What are five things you're good at?
Cleaning.
Evaluating children.
Having fun.
Shopping.
Making others feel special.
These are the first 5 things that came to mind. I took the approach of, don't think about it too much, and see what happens. I don't know if that's a good list or a bad list, but I suppose it could be worse!
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Dang...that's kinda harsh, kid!
It's official...I had my first kid tell me that working with me was "no fun!" Yeah, I just kind of gulped and smiled. Here's the whole story:
This little girl is four years old and is in the special needs preschool and will be transitioning to kindergarten next year. Because of this, I have to evaluate her to determine what kind of classroom she would do best in next year. For example, will she be ok in a regular ed classroom, does she need an aide, does she need to be in a self-contained classroom for children with mental retardation, or in a self-contained classroom for children with communication disorders, etc. This little girl is a foster child who has PKU, or Phenylketonuria, which is a genetic disorder that requires a special diet free of phenylalanine, because she lacks the enzyme that breaks down the essential amino acid phenylalanine, and a build up of this amino acid can lead to severe mental retardation. Her brother also had the disorder and his mom did not follow the special diet for him and he is now 14 years old and severely retarded. Well, CPS stepped in and took these children away from Mom, who was not providing the health care they required, and this little girl was removed from her biological mother's custody by the age of 2. She has been with her foster mother, who she calls Mom, for almost 3 years now. So, they think she may be mildly mentally retarded, but basically, just barely. We're trying to figure out if she can swing it in normal classes or if she needs to be in a self-contained class.
This little girl is absolutely adorable. They didn't think she'd even come to a different room with me to test, as she is very shy. But, she did; she even held my hand and led the way. She's a cutie. She was super compliant for the first 45 minutes. Answering all of my questions (after a great deal of prompting and repeating on my part!) and not answering many of them correctly! Then, I hit a brick wall. She was done with me! She was no longer having fun, and no longer entertained by these things I had been calling "games!" I asked her to arrange some blocks for me and she said, "No. I don't wanna do that." I tried to get her by telling her how good she was at it. And that I bet she could do it. She did it! I was like, yes! I got her! So then I asked her the next question. Again, "No. I don't wanna do that." I tried my previous strategy. And she was to have no part of answering. She kept repeating, "No!" I was like, alrighty then, you're obviously in control, so I guess we're done! I told her we'd finish our "games" another day! She grabbed my hadn and we walked back to her preschool class. This is when her teacher welcomed her back to class and asked her if she had fun! She promptly replied, "No. No fun." Hahahhahah! I replied, "Oh, she worked so hard for me and she did so well! She is so smart!" She looked over at me, smiled, and replied, "No fun!"
I smiled back thinking, we've got a whole other day of it ahead of us!
I used stickers today, but I don't think the stickers will convince her next time if she can remember how "little fun" she had with me. Usually I'd resort to the candy then, but I have to check into her PKU diet. I don't quite know what I'm going to use to convince her to come with me! I might need to make a trip to the toy section of Target!
This little girl is four years old and is in the special needs preschool and will be transitioning to kindergarten next year. Because of this, I have to evaluate her to determine what kind of classroom she would do best in next year. For example, will she be ok in a regular ed classroom, does she need an aide, does she need to be in a self-contained classroom for children with mental retardation, or in a self-contained classroom for children with communication disorders, etc. This little girl is a foster child who has PKU, or Phenylketonuria, which is a genetic disorder that requires a special diet free of phenylalanine, because she lacks the enzyme that breaks down the essential amino acid phenylalanine, and a build up of this amino acid can lead to severe mental retardation. Her brother also had the disorder and his mom did not follow the special diet for him and he is now 14 years old and severely retarded. Well, CPS stepped in and took these children away from Mom, who was not providing the health care they required, and this little girl was removed from her biological mother's custody by the age of 2. She has been with her foster mother, who she calls Mom, for almost 3 years now. So, they think she may be mildly mentally retarded, but basically, just barely. We're trying to figure out if she can swing it in normal classes or if she needs to be in a self-contained class.
This little girl is absolutely adorable. They didn't think she'd even come to a different room with me to test, as she is very shy. But, she did; she even held my hand and led the way. She's a cutie. She was super compliant for the first 45 minutes. Answering all of my questions (after a great deal of prompting and repeating on my part!) and not answering many of them correctly! Then, I hit a brick wall. She was done with me! She was no longer having fun, and no longer entertained by these things I had been calling "games!" I asked her to arrange some blocks for me and she said, "No. I don't wanna do that." I tried to get her by telling her how good she was at it. And that I bet she could do it. She did it! I was like, yes! I got her! So then I asked her the next question. Again, "No. I don't wanna do that." I tried my previous strategy. And she was to have no part of answering. She kept repeating, "No!" I was like, alrighty then, you're obviously in control, so I guess we're done! I told her we'd finish our "games" another day! She grabbed my hadn and we walked back to her preschool class. This is when her teacher welcomed her back to class and asked her if she had fun! She promptly replied, "No. No fun." Hahahhahah! I replied, "Oh, she worked so hard for me and she did so well! She is so smart!" She looked over at me, smiled, and replied, "No fun!"
I smiled back thinking, we've got a whole other day of it ahead of us!
I used stickers today, but I don't think the stickers will convince her next time if she can remember how "little fun" she had with me. Usually I'd resort to the candy then, but I have to check into her PKU diet. I don't quite know what I'm going to use to convince her to come with me! I might need to make a trip to the toy section of Target!
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