelly, a child with the proceesing time of 30 seconds would get agressive with me everytime I would ask her to do something. What I didnt realize was I wasn't giving her enough time to understand me. This is what she would hear " Can you blah blah blah?" and I would start speaking louder and faster. So now she would assume that I was becoming angry and about to become agressive. So she would become agressive first. She would try to pull my hair and bite me at the same time. Then I learned from one of the teachers, and a veteran staff that she had a slow proceesing time. This means it takes longer for her to interpret what I was saying.
Now when working with Shelly, I talk slow, wait 30 secoonds, then see if she responds accordingly. She has more patiences for me, and I for her. Now that I understand what processing time is, I can better work with children with Autism. They did teach us this in our training, but sometimes training is different than actual field expirence. I had to learn how to communicate with, through the years, at least 50 kids. As I said before about the pieces to a puzzle, but after you learn how to communicate with a child that was never suppose beable to understand you, or you understand them, it is a very rewarding feeling. It has helped me in my own personal life with family, and friends to become a listener, and communicate with better understanding.
Shelly, a child with the proceesing time of 30 seconds would get agressive with me everytime I would ask her to do something. What I didnt realize was I wasn't giving her enough time to understand me. This is what she would hear " Can you blah blah blah?" and I would start speaking louder and faster. So now she would assume that I was becoming angry and about to become agressive. So she would become agressive first. She would try to pull my hair and bite me at the same time. Then I learned from one of the teachers, and a veteran staff that she had a slow proceesing time. This means it takes longer for her to interpret what I was saying.
Now when working with Shelly, I talk slow, wait 30 secoonds, then see if she responds accordingly. She has more patiences for me, and I for her. Now that I understand what processing time is, I can better work with children with Autism. They did teach us this in our training, but sometimes training is different than actual field expirence. I had to learn how to communicate with, through the years, at least 50 kids. As I said before about the pieces to a puzzle, but after you learn how to communicate with a child that was never suppose beable to understand you, or you understand them, it is a very rewarding feeling. It has helped me in my own personal life with family, and friends to become a listener, and communicate with better understanding.
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Descritptive blog post
It was Leisure Ed. time for my students. As we walked in the room, the smell of stale paper, and glue sticks take over the room. All the art projects hanging on the walls make it bright with the reds, pinks, blues, greens, and yellows. Also as I walked in the room I could smell the Leisure Ed. teachers perfume.
The project we would do for the day is sand art. What you do is put glue on a piece a paper in a pattern and pour sand on it. You had to put one glue pattern on at a time, as to not mix colors. the theme was to make a starry night. As I put the glue on the smell reminded me of when I was a kid. The feel of the sand was hard and even. The color of the black paper made colors even more rich.
As we finished, I looked at the projects all the kids had done. Some choose navy blue paper, some choose black. The colors on the black were more vibrant. The bright, and dark purples, bright green, and blue, white and yellow formed in different shapes were beautiful. Everyone was very pleased with the outcome of their art projects. As we got ready to leave the teacher asked to leave the projects to dry. As we walked passed her to leave, I again could smell her perfume.
The project we would do for the day is sand art. What you do is put glue on a piece a paper in a pattern and pour sand on it. You had to put one glue pattern on at a time, as to not mix colors. the theme was to make a starry night. As I put the glue on the smell reminded me of when I was a kid. The feel of the sand was hard and even. The color of the black paper made colors even more rich.
As we finished, I looked at the projects all the kids had done. Some choose navy blue paper, some choose black. The colors on the black were more vibrant. The bright, and dark purples, bright green, and blue, white and yellow formed in different shapes were beautiful. Everyone was very pleased with the outcome of their art projects. As we got ready to leave the teacher asked to leave the projects to dry. As we walked passed her to leave, I again could smell her perfume.
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Narative Essay Draft
As I walked to the front door, I wondered what the day would bring. I took a deep breath and sighed. I had to tell myself it would be a great day, and everything would be great. As I walked to the break room to punch in, I saw some of my co-workers. Everyone said good morning. Also some had told me about stories from the weekend, as it was my weekend off.
I walked to the house I was scheduled in for the first hour of the morning, to see which kid I would get ready for school. As soon as i walked in the house one of the children that has to be one-on-one due to agressive behaviors said " Your with me today Chandra!", with a menacing smile on her face. I thought to myself " What a way to start out my day!", with sarcasm. Within the first hour I had been hit half a dozen times, spite on twice, and had to block this child from hitting others. Then it took her for her morning medicine, and dropped her off in her classroom.
When I reached the classroom I was in for the day, all of the children were running around screaming. Just one of those days I wish I had stayed home. Soon it was time for morning snack. All of the kids sat and waited patiently for me to bring them their snack. One child ate his snack as fast as he could, and decided to try and steal someone elses snack. I knew what he would do and anticpated this, so I was already on my feet to block him from getting others snacks. He then started yelling, screaming and crying.
