Happy Haloweening! Great Party today :)
Good morning. This is me. We’re at work now and it’s about 8 am. I’ve just taken care of the mail and read up on a few articles. The Flylady was discussed in Fortune 500. That’s pretty cool. I guess she is a millionaire due to her name brand products she sells on her web site. She was discussed as a start-up business. Go Flylady. That’s about it though.
Hmm, washroom trip … that was like a brief intermission. I stopped off to drop a note at Sr. Theresa’s too. That’s my official business of the morning. Hmm, better remind Brandi that our diabetic client was very low again. Hmm, she’s officially switched over to Sue’s group. Ok, got that. I guess they are having a trip today, so I made sure she has asked Sr. what to do with her. Exercise, could louse up her numbers. She probably should stay back, though that is unfortunate to her. I guess she hasn’t come in yet, but we’ve passed messages to Brandi and Sue. Brandi is to make sure that her record keeping stays the same and she sends home notes every week to the family.
On a side note, Brandi passed on a message that Candice is complaining because she has five annuals and she can’t be expected to get them done … and how is she going to do that, etc. I think that it’s interesting that she is passing all that on to DSPs, but not me as the QMRP that is assigned to be helping her. I might ask her later on when she’s calmed down how can I help her. I can get her through it, but she’s still got to want help. I think I would start by listing out by date when they are all coming up. Then I would make sure they are all scheduled. Then I would see that she gets to the DSPs for information and goal checking, and then I would help her with the Qnotes so she has some paperwork for the meetings. I could then do the agenda’s. I think she still has to do the 30 days, but she said that she’d have the first of two done for me on Thursday. I could cover her in any way possible, but first she’s got to ask me for help. Since I am ultimately still responsible for her, it is important that she not be caught under by this.
She is back now, but I will give her til about 9 am to settle in. I should be getting to my annuals again today. I finished one and a half of them yesterday, but still have 1 ½ to go, plus long goals, and goals and objectives. Pshwoo. After that it is a matter of signing paperwork and getting copies to everyone. This is all easily doable, but I won’t have an answer to sister as to why I haven’t started the CARF things yet. That was supposed to happen after the last of the annuals.
Hmm, just got a note from Dr. Marvin. He said that we had an appointment yesterday … We forgot all about it. Instead we were Group 3 all day. He asked if I wanted one tomorrow at 9:30, because he’ll be out tomorrow night, but due to the first aid on Friday, we will have administration meeting tomorrow morning. We also have Halloween this morning interfering. And, then next week, Sr. Theresa is going to be away on retreat, so there will be last moment things going on.
Hmm, I bit the bullet. I asked Candice to let me know if I could help her. I told her I knew she had 5 staffings and two days taken up with something else. I told her I could do Qnotes, agendas and so forth. But again she started fiddling with her desk and said, she thinks she actually has enough time … She said something about a new planner that Sister had for her. *Sigh* I will let Sr. know then that I offered to help and was again turned down. Can’t help someone that doesn’t want to be helped.
Ok, then let’s get going so … oh, I did want to say a few more things. I forgot about yesterday being in the group. All in all we had 10 people. We ended up with the addition of our diabetic client, because she had been unstable earlier. She was a good helper and there is another individual as a helper in the group. They are more advanced and then the others, but still ne
Hmm, just talked to Candice for another few moments, she is a tiny bit calmer. She let me know the dates for her next staffings. There are two next week on Monday and Friday, and then one the following Friday, and one a month later. She couldn’t recall having another one in November, so she may have been exaggerating to Brandi.
That’s good then. This doesn’t look too bad. The biggest trouble will be getting the Monday one done. She hasn’t written the report, but says she can get it to me by tomorrow or Friday. I said it would have to be after the first aid – just wanted to remind her she doesn’t have that time. I think she is going to use a back-up to that plan of emailing it to me over the weekend. I can handle that. There won’t be any Qnotes on the Monday one, but on Wednesday next week, we’ll ask her if we can do the Friday Qnotes, if not completed by that time. I gave her a couple of notes on the one mother as being tearful in meetings.
The one the following Friday is the toughest mother, but we’ll see how that goes.
