Art the Friday after Halloween? Never again!

What a week. The kids did pretty good on Halloween at our Harvest Party. It was the last 2 days that were hard. Did I tell you Toby put apple sauce all over the straws and is also hording pencils? He was asked to put them back 5 times and he kept pretending to do it. He even tried to sneak them into his pocket. My intern finally had to just take them out of his hands. Interesting? We had a special education meeting with his parents to see if he would qualify, but we decided to wait a couple of months. The only major concern he has, other than behavior, is reading. We all want to see if the new meds will make it easier for him to progress in reading. So far, I have seen some improvement.

Shawn has had a meltdown for the last 2 days. Today he had a couple. Our art docent came and did an extremely fun, but messy project. It was really long and all 3 of my students with SPD had a hard time remaining in control. Plus I had one other girl who has behavior issues that was out-of-control. Shawn knocked another kid out of his chair, so he lost art time and I put him in a chair. Then he started wailing, so I put him in the hall and talked calmly about how he had made the choice, so there was no reason for him to be screaming and that he could have hurt the other child. He calmed down fairly quickly. Then when we were getting ready to go I asked him to sit on the carpet 4 - 5 times. Finally I told him to pull his behavior card and he through another tantrum. Then he was running to his after school daycare and he was sent back to try again by that teacher. As I returned to the classroom I noticed the neighboring teacher had some of her bulletin on the floor. I walked back over to see if Shawn had done it and found him sitting in the corner pouting. He swears he did not take the bulletin down.  I am not so sure.

Toby was cutting crayons with his scissors and hit another girl in the eye during the art project, so he had to sit out.

Then another girl in the class kept putting her hands in the paint after already having a rough day, so she had to sit out of the rest of the art project. This was after she touched the cutting board earlier. The lock was on, but they are still not allowed to go near it.

Michelle has just been out of control the last 3 days.

How is it, with 4 adults in the room, all these crazy things can happen? Man, this class is hard! They are growing on me though. Sadly, one of the really sweet girls is moving. The first week of school I thought she was going to be a terror. After a week she settled into the routines. Phew!

ADHD

I also have a kiddo with severe ADHD and he is not taking medication. He came up behind two kids when they were lining up after recess, popped them on the side of their ribs. They both were in tears when I came out the door. Lesson learned: I need to be out their before they line up. There is just always one more thing to get done. This sure is a never ending job. I spend all evening and weekends planning. It's a good thing my own kids like to snuggle while I am working. My 3 year old is climbing all over me right now. : )

Soap

On Thursday Toby asked me if he could go see our principal after recess. I asked him why and he couldn't tell me the reason. I told him when he could remember why, I would consider it. He then asked to go to the bathroom and him told him yes. A few minutes later a girl from the class said that Toby was spreading soap all over the wall in between the girls and boys bathroom. I went down and had him clean it all up and it turns out the girl who tattled was also involved. Hmm... kids sure are funny. I called the principal and told him what had happened, but was also concerned that Toby made the mess just so he could go see the principal. He ended up going down because the principal is trying to build a relationship with Toby. Toby also decided it would be a good time to tattle on his friend who was spitting.

Shawn got into a bit of a conflict with two other kids. I came over just to see what was going on and he immediately started to cry and yell that he wasn't doing anything. I pressed on his shoulder and told him that he wasn't in trouble, I just wanted to know what was going on. He calmed down quickly. We have found that pushing really hard down on his shoulders calms him down. He will now come to me and ask me to push on his shoulders. I am just worried other people will worry that I am hurting him. I always verbally say, "Did that help?" Just so others know that I am not punishing him, but trying to help him. I am a little worried that parents who don't know my class and see me making kids do wall push-ups or crab walks are going to think that I am punishing kids. Oh well, I guess if they complain my principal or other teachers can explain.

Michelle also had a meltdown yesterday. She got an eraser stuck in her pencil sharpener. I told her to put it down and we would look at it later. She went back to her seat and kept playing with it. She missed most of the calendar lesson. I told her to bring me the pencil sharpener and that she would need to finish her calendar while the other kids headed out to recess. She burst into tears.  I went over and talked to her and walked her through the calendar part that she missed. Once she calmed down, she finished her calendar and was out the door right after the other kids. I keep forgetting that she needs more time to transition. It has just been recently that it has been a bigger problem, so I need to be more aware of it.

