Randall 12/2-12/3

Jack has had a great couple of days.  He has these cool new shoe laces his mom bought off the dyspraxia website that automatically tie this way if he kicks his shoes off in frustration it is much easier to get them back on.  Jack loves the new laces because they look really cool (he has an orange and black pair) and it is also more comfortable for him.  Over the holiday break I brought in a set of 48 hot wheel cars for the site to use.  The boys were very excited about them, especially Jack! For the last couple of days we have been playing hot wheels and putting together different puzzles. 

One way over the course of the semester I have been able to get through to Jack is by talking with him instead of to him. I find being talked down to or told to do something to be very demeaning.  When I talk with Jack it is always in a defensive voice so he feels empowered to make the right decision.  Not going to lie sometimes I have to step in and be very assertive with him but I find he reacts better to a more relaxed tone which easies him into the day.

Randall Nov 25-26th

I took off on the 21^st and 22^nd to attend the state conference and it was the first time Jack has attended after school without me.  I was told he had a hard time adapting to the new person working with him.  When I returned on the 25^th and 26^th he was great! So excited to see me!  He asked about where I was and if I missed him.   Him and I put together two puzzles each one of those days and put together a racetrack on Tuesday with help from other students!  Since being inside Jack has become use to our routine of playing, eating snack and returning to playing.  He seems to like it when I can assure he can go back to either finishing a puzzle or building a racetrack.  Jack has even begun to help set up snack some days!

Jack and I have bonded really well this semester and I am really going to miss him.  He has taught me so much about myself and has made me strongly consider pursing a master’s degree in special education.

 I already bought Jack a Christmas present.  I hope I can tell his family I will be back next semester but with student teaching in Ithaca and coaching it may be difficult to get back in time to see him. I will definitely be checking up on weekends!

Randall 11/13/13

Jack had a rough day on Wednesday.  He was good until about 4:15 when he was finished with snack.  After snack he lost it.  Jack started running around and screaming.  He kicked off his socks and shoes and threw his glasses off his head.  He refused to listen to me and kept yelling, shut up!  He eventually ran down the hallway where I had to end up carrying him back into the cafeteria.  He then started rolling around on the ground.  While all this was going on I tried consoling him and I got hit, kicked and bit.  Sometimes Jack has his moments and then comes around when mom arrives but today wasn’t the case.  Jack gave his mom a hard time as well.  Like I have said in previous posts Jack is the cutest kid but when he gets upset t tends to ruin a lot of people’s day.  Jack seems to respond best when I ignore his tantrums.  It is hard to ignore them when he puts himself or others at danger of getting hurt.  He hit one of our little girls in the face basically just because she was in his way when she was playing.  She got really upset but I consoled her and explained he didn’t mean to do it.  Some days are great working with Jack and days like today you have to roll with the punches and try to keep everything as normal as possible for the other students while all this is going on.

PED 447 Post 2

Working with Jack this week was great.  He actually visited Long Island 11/4-11/6 because he was getting tested.  His family stayed at the Ronald McDonald house in New Hyde Park.  His family had a great experience there and I found out Jack was very well behaved during the trip!

I missed Jack on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday so I was really excited for him to come back. I’ll admit I was nervous as to what kind of day he would have because I knew his schedule was messed up from his trip and that the adjustment back into school may be tough.  As it turns out Jack was great and really missed me! He brought in a new toy truck that we played with all day! He had a great transition to snack and was picked up by 4:45. 

Friday was another great day.  Jack and I put together TWO puzzles! We put together a Blues Clues giant 100 piece puzzle and an animal puzzle, which had 50 pieces. Jack loves figuring out where certain pieces fit into place.  He always asks for help and is very polite and patient when doing puzzles.  I give him a high five after he finds pieces on his own that fit into place and he gets very excited. One thing I could work on with Jack is sharing.  He sometimes has a hard time letting other people help and likes the one-on-one attention from me I think. I feel that he may just get overwhelmed with too many people around him trying to help solve the puzzle.   

PED 447 Randall Elementary

Starting to get my blog up and running again, sorry it’s been so long!

I work with a student named Jack at Randall Elementary School in Cortland New York ten hours a week at the after school program.  I am Jack's one-on-one aid and I also provide for other students in the program.  Jack has been diagnosed with Dyspraxia, which makes some everyday tasks complicated for him.  To learn more about dyspraxia click this link   

http://www.dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk/dyspraxia-adults/

Jack is a very loving child.  When he gets to Randall around 3:15 (He is bussed from Barry Elementary) he runs up to me each afternoon and gives me a big hug! After Jack settles in we usually pick an activity to do or work on his homework.  Jack loves playing with hot wheels cars, drawing and playing with uno cards.  After we are done with activity we have snack.  Jack is allergic to cornstarch so I make sure everyday that the snack is okay for him to eat.  Jack tends to have a hard time with transitions.  The transformation from playing to eating is sometimes a challenge for me and I have to get creative to have him listen up! During snack time no matter what the snack is Jack loves to dunk his snack into his drink and the other kids are amused and follow along.  A quick fix I use is that I just give him his snack/drink at separate times so he never has both in his possession.  I talked to mom about this and she said it’s a great idea and that at home he uses sippy cups so that problem is eliminated.  After snack we all go outside since it’s still nice out.  Jack loves the playground.  He likes playing hide-and-seek, tag, running his own mini restaurant and rolling the hot wheels cars down the slide! Jack is such a character and has taught me a lot in the last two months I have been working with him.  At the end of everyday Jack makes me realize that I have made the right career choice.   Although sometimes Jack can have an off day he is a sweetheart and I always look forward to working with him!

My Journey at St. Mary's

My Journey at St. Mary's

Dash!!!

This week was our final day at St. Mary's. We all made collages to show our thanks to the school and the wonderful students who participated in our activities.  We started off the day with parachute activities which the students seemed to love.  They were amazed as to how big the parachute was, and so was I for that matter.  We played many different games with the parachute click here for samples.   http://www.ultimatecampresource.com/site/camp-activities/parachute-games.page-1.html.  After our adventure with parachute games we then split off with the students our groups were assigned to work with.  Our group had pre-k.  Mallory, Matt and I went into a class room while Ryan and Steve did an art activity with the other students.  When I was in the class room I played hyper dash with some students.  They LOVED IT!  I think they liked the game because it "talked" to them.  They would listen for the cues from the hyper dash and match the colors up. One student even said on camera, "I'm sweating!” and had to get a drink of water.  I thought that was really cool especially because we were in such a confined space on a small carpet in a class room.  After playing hyper dash Mallory read them a story about an Astronaut while Ryan and I set up our games.  My game was called builders and bulldozers.  The point of the game is to have some students be builders and others are bulldozers and bulldozers knock down the cones I set up in our area of the gym and builders set them up so there is consistent activity.  At first I wasn't sure how the game would work, I thought the students would get bored easily but I was wrong.  The students loved the game and could probably play it all day.  I changed some cues throughout the game and had students skip to the cones and even had them knock down the cones with their knee just to change up the environment for them.  Ryan's game involved the students making ice cream cones and cotton candy using balls and cones which they seemed to really enjoy.  The day went by really quickly and before I knew it we were leaving St. Mary's, I have been proud in the way I have grown as a future educator and St. Mary's was an awesome experience!