I’ll be prepared just in case. I think I will talk to Theresa sometime in the next two days to get a full understanding of the Monday client. We want to make sure we can step in if necessary, though we are hoping the best for Candice. I think she’s appreciating her time a little better. We’ll see. We should ask her tomorrow if she’s gotten the ICAP completed for that client too. That’s another chore we could take over. Completing annual reports after the meeting will be another story, but I can’t say anything if I don’t complete mine.
So, lets think about yesterday? The helpers still need help as clients that need time to process their own level into the group’s activities. So that was part of the plan. When I walked into the group there were already 3 people there. All of them were in by 8:30 with the exception of my diabetic client who got there a half hour later. We start the day with magazines and loose chatter to make sure that everyone is ready to jump into the groove by 8:30 … The time between 8 and 8:30 is more structured than it looks, because we are both getting a feel for one another.
There was one client I had to lay down 3 firm rules. No repeating after me, no knocking on the table for attention, and no budding into other peoples business when I was talking to them. That was worked through the day. She showed improvement with the first two, but the third is pretty deeply ingrained. They all add tension to the group. I had then six of them go to the computer including the two helpers, and then I took the lower group and worked on matching identifying letters Like point to the “A” when presented an “A” and a “T”. We went 10 rounds of that and I kept scores. The lowest level client did exceptionally well with this. I didn’t know she had it in her. I gave her though plenty of room for success because she just had to pay attention and copy after someone who would go before her.
Then we broke up in groups and 3 people took a timer to the inside hall to walk 15 minutes, and three more took another timer and walked 10 minutes outdoors. That was easy enough, and then we took the other 4 people and we worked with creating a picture out of small foam shapes. I watched for patterns and took notes. After the groups all completed that … I figured they got enough exercise. So, the next exercise was a food preparation one. We couldn’t make the meal so we got a recipe for Brown bone soup. Eh, any would have done. They had the endurance to go up to 7 ingredients. One of the helpers would write the ingredients one at a time on the board. I would spell out the letters for her. Then we would take turns on each round stating or pointing out the words, such as “point to “peppercorn.” Peppercorn starts with a P. Ok, one lower, on top of that.”
It takes a awhile to get through it, and then the 4 top students were further challenged each round to see if they could remember each of the ingredients. As most things we do things are scored and we take notes.
After that we stretched and then I hard hit them with the next exercise that they could respond to as a group instead of individually. They had stated they wanted to do CIRCLES. I wasn’t prepared for that and this group had gone ahead of the others the week previous, so we reviewed neighbors. We drew little icons and spelled out each of the community business’s they could remember. Then we had them count them.
They had come up with 22 names. So, then I had them work until lunch on drawing pictures of their “neighbors.” They included things like police, McDonalds, library, and clothing stores. Each have their own ability to draw and they could work on their own for a bit which seemed to balance them. They needed some quiet time. After they got done, I had them bring me the buildings. I then cut around them and I had a helper gluing them onto a poster board. I then drew with a black magic marker roads around them. While that was being done, I had them all come to look at the final project. I asked them to identify their pictures in the poster.
They were excited to see their work. It was a pretty good board.
Then was lunch. Pshwoo … Ann in need of a break. After lunch I brought in a box of small colored one inch wooden blocks. I counted out for the eight and had the other two be helpers in setting up the blocks. The eight got 5 blue, 5 red, 5 green, and 5 orange. I wanted them to make four same colored rows of 5. No one in the group could look at the example and do it without one to one assistance. But, that was a good bit of knowledge. It’s important to know their individual strengths and limitations. They were then each given a regular sized yellow sheet of paper. One at a time, we went through instructions on putting block pieces in various spots on the paper. After several rounds, I said, ok, there is going to be a test now. So one at a time we had the individuals come to our end of the table and I tested them on the directions for only four blocks. Most had to be given extra assistance, but they were scored for how good they did. Some didn’t know their colors, but then there were other surprises. In three of the last tests, I found that people had been watching and were ready to do the test – one even with absolutely no instructions. Of course, that was a helper, but she had been sitting on the opposite side of the room, so I didn’t know she had listened that carefully. I was glad I kept the test the same for each.