All three had problems

My other two kids with SPD also had an interesting day. Michelle was constantly laying on the floor at the end of the day and she has started this new arguing behavior. The other day she asked me what to do with her money for the Halloween party. I told her to put it in the money drawer. She kept telling me that it was not lunch money and that it was for the party. I told her I understood and that it still needed to go in the money drawer. I said it probably 5 times. When I went to the money drawer later her envelope was not there. I asked her again and she still argued. I had her bring me the envelope and then told her again to put it in the drawer with me standing there. She finally did and then went stomping off. I tried to explain it numerous ways and I can't tell if she really didn't understand of if she was just being stubborn. Today she was arguing with me about paper and I finally told her that I had given her instructions and she needed to follow them. She stormed of and went to her seat crying. I had to take her in the hall and explain why she needed to follow the instructions and why it would be unfair to the other students if she didn't. I told her she was not allowed to cry about something she chose to do. She went back in the room and was not crying, but was still upset. I don't know when to draw a hard line with these kids and when to try and explain more. I am not sure what is going on inside their heads.

Shawn also ended up in tears today. He was already having a rough day. He complained that his stomach was hurting again and that his head was buzzing. I sent him to the nurse and she gave him some water because he was dehydrated. I had sent him to get water at our classroom water fountain numerous times. I wonder if he didn't actually take a drink. He is allowed a water bottle, so maybe he will bring one tomorrow. He also went to the nurse at 2nd recess without my knowledge. He came back complaining about how hot he was in his head. Anyway, back to the tears. He couldn't find his writing paper that we were about to share, so he dumped his entire desk on the floor. I do allow desk dumps, but there is a certain time when he can do it. I told him it wasn't the time for a desk dump and he needed to join the rest of us. He immediately burst into tears. I sent him to the hall to cry because I don't allow crying in my room. I don't mind if they cry, but not where it will disrupt the entire class. As kids were reading their stories I went out and had a little chat with him and he was fine. He went back in and cleaned up his mess. Then he came over to me and said, "You are nice." Hmmm... I sure didn't feel very nice today. It was a bit stressful.

Eating off the floor

The music teacher told me that during the assembly Toby was picking up stuff off the floor and eating it. He continued to do it in her classroom after the assembly. Then yesterday he was spitting on kids. We had a spitting issue last week and I said anyone who spits again would go see the principal because it is a health issue. So, he went to see the principal. This was probably a good thing because it got some wheels in motion. He talked to Mom, who ended up in tears. (The poor women is just being worn down. She is a wonderful mom and volunteer. I have really enjoyed working with her this year.) Then I caught her at the end of the day and we talked for a moment. She has been asking me to track his behavior and I have tried, but I don't feel I have a good way of communicating the difference I see or what has not changed. There is so much going on in my room that it is hard to pinpoint when the medication is wearing off. He seems to have times of more focus, but still chats a lot and gets our of his seat. I tried to explain to both her and the principal that he is still misbehaving, but it seems to be more controlled misbehavior and not complete and constant chaos. My principal and I met and he said he has all these things he is wondering about and that the conversation with the mom gave him all kinds of questions. He has done a lot of study on behavior and so he is curious as to the different causes of the behaviors. I wish I could remember all the things he said about it because he had a lot of good questions. We decided that we would just pick on behavior to focus on (getting out of his seat). He will get so many chips on his desk and every time he gets out of his seat he has to put a chip in a cup. If he has a certain number of chips by the end of the week he will get a Popsicle with the principal. Each week or two we will try to reduce the number of chips he starts with. This morning he only got out of his seat 3 - 4 times. This afternoon it was constant. When we came back from library it took him a long time to get started, but then he seemed fairly focused on his assignment. It did last long and he stood up with his paper, started heading towards his friend across the room, paused at the coat closet, turned a half circle, saw me watching him and went to sit back down. He then turned his paper in with 1/2 of it incomplete. I wish I knew what to do.

Are they absent?

Today my interns supervisor asked me if I had kids absent. I did have 3 kids absent, but she meant my more active kids. The class was much quieter today. She said there was HUGE difference. I guess the medicine is helping and one of my kids with ADHD has moved. It was especially amazing because we had just come from an assembly with one of the Sounders goalies. Then they got autographs and posters. It was an exciting afternoon and they still did pretty well during writing time at the end of they day.

Now... if I could just figure out how to write my lesson plans with all this new curriculum that isn't very strong. All that money and I have to rework everything.

