Long time no see, Blog Of Mine. I haven't updated in over a year, and that's a shame. I have a lot of silly, awkward, and confounding things to share about my work. I've settled on middle school as my favorite age group. The development of humor, the curriculum, the social gaffes, the awkward questions, the effort to be cool while still cheering at the prospect of stickers and prizes, I love all of it. Now that I'm in my 4th year on the job, I feel more comfortable at work and letting myself be authentic. This makes for some funny moments at my own expense, which I will try to share with you all. Surely I'm not the only one who makes the occasional minor mistake or faux pas at work, right?
I'm going to make an effort to keep this blog optimistic, if not always light-hearted. As bogged down as I am right now, I still look forward to going to work the next day. There are some depressing aspects of this job, and my school/population in particular. But there are a lot of reasons to keep going back. With that in mind, here's one of my latest amusing* student moments:
Student: I think the world will end before I turn thirty.
Mrs. Persistence: I think science will prevent that from happening.
Student: *rolls eyes* You really think *science* is going to help? Seriously?
Mrs. Persistent: Well, yes, I do.
Student: I don't know about that, Mrs. Persistence.
I love middle schoolers.
*Amusing is one of our October vocabulary words. Try using it in a sentence!
Monday, October 20, 2014
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Socially Awkward Wednesday
You know, Socially Awkward Wednesday rolls off of the tongue and fingers nicely.
Social awkwardness is not exclusive to people on the autism spectrum or who have diagnosed social anxiety or pragmatic language disorders. It's universal, even if some don't want to admit it. Someday, somewhere, everyone will experience it. It may be more or less jarring to any given person, but it's going to happen. Even to my socially savvy husband.
Social awkwardness plays into my job in a few different ways. When you work with middle and high schoolers, you encounter it with all of your students and you're probably addressing it in therapy with social-pragmatic language goals. Some scenarios I've seen so far this year include: How do you know when to ask a question in class? Is it really a big deal to take the bathroom stall right next to another person? Why isn't telling everyone they look nice today an acceptable use of "nice words"?
I've encountered another social awkwardness scenario. Let's say you've been in a meeting, or a rehearsal, or some sort of after school activity. The event has officially ended. Half of the people have said/hugged their good-byes, and everyone else has paired or tripled up into conversations. You'd like to talk to some of these people. How do you do it? Do you listen to a conversation and find something in it that you can relate to, then listen for a pause in between sentences, potentially risking interrupting? Stand near someone watching and listening to them in case they say something to you? Decide that it's not worth feeling awkward, so you exclaim "Well, I'll see you all later!" and then leave? Some other option?
Last year, our district's SLP team did a book study on The Hidden Curriculum:Practical Solutions for Understanding Unstated Rules in Social Situations, by Brenda Smith Myles, Melissa L. Trautman, and Ronda L. Schelvan. I really recommend giving it a read, especially if you work with middle or high school. And it's not just good for those with ASDs/Asperger's. Students with language disorders are also socially awkward, and they have a lot of capacity to feel very awkward about it.
In keeping with the awkward theme of the day, I have no good conclusion for this post. So I will end it here.
Social awkwardness is not exclusive to people on the autism spectrum or who have diagnosed social anxiety or pragmatic language disorders. It's universal, even if some don't want to admit it. Someday, somewhere, everyone will experience it. It may be more or less jarring to any given person, but it's going to happen. Even to my socially savvy husband.
Social awkwardness plays into my job in a few different ways. When you work with middle and high schoolers, you encounter it with all of your students and you're probably addressing it in therapy with social-pragmatic language goals. Some scenarios I've seen so far this year include: How do you know when to ask a question in class? Is it really a big deal to take the bathroom stall right next to another person? Why isn't telling everyone they look nice today an acceptable use of "nice words"?
I've encountered another social awkwardness scenario. Let's say you've been in a meeting, or a rehearsal, or some sort of after school activity. The event has officially ended. Half of the people have said/hugged their good-byes, and everyone else has paired or tripled up into conversations. You'd like to talk to some of these people. How do you do it? Do you listen to a conversation and find something in it that you can relate to, then listen for a pause in between sentences, potentially risking interrupting? Stand near someone watching and listening to them in case they say something to you? Decide that it's not worth feeling awkward, so you exclaim "Well, I'll see you all later!" and then leave? Some other option?