The last thing we did before they left was to go back to the neighbor theme. I had brought in magazines from the staff room (hey, I bought them heheh). Anyway, everyone was given the direction to find houses our buildings, but only the exterior shot. I didn’t want living room furniture or anything. Some were not able to do anything more than flip through the magazines, but 6-7 were able to do the task, and afterward we glued them all to pages, that were stapled together for a book. The book was a 14 page fantastic expression. It was so cool. I looked at it over and over again. There were some really wild shots, and some serious ones, and a lot of fluffy rich American houses, but enough for a decent variety. They were very proud of their work.
All in all they did great! I’m sure that they and the DSP appreciated a break from one another. And, after you get over the part you “have to do it,” it is actually kind of a nice break for us too. After the group was over we were determined to continue giving the DSP a break. We first filled out the numbers portion of the DSP Chrononote, stating what we were doing by job code for each of the half and whole hours. Then we took the sheets back to the office and worked about 3 more hours on filling in the written portion of the chrononote. I know the DSPs put this chore off, so even though there was a week past, there was a whole empty sheet for me to write notes. I’m sure that’s a very nice break for the DSP not to write anything.
In the meantime, I mean it to be a lesson on how I like to see Written Chrononotes.
I had taken enough notes throughout the door on activities, and in particular individual efforts, so that I could write an entire page on each of the 10 individuals. I think writing written DSP Chrononotes is about the most fun thing we can do. I like reflecting on their work and comparing it to one another. I think of the notes as further training material. Ok, like where each of these fell through, what they did well. How can we encourage more work of the same? And, then of course, we get to thinking of the bigger picture. I don’t know right now how to go about getting that bigger picture, but I’m thinking that we could get there if we kept trying. For teaching it was sort of like that sheet that we’d done on that other staff.
It seems that we just need some kind of framework to follow up … also like the questions on the 30 day that we gave Candice this week, or the outline we gave Dr. Marvin from the surgeon. Just fill this in and then we’ll have a complete report.
I think there is a lot of room past that point then of figuring things out. I think we wrote the other day of that insurance survey … after the survey was complete – the program spit it back in report format. It was smooth. I would like to see more of that with the information that we can glean from the clients. I’ve always wanted that, but the project is undefined as yet, just tiny thoughts trying to sneak out of my brain. I should have probably kept a copy of Maria’s notes … hmm, if it’s important still by tomorrow I will go back. I would like to get all 10 sheets before they are dispersed. There should be a way of putting them on a graft by adding points or positives or such. It goes back to the old thought – that I would like control of all the clients’ learning. Program director, remember? I just gotta be that good.
Ok, now we’re in dreamy space. I think I’ve about gotten through what happened yesterday. Sister hasn’t come back to me on the “Principles of Learning” observation of Theresa, so we better let that go. It usually means that sister is thinking on it. She won’t throw it out until she’s handled it. I think the best simplified idea would be if she came back and said take three from the top and three from the bottom. Which one’s are more important. But, see that is like the notes on the back of the 30-days … they need to be collated in a format that is helpful.
I think that it would be very interesting actually to collate what the teachers are doing, with what the experience is of the clients. I would like to be able to hold that information in my head, but most likely it means that I’m going to need a format to place it in. I could probably score things on the client end like we were doing on that one clients’ wellness chart. Hmm, that’s an interesting thought. We might have to figure on the basics of each lesson … categorize things, but that might be jumping ahead of ourselves. Am I up for a trip? Ok, let’s go check out Maria’s forms.
Hmm, it’s 10:30 am now … we went over the DSP Chrononotes we’d completed for Maria.
She’s already given the helper’s sheet back to her DSP most likely because it wasn’t with the set. It still reads through pretty good, especially since there were 10 long notes completed in one afternoon/night. I am thinking that the DSP could take better notes at a rate of one person a day if there class size was about 10. If they knew they were going to be gone, or needed to make up time, they’d just have to plan, because every 10 days the sheets are given to the secretary for processing, and then distributed to individual Q’s.
