Catching up on a little work
Dear Dr. Marvin,It’s me again. It’s about 2:40 on Wednesday afternoon. We’re still at work, but in less than 2 hours we’re going to be on a four day vacation. I still plan on coming in to see you tomorrow though we feel there isn’t too much news to say other than has been written over the last couple of days. Some of this you have missed and most of it you’ve probably just skimmed, but we feel compelled to continue this conversation we’ve been having, even though at this second I don’t know what there is left to write about. With less than a couple hours left, I can be pretty sure I’m not doing much work. I don’t know hour our friend is doing. I knew that he had an important email to send his wife. I know that has to come from him and it is his idea to do it. I’ll know later how he’s doing and we’ll be hoping for the best.
Work was pretty uneventful. The morning we had as we said before worked with group 2. The first thing we did is take control of the room. They were watching TV and doing any thing they wanted which is great if your at home, but during the program more has to be done to invest everyone with progress. At least that’s the way I feel. I hadn’t expected to do a group, so I was a little taken back. I didn’t want to disappoint them, in that I have a standing reputation after 7 years of being Ms. Ann. The turning off of the television and asking them to clear there desks was the first step. Brandi said something like well it’s all in the plan book what you are supposed to be doing. I thought what IIIIIII am supposed to … and you? But, I said nothing. I took up the challenge which is about teaching whether it is staff or clients.
The first thing in the planner was that she wanted to teach them about road signs and have them draw pictures of them. Uh huh. Ok, we’ll pretend this isn’t a tired old idea and try to dress it up some. So, I took the chair from the back of the room. Dumb place for a teachers chair … and I moved it to the front in front of the blackboard. I wanted to figure out where they were at. I said, “Today’s schedule says we are to do signs. What do you all know about signs?” Nobody really wanted to volunteer anything so I thought; ok these minds have been listless and need a little warming up. I gave them then an easier question. I said, “What color is a stop sign?” Couple of them took the nibble. After that I said what color is a railroad sign … couple more entered in. Anybody knows what color a school crossing sign is. None these answers were top rate, because only some answered, but it was enough to get the ball running. So then I said lets get into some real emergency signs. I thought this was important because nobody drives, so unless we’re talking just a few signs, it’s like lets get on to something else.
We started listing places in the community, starting with McDonald’s. I had one person I had to shove to get up to the board and write it out as I spelled it. The first person, who should have been able to do it, couldn’t. Then I figured that’s too slow better do it. We said McDonald’s is an emergency place because if you’re driving down the street and get suddenly hungry then this is the sign you are going to look for. By then I was starting to get my laughs and giggles I expect with most groups I teach. The next emergency place was a beauty parlor. I said, “You can’t go out in this world with unkempt hair so this is an emergency stop. This is the sign you look for.” The next place that came to mind was a funeral parlor. I drew a picture of a building with pillars and a round driveway and a long black limousine. I said, “Why would this be an important sign?” Who would need to use this place?” I was starting to get interested responses. Obviously I wasn’t up there for just nothing. They started to explain the people who had died in their family and how they’d gone to funeral parlors. I thought GREAT! Then it was a long path down less provocative places, but they were still interested because they were. For example, for some reason we drew 3 stick figure babies. I think just before that we were talking matter of factly how old people are when they have babies. We said it usually happens between 18 and 35. All of this information is very interesting because there were 12 girls in the room, and one poor guy. Somebody had volunteered she knew someone with 3 babies. That’s when the stick figures were drawn WITH diapers. Ok, now what’s this store and why is it important. I had drawn a Kids R Us store. One of them got it … and then we supplemented by saying Yes this is the place you buy diapers … and if your going to have 3 babies you are going to need lots of diapers. Hehehe
I don’t always think its critical what you are talking about although it should have relevance to their life. It’s just that you need to interact or everyone doesn’t interact and what the hell fun is that! We did this until about 5 to 9. Then I asked that they take a break and if anyone had to go to the bathroom now would be the time. Someone came back from getting water and they asked if we were going to chapel. And, it was like … ok … that’s a good idea I forgot all about it. So, they were left on their own good graces to do that little chore.
It gave me a chance to look at the master plan to see what had been planned next. Brandi had given us another doozy. By that I mean a real thriller. She had wanted them to make clocks. So, I thought we’ll make clocks, but how do I engage them. Since I had about 15 minutes, well, a little less our friend had stopped to talk, but just shortly to say when he got in he’d looked for us, but when he went down the hall and heard the group laughing from behind the door he said, whoa I know where Ann is. Hehehe He’s so cute.