Last year, our district's SLP team did a book study on The Hidden Curriculum:Practical Solutions for Understanding Unstated Rules in Social Situations, by Brenda Smith Myles, Melissa L. Trautman, and Ronda L. Schelvan. I really recommend giving it a read, especially if you work with middle or high school. And it's not just good for those with ASDs/Asperger's. Students with language disorders are also socially awkward, and they have a lot of capacity to feel very awkward about it.
In keeping with the awkward theme of the day, I have no good conclusion for this post. So I will end it here.
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
It Lives!
A whole school year went by without any blog posts. I have many reasons for this, not all of which are good excuses. I got married (celebrated my first anniversary this past August), switched to two new schools and a new age group within the district, and spent my off time doing CEUs and learning how to cook like a real adult. I led a workshop at the SW Washington Special Education Conference, and I hope to do so again this next year. This past year I split my week between an elementary school/preschool
program where there were two other SLPs, and a middle school where I was
the only SLP in the building. I have discovered that middle school is my favorite age group, so I'm thrilled to be back at the middle school again this year!
One of my supervisors at the district level told me, during a meeting sometime in December of last year, that her first year on the job was the most difficult and her second year on the job was her busiest. This certainly was the case for me, especially socially. I had to learn that if no one in a group wants to make a choice, and I end up making a choice that other people grumble about, it's not something I should take personally because the opportunity for them to make their own choice was there and they didn't take it, if that makes any sense. This applies both at work and in my personal life. I also think that in the second half of my second year, I was more comfortable with putting on my "game face" and using strategies for stress management after being around so many people. Here's a tip for neurotypicals and non-neurotypicals alike: If your employer offers a stress management class or workshop, take it!!!
One big change between my first year and my second year was that I didn't feel like I had to be sorry for my Asperger's in any way, that it wasn't a nuisance to my coworkers. I'm learning how to trust that key people at work will be honest with me if I'm doing something bothersome. So far, there have been no problems, save for not speaking loud enough at times.
This year I'm expecting to be busy again. For the beginning of the year, at least, I'll be splitting my time between a middle school and a high school. I'm excited about staying with my younger students at the middle school and following some of my older students to the high school. I'm excited that I have a better idea of what I'm doing. I'm excited that I won't be working with preschoolers this year - I worked with preschoolers for my first two years on the job and while it was enjoyable, I felt a lot more comfortable and competent with my older students.
I can't promise that I will post often on this blog, but I can promise that I will try to post more regularly. I had many things to talk/type about this past year. No doubt there will be more this year.
One of my supervisors at the district level told me, during a meeting sometime in December of last year, that her first year on the job was the most difficult and her second year on the job was her busiest. This certainly was the case for me, especially socially. I had to learn that if no one in a group wants to make a choice, and I end up making a choice that other people grumble about, it's not something I should take personally because the opportunity for them to make their own choice was there and they didn't take it, if that makes any sense. This applies both at work and in my personal life. I also think that in the second half of my second year, I was more comfortable with putting on my "game face" and using strategies for stress management after being around so many people. Here's a tip for neurotypicals and non-neurotypicals alike: If your employer offers a stress management class or workshop, take it!!!
One big change between my first year and my second year was that I didn't feel like I had to be sorry for my Asperger's in any way, that it wasn't a nuisance to my coworkers. I'm learning how to trust that key people at work will be honest with me if I'm doing something bothersome. So far, there have been no problems, save for not speaking loud enough at times.
This year I'm expecting to be busy again. For the beginning of the year, at least, I'll be splitting my time between a middle school and a high school. I'm excited about staying with my younger students at the middle school and following some of my older students to the high school. I'm excited that I have a better idea of what I'm doing. I'm excited that I won't be working with preschoolers this year - I worked with preschoolers for my first two years on the job and while it was enjoyable, I felt a lot more comfortable and competent with my older students.
I can't promise that I will post often on this blog, but I can promise that I will try to post more regularly. I had many things to talk/type about this past year. No doubt there will be more this year.