I need to think like a program director then … I would try to chart things the DSPs would note, such as:
The individual
• Independently retrieved magazine
• Identified 6/10 (60%) letters w/assistance
• Drew a high quality shape of simple object (ice cream cone)
• Couldn’t stay in the lines when coloring simple object (ice cream cone)
• Completed tracing 3/5 (60%) of objects pictured
• Fair concentration placing small foam shapes in imaginative group puzzle
• Worked at placing objects independently in horizontal line of same shape and color
• Reminded others of turn-taking
• Remembered last 1-2 items on list of food ingredients
• Became confused with directional words (up, down, lower, higher)
• Eager to contribute vocally to group contributing list of neighbors (buildings)
• Drew one shape of building (low end of achievement)
• Need heavy coaching to line up 20 blocks – 4 rows of 5 blocks - same color
• Able to copy others and perform ¾ (75%) test placing 4 blocks on mat
• Couldn’t point to 20 objects after first five (hand-to-hand)
• Appeared perceptive (watching/listening to others)
• Found one magazine building when asked (low end of achievement)
Hmm, that’s interesting … it is fairly easy to list to this degree from the notes I wrote last night. So, after spending a day with this person, I discovered 17 things. Seems then that the next task would be to categorize the list. I’m not sure how to do that yet. This used to be when I would pick up a smoke and study it. YEEKS! Where did that thought come from.
Group III (Ms. Maria)
• Perceptive – appeared to listen, watch others, and learn from them (October 30, 2007)
• Helpful (Turn-taking) – reminded others to move ahead (October 30, 2007)
• Language (Directional words) – confused with up, down, lower & higher, etc (October 30, 2007)
• Writing – identified letters 6/10 (60%) – with assistance (October 30, 2007)
• List (neighbors/buildings) – eager to contribute vocally – group exercise (October 30, 2007)
• List (7 items) – remembered 1-2 each turn – last items on list (October 30, 2007)
• Shapes (Pictured) – traced simple object – high quality (October 30, 2007)
• Shapes (Pictured) – traced 3/5 (60%) – medium quality and effort (October 30, 2007)
• Shapes (Pictured) – colored out of lines – low quality (October 30, 2007)
• Shapes (40 Small colored foam pieces) – concentrated an placed imaginatively – group exercise (October 30, 2007)
• Shapes (Small colored foam pieces) – placed independently in horizontal line of same shape and color (October 30, 2007)
• Shape (Building) – drew one building - low use of effort per time given (October 30, 2007)
• Object (Magazine) – retrieved independently (October 30, 2007)
• Object (Magazine) – found one building picture as asked – low end of effort for time given (October 30, 2007)
• Object (20 blocks; 4 colors [red, green, blue & orange]– 5 each) didn’t line in rows – high level assistance (October 30, 2007)
• Test (Block) – ¾ (75%) success in placing imitation of 4 blocks on mat w/low assistance (October 30, 2007)
• Test (Block) – 5/20 (25%) success pointing to blocks – high level assistance hand to hand (October 30, 2007)
Ok, good. For now we’re satisfied with this list … I put it on a clean sheet of paper. Hmm, now the question is what would I do next. It seems the same could be done of all the clients. And, the list could be added to. Seems that if you knew that a certain individual could outline well, but not color well, then you would teach him to follow the lines. And, you could probably make use of the fact he can be imaginative, and if he can only point hand over hand 5 blocks of 20, that that should be worked with, especially because this individual utters sounds, but does not speak. It was an interesting observation I made when performing the tests.
Only the higher level clients could count from left to right, then right to left.
The lower ended clients would go from left to right each time. And, often what happened on the test, you could see they were trying to follow form in that we put a block in the upper right corner and then a block was placed in the upper left corner, so then when given the direction to place the next block in the middle of the paper, they intuitively followed the circle and put the block on the lower left circle. I believe that is a Gestalt experience.
Hmm, now it’s 1:56 … pretty close to 2 pm and nothing is done. But, we had a good time. We played with the information for a small while – had an image of putting the different pieces in stage IV within a big group conglomerate. I think the only way to do that reasonably would be to put it on Paper Tiger.
AHA – Stage V
You need to click on this image to see it well :)
posted by Ann Marie @ 10/31/2007 04:02:00 PM
Comments: 1
