The Glorious Weekend!

Good morning! 

 

It's the weekend -- the glorious weekend -- and I have no plans so can do whatever I want! Isn't that grand? The sun is shining, I have classical music playing (at the moment it's Pachelbel's Canon), already spilled my guts in my journal, and am dreaming of ways to bring fall into my home. But first, I think I should love up this humble abode and do some fall cleaning.

Before I slip away from the comfort of the couch to do that, I wanted to share some thoughts swirling in my mind on my way home from work yesterday. I don't get on a soap box very often, but here is the experience that led up to my thoughts....

As you know, I'm a speech therapist in the public schools, and yesterday I was working with three third grade students. I try to make therapy a happy place. I smile and welcome my students, and try to present fun activities, but that doesn't mean I'm a push-over. Lately I've had to post classroom rules and review them at the beginning of my sessions with some of my more unwieldy groups, something that wasn't particularly necessary in the past, because students knew to come into a classroom ready to learn. Anyway, this group of students came in -- two girls, one boy. The boy literally laid across the surface of the table -- just sprawled out there. One of the girls began combing through my box of materials I had on the end of the table, which I planned to present one by one. I calmly asked the boy to please sit in a chair. He didn't move. I gently took the box away from the girl, and said, "We'll get to those."  I asked the boy to sit again. He smirked, motionless, while one girl picked up the other girl's diary she had brought with her and they began fighting over that. My welcoming attitude disappeared. I had to do the stern-teacher face and command-center voice, but I finally got the boy to sit in a chair and the girls to settle down. All of this resulted in a review and discussion of the rules -- the first of which is Respect One Another.

On the way home I realized that this is what is sorely lacking in our society today:  RESPECT. Some teachers feel under appreciated and disrespected by those parents who have no problem running down a teacher in front of their children who they think "wasn't fair" on an assignment. We see disrepsect when a police officer pulls someone over and the person runs, talks back, or even pulls a weapon on them. People mock the President and other government leaders. I may not agree with everything our leaders say and do, but I respect the election process and therefore will show respect and honor to my country by not running down our President and other leaders. It's not just disrespect for "authority," though I think that's becoming a big problem in our country. As I was mulling this over on my commute, another perfect example presented itself:  two lanes of traffic were merging. For the most part, the straight lane was allowing those of us on the right to enter into the line, alternating every other car -- the polite driver way. But of course someone had to kick up gravel, passing us all on the right so he could merge further up from the shoulder instead of the road. He couldn't be respectful and wait his turn. We are on the verge of becoming a nation of selfish, rude, brash individuals. So I'm on a mission -- how to gently help my students understand the value of respect in our society, with the things we say and do, implementing The Golden Rule: Do onto others as you would have them do unto you. Fortunately, for the most part, I believe the majority of people are kind to one another. We wouldn't be as productive as we are as a society if we didn't cooperate with one another. But through the years, I have picked up on these subtle differences in attitudes. We need to continue setting the example and teaching children the value of kindness and respect for others.

Now I sense a sink full of suds is calling me and a fireplace mantle is waiting to be adorned with fall colors. Enjoy your weekend!

Three Glorious Weeks

Summer is in full bloom.  In Monterey, that means temps in the 60's and generally wonderful walking and working weather!   I spent four weeks at the beginning of summer providing summer school speech therapy.  Two of my colleagues and I job-shared two positions and ended up working half days on four day work weeks.  One of the best parts was sharing therapy ideas, materials and organizational tips, making us almost (note I said almost) look forward to starting the new school year. 

In July I flew down to Southern California for a weekend to join DAR friends at the State headquarters in order to plan for the new year.  We had a great time and they gave me the same room I had last year.  See the window under the chimney in the dormer room on the right?  That's the one!  It's a small bedroom with twin beds and a dresser, decorated with antique dolls, toys, and quilts. I can crank open the window at night and feel a cool breeze, so refreshing!  All 15 of us stay right in the headquarters -- an old Craftsman style house with many bedrooms and bathrooms and a large dining room where we can sit around the table, discuss and take notes.  At night we ate supper al fresco on the shady back patio.  For lunch we walked the two blocks to a cafe in the historic downtown.  My favorite "take five" place was that covered front porch where there is wicker furniture and soft cushions -- no one else seemed to go there so it was a nice quiet spot to be alone and think.  It was really a lovely weekend.