Church

I was working in the nursery this weekend and one of the other ladies there was talking about her grandson. He is hitting and always active. I mentioned that I had 3 kids with SPD and she said, "That is what my grandson has!" We talked and I emailed her some information. It is amazing how I have never heard of SPD before and now I have 3 kids with it and run into this kid at church. He definitely is an active little guy. It must be really hard as a parent to try and figure out how to help your child with this disorder. It sounds like therapy really helps, but what about people who can't afford it. Also, if you don't have a school that will work with you, what do you do? I have a hard enough time trying to figure out how to handle my 3 kids who are fairly typical. My son, who may have ADD, is such a puzzle. He is very well-behaved & really smart, but he can NOT stay focused. That is frustrating enough. I can't imagine having to also deal with tons of energy and behavior problems. These families are in my prayers!

Weekend of emails

Toby's mom and I have been emailing this weekend. She wants us to try explaining more about  his behavior and how he can correct it. We are hoping that when the medicine is working, we will be able to have a good conversation and he will be able to process how his behavior is a problem and that there are ways for him to control it. I think he is now in the habit of behaving badly and we will have to work hard to break that cycle. Hopefully the therapist will have some ideas. We are really excited because they switched to the therapist that we took the class from a couple of weeks ago. He seems really good. Now that Toby is seeing him, he will also be able to come in and observe my class. I will have to publish some of the documents and links that I have found useful.

Girl

My intern was video taping all week for her state evaluation. Our girl with SPD, let's call her Michelle, started to show some of her difficulties. She kept laying over in her chair. Her mo told us she would slump over when she was having trouble, but we hadn't seen it much. I guess we were to busy with the others, but when a camera is on, it makes you hyper sensitive to what is going on in your room. Or... maybe she just hasn't been slumping as much before now. I have noticed that she does not want to stop a task. Her Mom told us about that also. She doesn't know a good stopping point, so she want to finish the task at hand. For the most part she does well in class and just seems more active than other kids in the class and out of her seat a lot.

Earthquake Drill

Today we had an earthquake drill that was an hour long. Our school does it right though. They practice everything and the earthquake container is amazing! The field trip went well today. I was a little nervous about my class and how they would handle such a long drill. We bring books and then runners bring our containers that have paper, crayons, supplies & books. There was also suppose to be a tarp for us to sit on that mysteriously disappeared. Luckily the field was dry and my kids were able to sit in the wood chip area. It made things a little more chaotic and they still did well. I brought a piece of gum for Toby that worked well for a long time. I then gave him a squeeze ball. When that wore off I had him do crab walks and we made it through the hour. Shawn also asked to do crab walks and then he separated himself from the group so he could read. He is getting really good at self-regulating. I also think he liked the idea of doing something different. There were also three deer on the field during the drill. Crazy!

What a difference!

Today Toby had his first day of meds because his doctor also diagnosed him with ADHD. I have been watching my own son and wondering if he has ADD. I know the struggle of trying to decide whether I should put my child on meds. I certainly don't want to have to medicate my child, but should I also make him suffer through school if he could have help. What will the consequences be either way. Anyway, I know Toby's mom has been struggling with the idea of meds. Oh, I feel her pain. Well, her and her husband finally decided to tray it and what a difference. He is on the lowest dose and he got an entire assignment done and stayed focus until about 10:15. He became more squirrely as the day went on, but still he was sooo much more focused than usual. Shawn is also testing out some medicines. The first medicine he took made him a little emotional and gave him major stomach pains. Now he is on some new ones and he is doing really well. I don't think he has had one emotional outbreak this week.

Library seemed to go better this week. Last week the librarian was once again frustrated with the group. Shawn brought a ruler covered with texture. It worked really well in class, but in the library he needed lots of reminders. Then Toby had a squishy ball to use and the librarian had to take it away.

Crayon in the soup

Yesterday we had a crayon end up in a bowl of soup because Toby told another one of my students to do it. It involved two of my students with SPD. I get really confused on how to give these kiddos consequences and be understanding of their struggles.  I don't want to single them out, but sadly they are singling themselves out with their behavior. But... if they can't control their behaviors then how do I deal with their actions.

When I went to pick up the kids from the library the librarian had a very stressed look on her face. She said she wanted to talk to me about a couple of my kids after school. I was not surprised. : ) At the end of the day I went to meet with her and of course she wanted to talk about Toby, Toby's new best friend who seems to betting in all kinds of trouble with him, and one of my students with ADHD. I gave her as much info as I could and told her about the music teachers arrangement of giving these kids extra sensory input. Then we kept talking about more and more kids in my class who are also having difficulties.  The list just kept going on. Phew, what a year this is going to be. : )

At the end of the day my interns supervisor told me that Toby threw 3-hole punches all over another student. Oh, what to do?

Stress!

