Thursday, December 03, 2009

School daze

I've been subbing....a lot. Still trying to decide if I want to jump into the special ed thing. Those jobs are certainly in high need.

I was in one room with a couple of autistic kiddos. I had a sweater on and was hot, so I took it off. I had a short sleeved shirt on. One of the little boys started rubbing my upper arm. "Smooooth..." he said. I was so pleased with myself. "..and JIGGLY!" he gleefully added.

Another little boy, labeled emotionally disturbed....CUTE CUTE CUTE kid!! I can't stand it, he is so cute! Did I mention he's cute?? Big, brown doe-eyes. Round chubby cheeks. He got upset at something and started in with the Damien face...evil eyes, furrowed brow, clenched jaw and fists, heavy, labored breathing. He came up to me....darn close...inches from my own angelic face. ;-) I reached over with my index finger, tapped the tip of his nose gently and said, "Boop!" Totally diffused him. I'm pretty sure that technique isn't in the books....

Another autistic boy, 5th grade. Has made wonderful strides. One day in class, just would not write what he was supposed to in his class notebook. I tried all the little ways, the polite ways, the non-confrontative ways to entice him to success. He simply wouldn't write. He is high functioning and knew fully what to do. I finally leaned over to him and hissed in his ear, "JUUUUST DOOO IIIIT...NOW!" I'll be darned. The 50's parenting technique works on others' children, too!

I'll remember more. They just crack me up.

10 comments:

kc bob said...

Once again you inspire me Karen. Thank you for giving and living in such a wonderful way. I will be interested to see where the special ed journey will take you.

karen said...

Thanks, Bob...but I'm on the receiving end of this every day I'm at school. Where else can you get paid to get hugged and laugh a lot? :)

... Paige said...

you keeping them on their toes and they you :-)

Mark D said...

Karen, I just want to take this opportunity to say how privileged I am to be connected with you in blog land. This post brought me to tears. Your heart and your humor are wonderful. Thank you for being you.

karen said...

You guys are so nice! The great thing is that the special ed teachers are all good in the humor department...when someone is stressed, we can all laugh about something.
Some of these kids have a very hard home life. Very sad.

Milly said...

I loved working with autistic children. I did in home with them. One little had fits of rage. I’ve been smacked with hot wheels tracks, spit on, and bitten but I loved that little guy. One day he flew at his brother while I was taking them to school when I arrived in the parking lot I sent his brother in ahead and caught the little one in the hall going after his brother. I held that one in my arms looking in his eyes for a while before he calmed down. I could see in his eyes that he couldn’t help what he was doing and hated it. I cried all the way home that day. God bless those who are touched by autism. It’s so hard on all.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Hello! I really liked your forum, especially this section. I just signed up and immediately decided to introduce myself, if I'm wrong section, ask the moderators to move the topic to the right place, hopefully it will take me well... My name is Mary, me 29 years, humourist and serious woman in one person. I apologize for my English

karen said...

Hello, Mary and thanks for coming by!

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