Now I have three glorious weeks left of summer vacation before heading back to the therapy room.  As always I have lots of projects to complete, including a top to bottom re-organizing of my house.  I tackled the kitchen earlier this week, taking every thing out of the cupboards, washing things, purging, reconfiguring spaces. Now three boxes of old mugs, vases, platters, and other such items are waiting for the Goodwill (making that trip today), one box is for my daughters' apartment, and the rest is so junky no one would want it so it's going in the trash.  Out with the old expired food, in with reorganizing the spices, meds/vitamins and food cupboards.  Even the junk drawer got an overhaul.  (Can you tell I like to organize?)

Then I decided I better venture into the garage.  Crikey!  My rule of thumb was that I needed to be able to park two cars in the garage, but when the girls moved out three years ago their car space began collecting an item here and an item there until -- yikes -- half of that space is a hodge-podge of clutter.  So much "stuff" has accumulated throughout the garage again that it's almost overwhelming to figure out where to begin.  So I decided to tackle it one section at a time, starting with the two large work benches.  Under one work bench was old paint -- some from 10 years ago!  I filled my entire trunk with old paint and pesticides and made the trek to the city hazardous waste center.  That opened up a tremendous amount of space!  Studying the work benches I realized that two shelves were filled with power tools that I will never use.  They were my husband's and if I haven't used them in ten years, I doubt I ever will -- plus some are starting to rust.  So I called my gardener and asked him if he wanted to stop by and he could have any of these tools he wanted.  He took them all, to my delight -- I love to see things go to a good home!  I stored the drill and bits in a plastic storage box, and of course kept the saws, hammers, screwdrivers, pliers, nails, etc., etc. that I do use regularly.  Work benches are done.  I reorganized the garden tools and other items in the open storage shelf section on that wall and called it a day.

I planned to dive back into the garage the next day, but the tendonitis in my left ankle has been bothering me all week and yesterday I could hardly walk on it.  Using the RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation) method, I stayed off of it and did computer work for a day.  By the way, never underestimate the power of compression.  It wasn't until I wrapped my ankle with an elastic bandage that I really experienced a significant difference.  Today it is much better and I am going to gingerly move back into organizing the garage after I drop off at Goodwill and visit Target for some more good storage boxes.  I've got loads of old papers to shred, so if I need a break I can always sit down, rest my ankle, and shred away. 

This has not been a particularly fascinating post, but I do have something much more fun to report!  Toward the end of July I flew to New England for a vacation with my two sisters!  We had so much fun!  Watch for my posts about that!  

That's all for now!  Have a wonderful day!

Put Your Lips Together...

...now say MMMMMM. Yesterday was the last day of speech therapy for a little five year old boy I have worked with for the past two years. He has apraxia and saying his speech sounds is a challenge for him. He is very sweet and a lot of fun, and his mom is so supportive. I will really miss them, but they are moving. So in good-bye they presented me with a pink gift bag. His mom warned me that "little boy" picked out one of the gifts entirely by himself. I peaked inside: a tube of bright red lipstick! What a kick! To his five year old eyes and after two years of hearing me say, "Watch my mouth," I guess a tube of Royal Red lipstick would be what he associates with me! The staff had great fun teasing me about being perceived as "lips". Also included in the gift bag were a My Little Pony ribbon and then Mom's choice -- a generous gift card to Target. Who can't find something to buy at Target?

The best gift of all was the beautiful thank you letter they wrote, talking about how much they appreciate what I've done for "little boy," the care I show to others, and so forth. We cried and hugged when they left. Sometimes work is hard. Unfortunately we have evolved into a society of complainers, and in special education we get more than our fair share of picky parents. I wish they would realize how hard we work, how conscientious we are about helping their children, how little we are acknowledged for all that we do right. A thank you note goes such a long way in keeping us going in a positive, productive manner to help their children.

Knowing I made a difference for even one child, one family, makes it all worthwhile.

Can you find a classical station?

Last weekend I filled in for a speech therapist at a nursing home for a couple of hours. One of the patients I saw was a woman who started telling me about her life. She lay, fairly confined to her bed, and began with growing up on a ranch. Oh, how she loved her dogs. Then they moved to Berkeley -- it was during the Depression and her dad had to find work. She went on to tell me how she studied art, lived in Mexico for a year, married and had children. Sometimes they were wonderful times and sometimes they were tough. Probably many of us have read the highly-circulated Crabby Old Man poem (which I've learned is fiction -- but the thoughts behind the poem are so true that you must read it if you haven't). That is what this woman reminded me of.

