Short notes - means someone was working WOOHOOO!!
Good morning. This is me. We came in about 45 minutes late and then we ran into a medical situation with our diabetic … Sr. was gone, but Brandi had the upper hand with it … that is our best option if I’m not here. Sue was there too, but since I had come in she could go back to her group. As an after consequence the client is going to be read as soon as she comes in the door. Sr. gave permission for the reading to be done up front in the back of the group’s room with Sue. I’m a little worried about that. I like that it’s being done right away, but I don’t like that it more under the control of Sue, because she is more unsure of herself, plus she has the group she’s dealing with, plus she’s not been noticing when the client has a problem – it was Brandy stepping in and noticing that the client obviously was having problems that got her appropriate medical attention.I’m asking Brandi – and I will go through officially Sr. Theresa, that Brandi check up on the client as soon as she can until some confidence can be built up with Sue.
I’m also going to push that if there are problems that I be called if I’m in the building, and if I’m not either Brandi or Candice. I usually get here later than the others. Sue shouldn’t be taking on more medical with her group – Both need big attention. It should be theoretically Candice, but Brandi has such good repertoire with the client from being her DSP for over a couple of years and she’s been a nurse’s aide. That point would need to be checked out with Sr.
Ok, that’s all been taken care of … the brother was called and then the mother was called. She is Spanish speaking so we gave the information to Rosa who was going to explain it to her. We are going to need working it out so I feel comfortable with not having numbers directly. I might need to have a range such as below 70 or above 200 where I will be notified. It might be a pain, but I should be told to be on the alert. Then if there are any problems I can go down and bring the client out of the room. I don’t like the loss of contact with the client. That part was very good.
Hmm that was a little extra. Rosa called back and she thinks the mother isn’t communicating to her Dr. as she should be and she doesn’t seem to see the seriousness of the problems now and from what Rosa explained – the mother is thinking the numbers are too high in the morning and like 500 in the afternoon, I don’t know I told Rosa that I would try to summarize the numbers here and then write it up simply so that the doctor can refer to it quickly as to our concerns. That’s another part of giving this to Sue – I lose touch with it as to reports to the mother. Something might be getting lost in the translation too. Rosa sounded a little confused toward the end when I started questioning her. My theory is when in doubt go to Sr.
But, for now we need to go on with the day … it’s 9:34 am now … and we need to decide our next move. I’m worried about those tests that were taken by the DSPs quite a while ago. It’s been a long time it seems since I was around on a Thursday to be doing a staff training meeting. We’re going to need doing a group session to for circles. It will be group II’s turn in the orange circle – so that is prepared. We will need to sharpen some pencils though – we will probably do that during circles time. I only saved some orange pencils – some of them are red, but appeared to them as orange (another group).
That leaves 2 hours to grade tests? Can I do it that quickly? Let me take a look?
AHA! We’re back … It’s now 1 pm … and you know what? No Staff training! We did do the Circles group … it was a little stretch in trying to get those people all acting together on the same page … pwshoo they were a little strung out. Think it went well though. We went through the regular stuff like video, then role plays, and then coloring in the circles graphs, but there is much more going on that has to do with relating to one another. To the one girl immediately to my right, I said … umm, let’s try nice. I was at a space and level I knew she knew what I was talking about … and then I tripped her up when she wasn’t nice I’d say in my goofy little way – no, that’s not nice, but it was silly not authoritative. And, when she said something nice, I would say AHA that’s nice. I think she wasn’t cured, but was getting a point, that I could here her.
There was another that was cranky … we worked with that mood too, by paying attention to her between the lines. She was smiley before she left and working with the group and taking pride in her work. So, I was grateful for that. She has a beautiful smile. For another I had to connect her to the faces of the others. I said, just look at them, hey let’s go around the table. So, we went around the table and said, see so and so looks … and so and so looks … of course, most of those so and so’s were looking at us, so we added to their confusion when we named their space. It was like Huh, that’s showing? Hehehe it was fun. I don’t think this kind of stuff is done enough …
There are other stories too, but in general I took the time to connect to each one in their own way. I felt good about that. I don’t know exactly why it happens, but someone leaving usually says something on the way out like, “I like Ms Ann, she’s nice.” I’m ready for that comment … I say to them directly, “except for the times I’m mean!” Then I hold my hands hands up in the air like Frankenstein and I growwwwwwwwwwl. See … I work on my reputation! I use authority sparingly … But, everyone left feeling good about their experience. As to the direct lesson … Everyone got the point that no matter what situation it was – you cannot touch, talk, or trust strange kids. If they try to interact with them, remember you’re an adult and say no – walk away. Get them help if necessary, but don’t put yourself in a position to play games, become their playmate, cross them across the street, or respond to their jeers. Whatever – walk away. We explained too a lot of how we could get ourselves in trouble by not thinking things through. I think it was a good experience.
