Where are they now
I prepared the classroom for my kindergarten class with letters and numbers, without too much stimulating pictures or colors around. I knew this year would be challenging, since all my charges would be special needs six year olds, or older. Patrick was high functioning since he read everything he could get hold of. A very large child, his sensory system was not "integrated", so that there were daily issues with touch, sound and movement.
Blaire was a little model, in this class so she could miss anytime, go on an assignment and return without consequence. Her language and social skills were precoscious, and she was learning to deal with diversity. Billy was timid, learning to work in a group, and seemed to need this small teacher student ratio to feel comfortable.
Micky was quite a bright penny, blond and sassy, just adopted, so adjusting to a new family, but manipulative and not wanting to abide by rules. She wanted to break and test rules, since she had not had many in the environment from which she was coming.
Joey had just been placed adoptively with me. He seemed on target for his education, but his great interest was dinosaurs. I was not so sure about his attachment issues. Keeping him close during the school day seemed like a great idea.
Kathryn was the child with the hearing aids, whose parents wanted her in a speaking class not to rely on signing. They wanted her to speak and use language as much as possible in this crucial time of her life.
I felt that six children was a group I could teach after all the parenting and teaching I had under my belt.
I did not count on the fact that Patrick could not deal with noise, singing, the whistle of hearing aid feedback, the happy laughter of the classroom. All of this "set him off", running around the room, yelling, which in turn, set off the others.
Micky worried about being hurt, Billy became anxious, Blaire wanted to take care of everything, Joey wanted a dinosaur to stomp on it, and Kathryn asked, "What happened?"
I had a helper with me for this reason, but even two of us could not subdue the turmoil when it arose. If we sat on carpet squares, to "share", Patrick could not let go of the object we were sharing. If he sat near the board, and he saw a sponge, he ate it. Ditto chalk. If he sat near the walls, the letters and posters came down, as he said "They escaped. They're FREE!!!!" If we tried to say a finger game, sing a song, he yelled, so he had to move to another room to calm down.
Micky wondered, "What are you doing to Patrick? Was he bad? Will you hurt him?" Obviously she had experience in that arena.
Micky also knew just what would push Patrick's buttons, and soon she did just that to see what he would do. It became a training ground, for us to teach him to ignore her little games. He was often unable to restrain himself, and went off even when we forewarned him. We did control her behaviors, and put consequences on anyone who provoked Patrick, but as you note, anything could provoke him.
Blaire was coming and going as needed, so her presence was always heralded by the others, or then greeted with worry.
Billy would say, "Is Blaire sick? Why isn't she here today? I miss her." He would cry with anxiety.
Patrick's mother came in with good news one day, claiming his treatments had made a huge difference. She noted she could take a walk without a wagon. In the past he tantrum-ed and could not "pass up" a rock, and they had to bring them home in a wagon. Now he was able to talk it through, leave on a walk without a wagon, and NOT bring rocks home. I still kept sponges and chalk in my cupboard, since I saw him eat all the soft manipulative's and crafts.
The things we were able to do, drawing and reading, we did a lot. I got the giant books, and we read together. We read to and for each other, we drew the stories, we acted out the stories, we wrote our own stories. We counted what was in the stories. Singing was when we were Patrick free, and then it was with some feedback from hearing aids. If Blaire was there, we also had some acting and modeling, "Miss Beauty Queen" would be on stage for us.
It was an exciting year, but this was over 15 YEARS AGO!!!! I just wonder where they all are now?
Blaire was a little model, in this class so she could miss anytime, go on an assignment and return without consequence. Her language and social skills were precoscious, and she was learning to deal with diversity. Billy was timid, learning to work in a group, and seemed to need this small teacher student ratio to feel comfortable.
Micky was quite a bright penny, blond and sassy, just adopted, so adjusting to a new family, but manipulative and not wanting to abide by rules. She wanted to break and test rules, since she had not had many in the environment from which she was coming.
Joey had just been placed adoptively with me. He seemed on target for his education, but his great interest was dinosaurs. I was not so sure about his attachment issues. Keeping him close during the school day seemed like a great idea.
Kathryn was the child with the hearing aids, whose parents wanted her in a speaking class not to rely on signing. They wanted her to speak and use language as much as possible in this crucial time of her life.
I felt that six children was a group I could teach after all the parenting and teaching I had under my belt.
I did not count on the fact that Patrick could not deal with noise, singing, the whistle of hearing aid feedback, the happy laughter of the classroom. All of this "set him off", running around the room, yelling, which in turn, set off the others.
Micky worried about being hurt, Billy became anxious, Blaire wanted to take care of everything, Joey wanted a dinosaur to stomp on it, and Kathryn asked, "What happened?"
I had a helper with me for this reason, but even two of us could not subdue the turmoil when it arose. If we sat on carpet squares, to "share", Patrick could not let go of the object we were sharing. If he sat near the board, and he saw a sponge, he ate it. Ditto chalk. If he sat near the walls, the letters and posters came down, as he said "They escaped. They're FREE!!!!" If we tried to say a finger game, sing a song, he yelled, so he had to move to another room to calm down.
Micky wondered, "What are you doing to Patrick? Was he bad? Will you hurt him?" Obviously she had experience in that arena.
Micky also knew just what would push Patrick's buttons, and soon she did just that to see what he would do. It became a training ground, for us to teach him to ignore her little games. He was often unable to restrain himself, and went off even when we forewarned him. We did control her behaviors, and put consequences on anyone who provoked Patrick, but as you note, anything could provoke him.
Blaire was coming and going as needed, so her presence was always heralded by the others, or then greeted with worry.
Billy would say, "Is Blaire sick? Why isn't she here today? I miss her." He would cry with anxiety.
Patrick's mother came in with good news one day, claiming his treatments had made a huge difference. She noted she could take a walk without a wagon. In the past he tantrum-ed and could not "pass up" a rock, and they had to bring them home in a wagon. Now he was able to talk it through, leave on a walk without a wagon, and NOT bring rocks home. I still kept sponges and chalk in my cupboard, since I saw him eat all the soft manipulative's and crafts.
The things we were able to do, drawing and reading, we did a lot. I got the giant books, and we read together. We read to and for each other, we drew the stories, we acted out the stories, we wrote our own stories. We counted what was in the stories. Singing was when we were Patrick free, and then it was with some feedback from hearing aids. If Blaire was there, we also had some acting and modeling, "Miss Beauty Queen" would be on stage for us.
It was an exciting year, but this was over 15 YEARS AGO!!!! I just wonder where they all are now?
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