Anyway I went to my computer and pulled up the print shop. It didn’t take more than a few seconds to find the picture I was looking for, or at least had presumed would be there. It was an old standard alarm clock “crazily colored,” but it only had the 12 on the top and the rest of the numbers they had to put on. So, I spread that out to cover a sheet, printed out one each and then pulled in a couple crazy numbers on the side for them to start off. There was a green number one, a purple number 2, and then I used a picture of three strawberries, and four plums. When we got to the room we had them passed out, plus had them find the scissors and glue, and I passed out magazines, and when everyone had settled I gave them the instructions. I told them step by step how to do the first couple of numbers and they each showed me gradually where the number one had to go. I had them looking over their shoulder at the clock if they needed help. The session took a little over an hour to get 12 people with moderate mental retardation to find all the numbers. The best part about the exercise was that there were people who were getting it and some that were struggling. So as each of the ones getting it finished, we suggested that they help one of their peers. It was so wonderful. People shared well the magazine and better scissors and … hmm stopped here to send a note to Sr. asking for better scissors. She could check which staff needs them during the staff meeting next week.
Anyway, the exercise was very good in that we had the group thinking in multiple directions with the numbers and spatial coordinating. Some people could place them correctly and on some clocks they tended to jumble. I was only checking the front row, because the aisle between the two rows of tables was taken by the clients helping each other. One of the individuals turned in a piece with number covering the entire clock, but they were all dizzily swimming around the face. Hmm, ok, this is my abstract client – the only boy. I see. They tended to look just for numbers where I was teaching them to look for little items that could be counted to match the number they were looking for. A couple smart ….. something somethings … hehehe figured out a cheating method. They just found the page numbers from the magazine in order and cut them out. Well, I hadn’t introduced a rule of looking for different so the idea had to be passable. Very creative!
We left only 5-6 minutes to do the clean-up and there were scraps of paper everywhere. I made sure that everyone got out of their seats to put supplies away, sweep, collect, etc. They had told me that at 10:30 they went into computer and I thought fine … anything you need there. They said they brought their lunch boxes. So, I said cool had them get that and we were out the door. Well, mostly … there are always a few dawdlers that want to play around in the cloak room, but I have no patience for that. After everyone got in I again had to take a seat, but I find always one in each of the room with castors. I said, everyone do what they’re supposed to do and then I sat back to see what that was. Again, the feeling sunk over me like it had in the morning when I walked in and there was a lot of people doing not much of anything. Some people went to the computers, some at the tables. At least the computer people knew pretty much their programs, some got stuck like when one girls computer didn’t work, she stared at the screen. Ok, get up go to another computer, and please turn it on. Ok, ok … a little guidance is necessary.
I think the one group I had the most trouble with was coming under the leadership of one and as a whole they were being pretty giggly. She was taking one thing out after another and glossing through things without knowing any reasonable activity from them. I had been watching the girls thinking they would settle on something as I was reading a science book to another who needed some positive alone time and attention. Finally, I said, “hold on.” That’s the fourth item you’ve taken out of the cupboard we are going to settle on that one, because you’ve made the biggest mess with it. I said look at it – it was book cover size sheets of various wall paper. I said, “choose the one you like best, come up for a sheet of paper, glue the paper inside using the wallpaper folded as the cover. They had been making me dizzy. Well no set of instructions goes through in just one round, but I’d gotten them most the way through it when their teacher came back in the room. SOOO, I turned it over to her, thanked the group, and scadddadled.
All in all actually, quite an interesting morning, but I think it takes a certain kind of energy to do that kind of thing. I’m glad that I don’t do it all the time, or I’d be exhausted. Hehehe they be doing something interesting everyday thought. I’m not saying that my chores were perfect, but they needed to work those minds. Especially, during the clock exercise. There were times toward the end where four people had yet to finish clocks. I said, which numbers do you need … so, we all looked for 9’s, 10’s, and the almost impossible 11’s. hehehe So silly. I like sending them home on a last day before a long weekend with a good memory so they want to come back. Man-o-man though do they need direction – the staff. At least in this room. I think they are floating.
posted by Ann Marie @ 4/04/2007 04:12:00 PM
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