Toward the end of our conversation she sighed and said she was depressed being there. I didn't know what to say. I asked her if there was something she would like -- some books to read (she'd already read the book on her nightstand twice), magazines, a sketch pad and colored pencils (thinking of the artist side).... I tried to encourage her to go down to the "activities" offered at the nursing home. She brushed every suggestion aside. As I was getting ready to leave she said, "Do you happen to know how to find a classical station on my radio?" Pushed to the back of her nightstand was a radio/CD player. No CD. I turned on the radio to static. Then I found it -- KBach, our local classical music station. The sounds of the symphony filled her corner of the room. With tears in her eyes she thanked me. What a difference music can make in transporting us to different times, to conquering loneliness, to feeding our souls.

Baby Signs!

One of the tremendously fun things about working with toddlers and preschoolers is teaching them to say their first words! Last spring I took a class called Baby Signs: Sign Language for Babies. The concept is that teaching kids sign language while they are also learning speech provides these babes a way to communicate with others, even when they are not ready to do so verbally. Of course, as a Speech and Language Pathologist, I was interested in using baby signs with my speech delayed and hard of hearing or deaf students, but there are advantages to using sign language with all babies!

If You Give a Therapist a Book...

Have you heard of the children's book, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie? Well, the mouse will then want a glass of milk to go with it.... and then he'll need a straw to drink the milk. And on the story goes, exhausting the boy who gave the mouse the cookie to begin with.

Quite by accident, I realized I'm creating my own dangerous version. I decided to revisit some classic children's books ("Good Night, Moon", "Mama, Do You Love Me?", "The Very Hungry Caterpillar", to name just a few) and use them in therapy. So I went to eBay to see if I could pick up some used editions. There I happened upon some "visual aids" to go along with the stories.

Wouldn't my students love it if I had the little Eskimo doll that went with the "Mama, Do You Love Me?" book? Or how about taking turns holding the fuzzy caterpillar stuffed animal while I read the "Hungry Caterpillar" story? Oh, and there was a nice flannel board set of colorful animals for "Brown Bear, Brown Bear".

But wait! Some clever teacher made some picture cards to accompany some stories. So after reading the story, the children can practice their recall and sequencing skills by putting the pictures in the correct order.

Oh, someone else took it a step further! This person made an entire literacy kit. So not only do you have the Caterpillar book, but finger puppets and coloring pages of butterflies to go with it.

Yes....

If you give a therapist a book, she'll want a visual aid to go along with it.... and then she'll want sequencing cards so the children can retell the story, and then she'll remember that they can practice their artistic skills with coloring pages....

Perhaps I should just stick with the books.

A World Without Words

Speech-Language Pathologists are in short supply here, so during the summer when I have more free time I sometimes pick up some per diem hours at a couple of nursing facilities. It helps me stay current with the medical model of speech therapy vs. the educational model I work in the rest of the year. I used to be the Rehab. Director at one of the facilities I now go into, so there is a sense of familiarity to it. It brings back memories to walk those halls.

This past week I was asked to do an evaluation on a woman who had had a stroke. Her right leg and arm were paralyzed, and when I went in her room to talk to her, I realized she had significant aphasia. She could produce the phrase, "I can understand...." then she would shrug her shoulders and point to her mouth. So I finished her sentence, "...but you can't get the words out." "Yeah," she would nod emphatically. She had another ready phrase, "This is here", which she used to try to explain everything from where her cousin lived to what she had for breakfast, and a couple swear words. That was pretty much the extent of her expressive vocabulary. What was tough with this one was the woman is younger than I am -- she had her stroke at the age of 50. So we engaged in a serious game of 20 questions as I learned more about her and her (limited) abilities.

Dinner time came and she sat in her wheelchair in her room, across from her elderly roommate who was dozing in her chair. I asked her if she would like to eat in the dining room -- a bright, sunny room, with a big screen TV set to some upbeat sitcoms. She smiled and said, "yeah!" So I checked in with the nurse, got the go ahead, and wheeled her down to the dining room. Apparently no one had thought to ask her where she would prefer to eat in the 3-4 days she had been there. The nurse had her tray delivered, and I made sure she had a ring side seat to watch TV while she ate.

As I got ready to leave a little later, she motioned me over. She grabbed my hand, and with tears in her eyes, she managed to say, "Thank you." It moved me tremendously, and I thought about that moment all the way home. Now I'm at a loss for words to express what I learned, wrapped up in that afternoon we spent communicating.