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Classroom Management Isn't Just for Teachers
Finally, a post that's really about speech and language therapy in the school setting!
Before I get into the meat of the post, here's some backstory. My bachelor's degree is in Applied Linguistics and Spanish (double major, since my university didn't confer dual BA's) and I also earned a TESL (teaching English as a second language) certificate with a few extra applied linguistics classes. I am not a certified or licensed ESL teacher! I just learned how to teach ESL in case I decided to pursue that line of work. I've used almost everything I learned from my applied linguistics and TESL classes with regards to classroom management and curriculum design in my practice as an SLP. That's what inspired this evening's post.
If you are a school-based clinician, then you rarely see individual kids all day. Your caseload numbers are far too high to accommodate individual sessions for each student. So you end up with lots of dyads, some triads, and more and more you may find yourself taking on a whole classroom of students (this is a great way to do an informal, very basic screening of kids that a teacher is concerned about!). Your graduate program will touch on ways to do group therapy and design curriculum-based materials, but that doesn't necessarily prepare you for three kids at a table who are all vying for your attention. Here are some strategies I've used with at least moderate success.
1) Print out copies of practice materials. If you want each student to practice their sounds and not create a cacaphony of voices when it's not their turn during a game or activity, then give them a sheet of practice words or sentences for them to peruse quietly. I tried this first with a couple of loud, enthusiastic groups. It took some training for everyone to self-monitor their vocal volume and ability to stay on task, but after a couple of weeks I saw and heard a big difference in noise-level, on-task behaviors, and even cooperation between students when I was working with their fellow speech buddies. This is especially helpful for groups in which each student is working on a different sound or structure.
2) Ask classroom teachers what they are teaching in science and social studies. I hated language arts as a K-12 student. I didn't feel very good at it and I thought most of it was boring. Many other kids feel the same way about math. But Science? Social studies? Those were and are cool! They also lend themselves well to what SLPs do in therapy because of all of the vocabulary, sequencing, relational concepts, and high interest level. A student who's interested will learn more.
3) Make your speech room rules concise and small in number. Too many rules will turn into a wall of text and a barrage of auditory information that is completely uninteresting. Ms. Persistence's Speech Rules are very simple and easy to review at the beginning and end of therapy sessions. I only have five of them:
4) Have a system in place so that each student in a group will have a chance to choose the game, take the first turn, etc. I wouldn't suggest rolling dice each time because of the potential for one person getting to choose a game more often than their speech buddies. With a dyad, this is pretty simple because you just alternate weeks. Triads are a little trickier because it takes time to write everything down and remember. My CFY supervisor writes a dot, a 1, or a 2 next to each kiddo's name for that day's session. A dot means that student chose the game today, a 1 means that student got to take the first turn and will pick the game next time, and a 2 means that student will get to take the first turn next time. I've found this to be useful and you might find it useful, too.
5) Don't beat yourself up when something doesn't work. When you're new, this happens a lot. It can set the tone for your whole day if you're not careful. But it's not just you! It happens to everyone. Instead of spending hours reflecting on what went wrong, have a few contingency plans in place for next time. Ask another SLP or school clinician what they would do (our OT is a great resource for me). Ask a teacher what they find useful and think about whether it might work in a small group setting. Groups are tricky and they can take some trial and error.
I'm looking for more strategies for groups. If you have one, tell me about in a comment!
Before I get into the meat of the post, here's some backstory. My bachelor's degree is in Applied Linguistics and Spanish (double major, since my university didn't confer dual BA's) and I also earned a TESL (teaching English as a second language) certificate with a few extra applied linguistics classes. I am not a certified or licensed ESL teacher! I just learned how to teach ESL in case I decided to pursue that line of work. I've used almost everything I learned from my applied linguistics and TESL classes with regards to classroom management and curriculum design in my practice as an SLP. That's what inspired this evening's post.
If you are a school-based clinician, then you rarely see individual kids all day. Your caseload numbers are far too high to accommodate individual sessions for each student. So you end up with lots of dyads, some triads, and more and more you may find yourself taking on a whole classroom of students (this is a great way to do an informal, very basic screening of kids that a teacher is concerned about!). Your graduate program will touch on ways to do group therapy and design curriculum-based materials, but that doesn't necessarily prepare you for three kids at a table who are all vying for your attention. Here are some strategies I've used with at least moderate success.