Shortly after snack things got crazy again. One ki was throwing books, and sensory toys around the room, another was tareing paper, and the third was trying to get into a locked cabinet, because he knew there was candy stashed in it. The only time all of them were settled that day, was during snack time or sensory breaks. Children with autism have a need for alot of sensory imput, such as putting scented lotion on their hands so they can smell it, or have toys, which we call fidgets in ehir hands.
It was getting close to the end of the day. At that time we clean the classrooms and have closing. I started cleaning up the kids desks, and had them help me put the chairs up. I began gathering their personal items and put them in their backpacks. Then one by one, I took them on bathroom breaks. I grabbed their bags and put them straps on their shoulders. Then started walking them to the house.
As I was walking the two boys down the hallway, I saw one the teenage girls I also work with. She asked me how my day was, and I told her it was kind of crazy. She then says to me " Well the boy hav smiles on their faces.", I replied "I don't know why, with the day they have had." She then said " Because they got to be with you all day. If I got to be with you all day, I would have a smile on me face too!", and at that very instant that made my day so much better. That one comment reminded me why I choose to work with children with Disabilities and Mental Illness.
I walked to the house I was scheduled in for the first hour of the morning, to see which kid I would get ready for school. As soon as i walked in the house one of the children that has to be one-on-one due to agressive behaviors said " Your with me today Chandra!", with a menacing smile on her face. I thought to myself " What a way to start out my day!", with sarcasm. Within the first hour I had been hit half a dozen times, spite on twice, and had to block this child from hitting others. Then it took her for her morning medicine, and dropped her off in her classroom.
When I reached the classroom I was in for the day, all of the children were running around screaming. Just one of those days I wish I had stayed home. Soon it was time for morning snack. All of the kids sat and waited patiently for me to bring them their snack. One child ate his snack as fast as he could, and decided to try and steal someone elses snack. I knew what he would do and anticpated this, so I was already on my feet to block him from getting others snacks. He then started yelling, screaming and crying.
Shortly after snack things got crazy again. One ki was throwing books, and sensory toys around the room, another was tareing paper, and the third was trying to get into a locked cabinet, because he knew there was candy stashed in it. The only time all of them were settled that day, was during snack time or sensory breaks. Children with autism have a need for alot of sensory imput, such as putting scented lotion on their hands so they can smell it, or have toys, which we call fidgets in ehir hands.
It was getting close to the end of the day. At that time we clean the classrooms and have closing. I started cleaning up the kids desks, and had them help me put the chairs up. I began gathering their personal items and put them in their backpacks. Then one by one, I took them on bathroom breaks. I grabbed their bags and put them straps on their shoulders. Then started walking them to the house.
As I was walking the two boys down the hallway, I saw one the teenage girls I also work with. She asked me how my day was, and I told her it was kind of crazy. She then says to me " Well the boy hav smiles on their faces.", I replied "I don't know why, with the day they have had." She then said " Because they got to be with you all day. If I got to be with you all day, I would have a smile on me face too!", and at that very instant that made my day so much better. That one comment reminded me why I choose to work with children with Disabilities and Mental Illness.
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
I was given an assignment for my Writting Communications Class to choose a subject I could write about all semester. I had to think about alot of things. When first thinking about this, I thought " My passion is my job!!!". What better subject could I come up then what I do for a living? I work with kids ranging from the ages of 5-21 with disabilities and mental health issues.
When I first started this job, I was hesitant. I had never worked with kids that have Autism, let alone Explosive Rage Disorder. I was bad at my job, and didn't understand why these kid had to live on schedules. I even failed my first employee evaluation. I was ready to give up, and find another job.
Then, one day it all clicked! One of the children I have worked with was having a bad day. Everyone I worked with was trying to de-escalate the situation. I thought " What do I know about this child, and what can I do to help her out of the situation?". I rememberd she loves hip-hop music. I thought her favorite artist, and started singing on of his songs, out of tune and all. She started laughing, and that changed my whole thought process in what my purpose was in this job.
Almost three years later, and complete changes with children leaving, and houses shifting, I have found the most rewarding thing I have ever done. Now I have been told Im one of the strongest staff , and my supervisor feels she can put me with any child, having confidence I will do my best to make a positive difference in a childs life. Im happy at 29 years old, I have found where I want to start my career, and future.
When I first started this job, I was hesitant. I had never worked with kids that have Autism, let alone Explosive Rage Disorder. I was bad at my job, and didn't understand why these kid had to live on schedules. I even failed my first employee evaluation. I was ready to give up, and find another job.
Then, one day it all clicked! One of the children I have worked with was having a bad day. Everyone I worked with was trying to de-escalate the situation. I thought " What do I know about this child, and what can I do to help her out of the situation?". I rememberd she loves hip-hop music. I thought her favorite artist, and started singing on of his songs, out of tune and all. She started laughing, and that changed my whole thought process in what my purpose was in this job.
Almost three years later, and complete changes with children leaving, and houses shifting, I have found the most rewarding thing I have ever done. Now I have been told Im one of the strongest staff , and my supervisor feels she can put me with any child, having confidence I will do my best to make a positive difference in a childs life. Im happy at 29 years old, I have found where I want to start my career, and future.
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