If you think this sounds like a 3 year-old playing cars, you're close.
If you guessed that this sounds like me at snack time, you're spot on! If you further guessed that that the "lights" consisted of fruit snacks and the "car" was a rectangle of graham cracker driving around a laminated "streets & buildings" placemat, well then, clearly you have taught preschool!
Have I mentioned lately that I love my new position as a Preschool SLP? I do. My favorite part is the two Language classes that I get to teach. Its speech therapy... but its run pretty much like a 90-minute preschool class once per week:
- Free play: Wherein I attempt to collect data with one child and the other 7 immediately swarm around me because they love to learn. And also, how often do adults sit on the floor and play with them on their level?
- Clean up: My assistant and I sing endless varieties of the "Clean Up Song"-- pretty much the same concept as "A Spoon Full of Sugar Helps the Medicine Go Down" except without the neat snapping trick.
- Bathroom: Depending on how many children are potty-training, we may do this one or many times per day.
- Circle time: Where I believe I'm brilliantly incorporating Viconic Language Methods by drawing all the kids onto large poster paper with a thought bubble showing them what we're learning about that day... and then one of them inevitably bursts my bubble with an awesome comment like "There's a cloud over our heads!"
- Art project: Process over product, folks. If the papers we send home look like your preschooler did them... he did.
- Snack time: Social engagement, food exploration, etc.
- Books & puzzles or Play in the Motor room: This decision is completely arbitrary and depends entirely on whether my kiddos and kidlets have drained my energy reserves or not.
Among the many reasons that I love language classes are that we are encouraged (yes, encouraged!) to play with our food. Sorry Mom's... I promise to teach manners too, but I have a few kiddos with adaptive feeding goals and my Occupational Therapist consult said to get creative with our food.
So we do letters and numbers and shapes. We do walking in the halls and lining up. We do sharing. And we do hugs. But we also do play. Because play is kids' work.
After spending the past 4 years at all levels from Kindergarten through the post-High School transition program, I'm pretty excited to see what I can do for children to give them the best start before they enter school.
I have a file on my computer titled Kids Say the Darndest Things. So far its kind of sadly empty; by virtue of being an SLP all the kids I work with have some sort of communication disorder and I've been working with non-verbal kids for the past 4 years. But I do have two gems to share:
From last week:
Me: Do you want one rectangle (graham cracker) or two?
3 y.o. boy: 10! Splays all ten fingers
Me: Uhhh... okay! Breaks 1/4th of graham cracker into 10 pieces while counting to 10.
3 y.o. boy: Good job counting to 10, Teacher.
Schwoo! [wipes brow] So glad I passed that test!
From last year:
Kindergartener 1: My Mom has a baby in her tummy. It was an accident.
Kindergartener 2: Did she eat it?
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While I'm no longer doing it full-time, I still have 8 hours per week devoted to my previous position, Augmentative Communication (AAC) Specialist.
Don't know what AAC is? I'd be happy to show you...
A. Stephen Hawking, who communicates via a twitch switch on his cheek muscle.
B. One of my absolute favorite videos because it shows a kid with a disability just being an absolutely typical kid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=d7WgRVEPW0g&feature=endscreen
C. One child two-switch scanning using her head; other child using eye gaze:
D. Schuyler of Schuyler's Monster fame (incidentally she is now a teenager and uses an iPad instead of the Vantage device show here)
E. A man using his toes (yes, his toes!) to operate his AAC device and a woman using a head pointer (which nowadays has mostly been replaced by eye gaze technology but also exists in micro-dot form)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ytn53lTdsf0
I love these two messages from the trailer of "Only God Could Hear Me":
Don't limit non-speaking people.
and
Life is bigger than how we communicate. Its that we communicate that's much more important.
When you stop to think about it, opening the power of language & communication to a child... its a pretty awesome job!
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The last part of my job is in an unofficial capacity: Teaching & Research. I've been fortunate enough to be on University panels, conduct Continuing Education workshops, and guest lecture in M.Ed. programs. I love teaching adults because when I stand in front of a classroom and lead a discussion, rather than lecture, I get to learn from every person in the room. I am consistently in awe of the varied experience and paths that have brought each of us as learners together. I can't think of much that I enjoy more than sharing ideas and the innate high of conceptual learning. I also can't believe any child is as wily, squirmy or fast (well, okay, maybe fast) as Graduate students love to pretend they are when they stymie my well-laid plans for object lessons with their role-playing.
Someday, when I'm all grown up and have all the answers grey hair, I will teach University.
In the meantime I'm working on my Ed.D. so I can be a more effective researcher and practitioner.
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I suppose that, if I have to work for a living (and really, its not like I haven't considered the alternative!) I am pretty blessed to have been led to a career as a Speech-Language Pathologist.
What do you do, Dearest Reader? Tell me in the comments what you do and why you love it.
Hummm. My full time job, or part time job?
ReplyDeleteOK, full time job. I'm Mark, Hanna & Ty's mommy. I love it because I get to watch them grow, learn, discover and hope that in 15 years I will be relieved that they each turned out ok. It's neat to see the things I have tried to teach & values instilled in them reflected in their behaviors. And it's humbling at times to see the things I have inadvertently taught by my bad example reflected in their words and behaviors. Always new ways to repent and try to become better. I'm also Brett's wife. But it seems I spend much more time on being a mommy than on a wife.
Ok, for my part time job. Most days I love being an RN, because (like being my kids mom), most of the time I go home feeling that I made a positive difference in someone's life. Our lives cross paths at a pivotal & vulnerable time in their lives. I have the opportunity to relieve pain, build confidence, teach, problem solve and use my knowledge and skills to help parents take home a healthy addition to their family.
But with both of my jobs, some days I feel there is more on my plate than I can handle (or sometimes don't feel prepared/qualified to handle) in a manner that I feel good about the outcome at the end of the day. I am very exhausted at the end of those days...and usually don't sleep well that night. But then there must be an opposition in all things. If every day was a great day and everything went just how we wanted, and everyone cooperates with our agenda...I would only be content (and bored), but I don't think actually HAPPY... and probably become discontent. (is that a word? I think it is. Sounds right, and it isn't underlined in red.)