1) Print out copies of practice materials. If you want each student to practice their sounds and not create a cacaphony of voices when it's not their turn during a game or activity, then give them a sheet of practice words or sentences for them to peruse quietly. I tried this first with a couple of loud, enthusiastic groups. It took some training for everyone to self-monitor their vocal volume and ability to stay on task, but after a couple of weeks I saw and heard a big difference in noise-level, on-task behaviors, and even cooperation between students when I was working with their fellow speech buddies. This is especially helpful for groups in which each student is working on a different sound or structure.
2) Ask classroom teachers what they are teaching in science and social studies. I hated language arts as a K-12 student. I didn't feel very good at it and I thought most of it was boring. Many other kids feel the same way about math. But Science? Social studies? Those were and are cool! They also lend themselves well to what SLPs do in therapy because of all of the vocabulary, sequencing, relational concepts, and high interest level. A student who's interested will learn more.
3) Make your speech room rules concise and small in number. Too many rules will turn into a wall of text and a barrage of auditory information that is completely uninteresting. Ms. Persistence's Speech Rules are very simple and easy to review at the beginning and end of therapy sessions. I only have five of them:
- Listen to Ms. Persistence
- Try your best
- Keep your hands and feet to yourself
- Show respect
- We play games to have fun, not just to win.
4) Have a system in place so that each student in a group will have a chance to choose the game, take the first turn, etc. I wouldn't suggest rolling dice each time because of the potential for one person getting to choose a game more often than their speech buddies. With a dyad, this is pretty simple because you just alternate weeks. Triads are a little trickier because it takes time to write everything down and remember. My CFY supervisor writes a dot, a 1, or a 2 next to each kiddo's name for that day's session. A dot means that student chose the game today, a 1 means that student got to take the first turn and will pick the game next time, and a 2 means that student will get to take the first turn next time. I've found this to be useful and you might find it useful, too.
5) Don't beat yourself up when something doesn't work. When you're new, this happens a lot. It can set the tone for your whole day if you're not careful. But it's not just you! It happens to everyone. Instead of spending hours reflecting on what went wrong, have a few contingency plans in place for next time. Ask another SLP or school clinician what they would do (our OT is a great resource for me). Ask a teacher what they find useful and think about whether it might work in a small group setting. Groups are tricky and they can take some trial and error.
I'm looking for more strategies for groups. If you have one, tell me about in a comment!
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Vaccines, shots, innoculations, immunizations
I wasn't sure what else to title this post. It's a short one. It's also controversial and not directly related to speech and language therapy. One of those posts will come this weekend.
I am very pro-vaccination. My parents were vigilant in keeping up with my booster shots and once I reached adulthood, I've made sure to get my MMR shot and yearly flu shot (fun fact: I've only missed my flu shot once in the past five years, and it was the one year during which I came down with influenza). Today, I got a Tdap shot.
It's true that there are risks and benefits to vaccinations. The risk touted by those most (unfortunately) visible and vocal is the link between thimerosol/MMR vaccines and autism (debunked). Some people are also afraid that getting shots will make them sick (and to be fair, some people do suffer from side effects which include body aches, soreness, and cold symptoms). Benefits of widespread vaccination include the eradication of infectious diseases (obviously) and lower healthcare costs to the general public (the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases outlines this information; there is a link to journal article with even more). Furthermore, once a certain percentage of a population is vaccinated, then that whole population is better protected (we call this "herd immunity").
To me, there shouldn't be much of a question re: whether to vaccinate. Pertussis/Whooping Cough is making something of a come-back in the Pacific Northwest and it's a scary illness. Think of the other diseases that vaccines prevent - Measles, diphtheria, tetanus, and more.
So what does this have to do with being a school-based SLP?
I'm still working on that answer. In the meantime, make sure you're up to date on your shots. It'll be good for you and your students. Better safe than sorry.
