The little girl who cried wolf

Today I had a 1st grader tell me in a quite articulate manner that the parents I had spoken with were not her real parents. (I quickly did a double take in my mind of her file, thinking, no, this little girl isn't adopted. Her parents are divorced, I met them both, and she looks just like them.) She proceeded to tell me that her real parents were attacked and eaten by a wolves, and then their spirits rose into the heavens, and then she got her new parents. I had to bit my lip not to laugh at her.

I tried to let her off the hook by tell her that her story seemed a bit like make believe, which caused her to go back through her story and add detail, which took a great deal of time. She wasn't a very quick liar. I then asked her if I asked her parents about her story if they would say that it was the truth.

"Umm...hold on a moment. Let me think about that. Hmm...that's a tough one. I'd probably say no."

"Yeah, I think you were trying to pull my leg and make up a story!"

"Yeahhh...I wassss."

"Well, let me tell you a story. This story is called 'The Boy who Cried Wolf'." We can call it The Girl who Cried Wolf if you like!

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!

General update.

I finished my 3-day restraint training course tonight. I learned how to get out of hair pulls and bites, how to best dodge kicks and punches, how to take a child's punch and turn it into you holding them in a basket hold, and how to do prone restraints! The prone restraints weren't part of the "published" course as it is not a "suggested" hold; however, our instructors swear by it when the basket hold doesn't work. I'm a little nervous about all of this! Part of me wants to try it out to see if it works. The larger part of me, however, never wants to have to attempt any of these moves in my lifetime! I think I will try them out on Paul, instead!

I'm getting pretty stoked about the wedding. Paul and I have been going to our marriage preparation classes at ASU's Newman Center. The classes are awesome. There are 10 couples in them, all our age, and all very nice. The classes are taught in an up to date, and current, yet still ethical, moral, and spiritual way. They are really fun, and wonderful ways to spend time together for the two of us. We are both enjoying them greatly. Other details for the ceremony and reception are all falling into place, and I'm really starting to get excited! (Starting probably isn't the best word! I've been excited since March 24th!) But it's starting to feel like it's coming now. It's not REALLY far away. The school year is flying by, and it'll be here before we know it. I'm glad about that! I am not stressed either. I mean, I want to get things done, but we're checking things off our list slowly. I don't think there will be any crunches of needing to get things done last minute...hopefully! Jenn is starting to talk about bachelorette fun, and my Mom, and Kim, and Darcy and Jenn are starting to talk about showers! This is going to be such a fun Spring!!!

Internship is going well. I'm working hard, and learning tons. I learn something new every day. I am confident in my testing and report writing skills, pretty confident in behavior management strategies (having lots of practice in this..learning every day!), gaining confidence slowly in leading meetings and talking to parents and teachers, and need some experience in counseling! My supervisor doesn't really do counseling at my school, but the social worker does, so I will hopefully be able to have a couple of her cases to get experience with this. I need it! I feel unprepared still in counseling. On the otherhand, this is most likely because this appears to be the area that most school psychologists (at least in elementary schools) do not engage in. I want the skills though.

Dissertation: What a long time this IRB process has taken. However, I am happy to say that I GOT IRB APPROVAL FROM PHOENIX CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL TODAY!!! I am sooo happy! I got approval from ASU over the summer, but PCH was dragging on and on, making it go from one department to the next, just taking up time. Now, I have to go back to ASU to submit a modification form, telling them what PCH changed and hoping that they ok it. They better! Or they're going to be hearing from me!

I guess I'd say life in general is good right now! We need to get the family healed up a bit from all of the surgeries that have been occurring, but other than that, we're tight. I love my family. They're the best!

It's all fun and games until somebody fingerpaints with poop.

So, we've had a little problem the past few days at my elementary school. You see, the custodian has been coming to us in the front office and letting us know that there have been some unacceptable behaviors occurring in the bathroom. What might these be you ask? Well...

It started out with a few turds in the corner of the boys bathroom on the floor. Upon closer inspection, it was determined that these turds were not from an animal, but from a human--most likely, a young boy. We were on alert!

The case continued. From here, the turds in the corner on the floor turned into poop in the urinals. I'm sorry, but I don't even wanna know how this was accomplished. By this point, we had an idea of who the culprit may be. We were tracking bathroom usage by requiring passes that must be signed out to track who was going and at what time. Would it be the boy we suspected?

Finally a day later, the climax...upon entering into the bathroom, the sight of feces smeared on the wall, with the letter D in it. D was the first letter of the boy we suspected.

Wait...it gets better...upon bringing in D's mom to discuss his actions, we told the mom that her son was smearing feces on the wall of the bathroom and writing things in it. Her response? Her 1st response? The first thing she had to say after being told that her son was smearing poop on the walls and writing in it? She asked, "What did he write?"

Riiiiight. Of course. That would be my first response. What a concerned mother.

Take me to the candy shop

Story of the day: Kindergarten girl pole dances in classroom.

Other disruptive behaviors: Refuses to work with other girls. Will only do group work with boys. Pins boys down on recess and kisses them on the lips.

Woohoo!

Where have all of the Beaver Cleaver's gone?

All I have to say is since when do 12-year-olds think it is OK to have oral sex in the middle of the elementary school courtyard, on a picnic table, during the middle of the school day?

The 12-year-old girl's reply: "It was just oral!"

WHAT? Where am I working???