Today was quite a day. I can't believe how hard this year is so far. Trying to balance my own family, one of the hardest classes I have ever had, and intern, teaching technology to the staff, & leadership team is exhausting. Not to mention my daughter has e.coli, we are fighting deer mice in our house and tent trailer, my Dad is battling cancer, & we are living on a one income right now. I think that would all explain the migraine that just made me more stressed because I had to go to bed and got nothing done.

Praise the Lord I have an amazing savior that...
" knows the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

It's funny to already be excited for next year. I will have the new writing and word work program under my belt. I will be in the third year of our new reading curriculum and fifth year of our math curriculum. 

Shawn was absent today, but I realized it didn't make much difference because he does a pretty good job of self monitoring his emotions and can quickly move out of a tantrum with support. Last week he was wearing a superman shirt, so that helped a lot. We just laughed about how Superman wouldn't cry when he hurt his finger. Shawn looked at his shirt and stopped. Super cute!

I am afraid poor Toby is causing much of the chaos. He is such a neat kid and it just hurts my heart that he is having difficulty controlling his behavior. Today he found a partner in crime and they are inseparable. I have told them they can play at recess, but they are not to be together during class. Hmm... somehow they are at each others desk ALL the time. I don't want to punish him all the time, but I haven't come up with a positive behavior plan to use with him. I need to just sit down and really think through how to best support them. My brain feel so jumbled with all this and I am not sure where to start. We have been so busy that we keep forgetting to do our shake breaks and handwriting keeps getting left out.

Maybe next week! Wow, my thoughts are all over the place today.

Specialist and SPD

The first week of school all 3 specialist (music, library, and PE) came to me and asked me about  my class. I gave them a brief overview of what I learned.

Thankful they are very understanding. Last Friday the music teacher left her intern in charge and came down with one of my SPD kids. (We will call him Shawn. : )) She told me that his behavior was not where it needed to be and what could we do to help him. Shawn, the music teacher and I all brainstormed a plan. We decided that he could give a little hand signal that meant he needed to go do wall push-ups. The music teacher would nod if it was ok and then he would just get up and go do them. This week he got up about 3 times during the lesson and just took care of it. We told our other friend (We will call him Toby.) that he could use the same technique.

Last year Shawn had shown up with a sock that seemed to have rocks in it. The music teacher had been given no instructions and did not know it was coming. The item had to quickly be removed when it became a swinging toy.

I think our push-up plan will work a little smoother. : )

Sensory Processing What?

I started this year off wondering how I was going to get everything done. I spent the end of my very short summer trying to redecorate my room (due to my addiction on Pinterest), clean out cupboards, and get organized. It was the first time in 14 years that I was going to be in the same classroom for more than two years. I also didn't have to change grade levels. Yeah!

It turns out I should have been removing things from my white walls instead of adding some color. I found out by the second week of school that I had 3 kids with Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD). I also have a few with ADHD and some social/emotional issues.

One student I was told about ahead of time. One parent emailed me before school started and we already had a meeting set up for the 4th day of school. The last child was new to the school and I had no idea. He did a great job the first week, but then things started to change. Mom contacted me and after an informal meeting with her at the back to school BBQ, we set up a formal meeting.

Thankfully the parents of all three of these children are amazing!

We have been in school for less than a month and I have already met with all 3 parents, gone to an SPD class with my intern and two of the parents, and coordinated with my OT and learning center teacher. My principal is on board and the teachers in my hall are being very supportive, after I sent out an email explaining the situation. At first I had one upset teacher when she saw a kid doing crab walks down the hall.

I was super overwhelmed after the first week of school and asking everyone for advice. Then the learning center teacher brought in a special cushion, the OT brought in a special cushion, a weighted lap mat, sensory balls, and a lavender scented/weighted neck sock. Oh, where to begin? How do I know what to use and for how long? Is it working or more of a distraction? Does it make this child more in control, but the other SPD kids more out of control? They are all so different. Their sensory issues are all so different.

I had already planned some movement activities, but we added more. We have shake breaks, do wall push-ups, do desk push-ups, brain dance, dots & squeezies, hand pushes, crab walks, snake slithers and anything else we can think of to calm the entire class.

Every specialist the first week came to me with concerns, so now we do as much heavy work as we go to class. We start with arm circles, then press our arms up through the cement and then down. When we get to the ramp we do bunny hops all the way to the top. When they get to the top we do hand presses, hand pulls and squeezies. I don't know if it is helping, but we seem to have less complaints. : )

Many of our transitions include crab walks, snake slithers or slow motion moving. I am not great about it yet, but we have even tried sitting in different positions on the carpet for a short period of time.

I am going to try to document this journey as I attempt to study more about SPD and my class. It will be an adventure!