I am very pro-vaccination. My parents were vigilant in keeping up with my booster shots and once I reached adulthood, I've made sure to get my MMR shot and yearly flu shot (fun fact: I've only missed my flu shot once in the past five years, and it was the one year during which I came down with influenza). Today, I got a Tdap shot.
It's true that there are risks and benefits to vaccinations. The risk touted by those most (unfortunately) visible and vocal is the link between thimerosol/MMR vaccines and autism (debunked). Some people are also afraid that getting shots will make them sick (and to be fair, some people do suffer from side effects which include body aches, soreness, and cold symptoms). Benefits of widespread vaccination include the eradication of infectious diseases (obviously) and lower healthcare costs to the general public (the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases outlines this information; there is a link to journal article with even more). Furthermore, once a certain percentage of a population is vaccinated, then that whole population is better protected (we call this "herd immunity").
To me, there shouldn't be much of a question re: whether to vaccinate. Pertussis/Whooping Cough is making something of a come-back in the Pacific Northwest and it's a scary illness. Think of the other diseases that vaccines prevent - Measles, diphtheria, tetanus, and more.
So what does this have to do with being a school-based SLP?
I'm still working on that answer. In the meantime, make sure you're up to date on your shots. It'll be good for you and your students. Better safe than sorry.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
An Empathetic Post
Over the past couple of weeks I've received some comments that made me smile. Hello to everyone who reads this! I apologize for my lack of posting over the last three weeks. My reason for not posting more is that I've spent most of the month staying late at work writing IEPs*, doing initial evaluations/reevaluations, going to IEP meetings, and making sure all of my files are organized. Organizing my file drawer is calming but it's also time-consuming.
The theme of the day/post is empathy. To better acquaint yourself with the term, I would suggest reading this article from Psychology Today about the three types of empathy.
There is a myth that people with ASDs do not feel empathy. Those of us who are educated on the topic of autism know that this is not true, but the myth is still out there. People with ASDs can and do feel empathy. But we experience it differently than most people. Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg wrote a blog post last June about the three types of empathy and how she and other people with ASDs experience them: On the Matter of Empathy
Recently, one of my students tried to comfort a classmate who was in the midst of a meltdown. This student was saying things like "it's okay" and "don't worry" while attempting to give the classmate a hug. Both have autism. My student saw that this classmate was upset, and in turn, demonstrated both emotional and expressed empathy in much the same way that a typically developing child would toward a friend who had fallen down and scraped their knee. This is not an isolated experience, and this student is certainly not the exception.
Earlier this week, I asked a coworker if I had bothered her the day before with any of my group sessions (hey, I work with first graders and it was a rousing session full of awesome "th" sounds). I've learned that asking such a question is more socially acceptable in the work environment than saying "You're awfully quiet and you're frowning a lot, and it bothers me that you're acting different than normal. I don't want you to feel mad!" (it took quite a long time and some help from a therapist for me to learn how to ease around such topics). I was not able to watch this coworker and know that she was worried and concentrating really hard on something and lost in those thoughts. However, I could see that something was up and I had some concern. Again, perhaps not a "typical" empathetic response but certainly not a lack of empathy.
Also, since it's Autism Awareness Month, I've been using empathy as a way to educate school-age children about ASDs. I read a story called My Friend Has Autism to a class of first grade students and took the opportunity to ask them if they ever did some of the things that the narrator's friend does, like hating to be touched and not looking at people during conversations and wanting their toys to be organized perfectly. Every time I brought up one of the friend's quirks, hands were raised by kids, mostly neurotypical, who did or felt similarly. It was a simple story, but it created an opportunity for some of the students to feel some empathy toward others who behave differently.
*IEP = Individualized Education Program
The theme of the day/post is empathy. To better acquaint yourself with the term, I would suggest reading this article from Psychology Today about the three types of empathy.
There is a myth that people with ASDs do not feel empathy. Those of us who are educated on the topic of autism know that this is not true, but the myth is still out there. People with ASDs can and do feel empathy. But we experience it differently than most people. Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg wrote a blog post last June about the three types of empathy and how she and other people with ASDs experience them: On the Matter of Empathy
Recently, one of my students tried to comfort a classmate who was in the midst of a meltdown. This student was saying things like "it's okay" and "don't worry" while attempting to give the classmate a hug. Both have autism. My student saw that this classmate was upset, and in turn, demonstrated both emotional and expressed empathy in much the same way that a typically developing child would toward a friend who had fallen down and scraped their knee. This is not an isolated experience, and this student is certainly not the exception.
