sometimes you just go along with what works.

I work with one of my students on recognizing signs that a conversation is over/nearing its end and then saying something appropriate to end it…and, of course, actually ending it (just saying, if you enter a conversation with this student, it can be difficult to get away). We were doing some role playing. The cue we were working with was one of the most obvious ones (i.e., I would say, “Well, I really need to get going.”). The student was pretty excited about coming up with pretend scenarios we could role play. In the first one, I was supposed to be almost late for a dentist appointment. After we finished that one and she was coming up with the next one, she asked,

“Do you have a dog at home?”

“No, but I have a cat.”

“A boy or a girl?”
“A girl.”

“Ok, pretend it has cancer and you have to get it to the doctor for its treatments.”

day in review {10/16/12}

4:40 alarm goes off
5:00 finally drag myself out of bed
6:17-7:00 on the road
7:30-11:00 read the ENTIRE PLAN test to sophomore student (imagine reading the entire -- directions, passages, questions, answers, repetitions if necessary -- ACT out loud to someone) while still sick with a cold...much coughing and blowing of the nose and losing of the voice
11:10-11:40 lunch
11:40-12:10 scheduled weekly therapy time with student...who is skipping...and has been skipping most of her classes for the last two weeks...instead, attempt to see student with autism, who is having a rough day...abandon that plan as well
12:10-1:10 impact intervention English class...in which one of my three students is skipping...and in danger of having to go to court for truancy
1:20-2:20 work with two students 1:1 in their intervention study hall...one of whom leaves to "go ask his teacher a question about his homework"...and is gone for 25 minutes of our 30-minute session
2:20-2:58 second attempt to see same student with autism...whose day has gotten considerably worse...he is now screaming...and slamming doors...and calling his classmates stupid...and grabbing at anything he can...and threatening to run (a very real threat...I've been a visitor on only one of his previous runs)
2:58-8:38 sit in my office for "parent/teacher conferences"...only one parent has signed up during all 9.8 hours of my required out of contract time for p/t conferences (this exact scenario will be repeated tomorrow night...except I already saw my one parent yesterday, so no visitors tomorrow)
8:45-9:33 on the road
10:20 in bed as soon as I can in order to get as much sleep as I can before the alarm sounds at the same time the next day