How you doin'?

I feel like it's the calm before the storm because my husband is still asleep and I have a moment to do my daily blogging! Yesterday his fever spiked up to 101.3 and he was miserable all day. I ran around fetching tea, snacks, blankets, a cool washcloth etc. for him and I made two additional trips to the store to get specific snacks/foods that he wanted. Each time I tried to sit down to do work or check blogs, I heard him calling me, so it was hard to get a lot done.

::sigh:: a day in the life of a wife with a sick hubby! (or a mom!)

I definitely hope he starts to feel better today because this flu is awful and I would not wish it on my worst enemy.

I skyped into another class last night with my PDX cohort. This time I felt much more comfortable speaking up and adding to the conversation. I had to present an article that I found for my research and although I know I brought up some good points, there were several moments of dead silence as my peers looked at me and I looked at them. Maybe it's just weird to talk to someone on a screen, but they didn't add to the conversation as much as I would have liked. I can't tell if they think I am a hugely boring talking head or what! I have been really interested in my research and I think I lose perspective a little bit and come across like a total dork. I got a few head nods from one girl, which really made me feel better, but there was a lot of silence too. I am not privy to the rest of their discussions, so I don't really have a feel for the group at all. I wish I could get to know them better and have that amazing support group that was mentioned at our first orientation, but from here, that is unlikely. I really feel like an outsider, yet I am so lucky to have the opportunity to continue in my studies while I am abroad that I am happy with any scenario I can get! My big papers are due at the beginning of December so I really need to get cracking on organizing my research and writing my literature review.

I am including another graphic for one of the kiddos I am going to work with. He is extremely smart, but has some behavioral issues. He is always drawing or playing with materials on his desk. He doesn't listen to the teacher, but begins working on assignments or worksheets without waiting to hear her directions. He frequently has to stay in during break time because he has not completed work or because he didn't follow the directions. He gets really upset because he really loves to play and this has resulted in a pretty poor attitude about school at times. He angrily said one day that he just wishes he could leave school and jump on a big trampoline. Don't we all??

Because he is very smart, I wanted to appeal to his logical thinking with some visuals that directly correlate good school behaviors with good consequences. I also made a counterpart that shows inappropriate behaviors with the negative consequences that follow. This is a tool I will laminate and keep in his desk, so that we can refer to it when he is starting to get distracted. I also wrote a social story for him which narrates (from his perspective).

Not familiar with social stories? Learn more here and here.

These kinds of "stories" are used frequently with students that have Autism or Asperger's.

Positive Consequences

Again, the lines in between the two columns should be arrows, but I have not yet figured out how to make arrows with Boardmaker software. I just draw them in after printing. The bottom right picture is missing because the student got to choose a "big prize" he would like to earn when his marble jar is full. Since he loves drawing so much, he gets to draw the final picture. I hope that gives him a sense of ownership over the tool as well. He chose to have extra time in the library. Love it!

Happy Sunday!