Earlier this week, I asked a coworker if I had bothered her the day before with any of my group sessions (hey, I work with first graders and it was a rousing session full of awesome "th" sounds). I've learned that asking such a question is more socially acceptable in the work environment than saying "You're awfully quiet and you're frowning a lot, and it bothers me that you're acting different than normal. I don't want you to feel mad!" (it took quite a long time and some help from a therapist for me to learn how to ease around such topics). I was not able to watch this coworker and know that she was worried and concentrating really hard on something and lost in those thoughts. However, I could see that something was up and I had some concern. Again, perhaps not a "typical" empathetic response but certainly not a lack of empathy.
Also, since it's Autism Awareness Month, I've been using empathy as a way to educate school-age children about ASDs. I read a story called My Friend Has Autism to a class of first grade students and took the opportunity to ask them if they ever did some of the things that the narrator's friend does, like hating to be touched and not looking at people during conversations and wanting their toys to be organized perfectly. Every time I brought up one of the friend's quirks, hands were raised by kids, mostly neurotypical, who did or felt similarly. It was a simple story, but it created an opportunity for some of the students to feel some empathy toward others who behave differently.
*IEP = Individualized Education Program
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Autism Seminars, and When Your Quirks Are/Aren't Disordered
I went to a seminar three weeks ago called The Puzzle of Autism. It was meant to make sure that everyone working in the state was "on the same page" as far as diagnostic criteria, symptoms/characteristics, and treatment/accommodations are concerned. It also brought up a good opportunity to talk about my Asperger's and how it affects/enhances my ability to do my job.
To be honest, I didn't really learn anything new about autism spectrum disorders. I know what the prevalence is, I know what the most common treatment programs are, and I know what kinds of accommodations can be made. I use them in the speech room every day. A fellow SLP at my table did bring up an interesting point, however, and that point is the line between disorder and condition. Conventional wisdom says that autism spectrum disorders are chronic, or lifelong. But do they truly remain to be disorders, or do they change status as we get better at dealing with the symptoms?
I would not call my Asperger's a "disorder" in the classical sense at this point in my life. I consider it to be more like a condition or a part of my personality. Does having Asperger's present challenges that I may not otherwise face? Absolutely. Does it hinder my career or personal development or ability to function? That's a trickier question. At this point in my life, it doesn't. In the past, it most definitely affected my ability to function. It has not gone away. There are all sorts of active thought processes in my brain when I'm having a conversation, from controlling the volume of my voice to watching for clues that my communication partner is or isn't listening. These are thought processes for which, even after years of therapy, I need to put forth effort. It is easier now than it was five years ago but it is not automatic, subconscious or easy. I'm just much better at it.
I'm curious to see what others' thoughts are on this matter.
To be honest, I didn't really learn anything new about autism spectrum disorders. I know what the prevalence is, I know what the most common treatment programs are, and I know what kinds of accommodations can be made. I use them in the speech room every day. A fellow SLP at my table did bring up an interesting point, however, and that point is the line between disorder and condition. Conventional wisdom says that autism spectrum disorders are chronic, or lifelong. But do they truly remain to be disorders, or do they change status as we get better at dealing with the symptoms?
I would not call my Asperger's a "disorder" in the classical sense at this point in my life. I consider it to be more like a condition or a part of my personality. Does having Asperger's present challenges that I may not otherwise face? Absolutely. Does it hinder my career or personal development or ability to function? That's a trickier question. At this point in my life, it doesn't. In the past, it most definitely affected my ability to function. It has not gone away. There are all sorts of active thought processes in my brain when I'm having a conversation, from controlling the volume of my voice to watching for clues that my communication partner is or isn't listening. These are thought processes for which, even after years of therapy, I need to put forth effort. It is easier now than it was five years ago but it is not automatic, subconscious or easy. I'm just much better at it.
I'm curious to see what others' thoughts are on this matter.
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