As to the tests – I had gone through and corrected them anyway. Then I wrote Sr. Theresa a letter stating:
Sister Theresa,
I scored the tests today. There were 73 points in total. The following is the percent correct each received. The majority of wrong answers were due to people not answering when the directions given stated, please explain. But, the testers are going to want more than a yes/no answer. They are going to want answers substantiated.
There weren't many questions that stood out. There were a few such as they wanted to say that the administrator had the final word as to decisions to suspend rather than thinking there was an appeal process, and that evacuation drills were annual, not bi-annual or anything else. I think also they are confused in terminology in that evacuation is to the school, but disaster is to the area of the North annex.
Quite a few missed the assigned responsibility of the goals being only the responsibility of one person. The Q assigns one person the DSP. They wanted to answer that both were responsible, but the Q is responsible for assigning the responsibility.
The one that can be questioned is the one asking if the DSP should discuss rights violations with parents and guardians. Technically the rule reads "staff should discuss," but I went with St. Rose policy that Q's talk to parents so felt the DSP should not talk to them, but now rereading the question I could see their point - the statement really reads the individual should talk to their parent - so, their answers on that is right ... shoot, I'll have to change that one. But, good for the staff.
There are two last questions that I felt were the most difficult to respond to. That was the one on if one can be employed by the agency if you do not qualify to be on the health care registry. I said No and justified it by reiterating that "any person" in "any capacity" has to be inquired about and if they substantiate abuse and/or neglect we cannot employ them in any capacity. And, the second question was can you be hired to work at the agency if you have a criminal background. I answered this simply as no, with the exception of getting a waiver from the state.
Holly tried to say something about discretion of administrator, but I didn't see anything like that. She also tried to say something like if under 20 hours on the prior question ... but, the state clearly says any person in any capacity has to be checked.
So anyway, we'll go over the test next week. Holly did better, but was not far in front of the pack ... I thought that the "regular" DSPs - the one's that have been around for a while all scored comparatively - all four (Cathy, Sue, Maria, and Brandi) within 6 percentage points. I didn't see a copy of Margarita's test.
Candice scored substantially behind the pack, but she fits in the underneath scores of the "newcomers" (Candice, Stephanie and Theresa) ... again most often if there were wrong answers, it was because they didn't answer the question. I think it was a fair test because everything in it was in the regs we will be inspected on. It could be considered a hard test, because some of the details aren't everyday knowledge. I'm glad you suggested it, because it really helps me to know exactly where they are at and it will provide a good teaching outline.
Holly – 89%
Cathy – 82%
Sue – 79%
Maria – 78%
Brandi – 76%
Candice – 66%
Stephanie – 45%
Theresa – 36%
Ok, that good deed is done and ready for next week. Sr. Theresa brought up yesterdays meetings already … tomorrow will be administration meeting and then at 1 pm will be the staff meeting and I will miss that because it will be my turn to do the Thinking group so the staff can meet. I’ve lost track of it … Sr. tried to say that I haven’t had a turn, but last month was First Aide and I know I took a turn. A couple of weeks ago, I missed, but only because it was a holiday. Hmpf! I think last week was the week we did the Thanksgiving Day plays. I think Holly is filling Sr.’s ear. BUT, I don’t have to buy into it … we’re going to la-la land again and we’re not taking them with BESIDE I think I might like to do thinking group … It’s a matter of planning. What could I be doing with them?
Woohoo. Did a couple things. We worked through a stress exercise for the Thinking Group. We're going to do 20 questions out loud. Then we corrected Candice's last report and we helped Rich with an address, and now? We're going to use the washroom and scadaddle ... time for Dr. M's WOOHOOO!!!
posted by Ann Marie @ 12/06/2007 03:38:00 PM
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