Communication is still going well – I was unable to come to my internship on Thursday, since I had an orchestra competition.  However, I was able to notify my mentors plenty ahead of time, so there was no confusion or chaos due to my absence.  Also, the letter-writing to Felise, who supervises my paperwork projects, is going swimmingly.  She writes about her son’s new words (such as “no”), her experiences at the Bothell location, and any new projects she wants me to tackle. 

            My work with the twin girl today went even better than last week!  We had to use some problem solving this week when working with her – we are trying to break her out of dependence upon the comfort of holding our hands at all times.  Whenever she tried to grab my hand and lead me to another toy, I instead was told to walk directly behind her – so closely that she could even see my feet in her peripheral vision if she turned her head slight from facing forward.  Every time she paused, I would say “I’m right behind you!”  She appears to understand nearly everything we say, as she follows directions and makes choices when offered.  However, it truly was the most gratifying when she ran about the motor room, shrieking with laughter and actually interacting on some level with the other kids.  (I was also told again today that I did a good job with her!)

            I usually am not upset about examples of teamwork – I suppose “upset” is the wrong word.  The twin girl and I were forming a great relationship and she was connecting to me very well – however, we had to be mindful of my impending absence because of the competition, so I had to give the care of the twin girl over to one of the specialists towards the end of the class, so that we could ensure that she would be able to work with the other specialists.  I did not want to leave her in the middle of class after all of the progress we had been making, but I did understand why it had to be done.  This could be categorized as gracious professionalism, although a different kind than I have previously employed – this involved giving up a rewarding job, rather than taking up a tedious job.

            This week, I had to write two very detailed reports on the kids – I usually only write one report each day, so this was a bit of a time crunch.  I suppose this falls under time management, although there really wasn’t a way to make writing the reports more efficient, as they were so detailed.  I ended up writing everything as fast as possible without making the notes illegible, and gave myself writer’s cramp. 

            My goals for next week are to once again spend as much time as possible learning about the twin girl’s abilities – my long-term goals are still to make a permanent difference in the lives of these children in what ways I can.

I cannot believe what a wonderful week this was!

We had a little problem solving to do at this week’s meeting – we cannot understand why one of the new twins (the girl) is so easily upset.  Even worse, once she has had one tantrum, she never truly returns to her original state of calm, and instead becomes more and more vulnerable with each following tantrum.  We do know that if we stay near her, we are able to quell the tantrums as soon as we see them beginning, thus preventing the next five or six tantrums as well and enabling us to do more constructive work with her.  We devised a system in which we take turns monitoring her progress – and my turn went WONDERFULLY! I was able to observe several trends in her speech and behavior, and she did not have a single tantrum!  It was incredibly gratifying – and to put the cherry on top, Ms. Olsen stopped by Felise’s desk (where I write my reports) after class and told me that I had done a great job.

            The child with separation anxiety is doing far, far better now.  She barely whimpers when she enters class, and the rest of the time she bounces and smiles and sings at the top of her lungs.  We did have to employ teamwork at one point, when she had an “accident” – I am not qualified to work directly with the children in this situation, but while one of us cleaned the child up, another person had to speak to the child’s mother, who had come back into the classroom (we still don’t want to risk another onslaught of separation anxiety), and one of us had to clean up the mess.  I suppose this counts as gracious professionalism as well, since I was the one who was closest to the accident site at the time, and I ended up cleaning up the mess.  I didn’t mind very much (and thank goodness, the accident occurred over a rubber mat!) but I definitely would have preferred making more observations on the other children.

            EEEEEEE!

            While I’m at it, I should mention that one of the more socially anxious, generally silent children is becoming quite a chatterbox!  She is using full sentences and giving direct and AUDIBLE answers!  Excuse me while I go dance the conga.

            Time management went up this week as well – I was given a the task of assembling welcome packets for the front desk.  This involves copying hundreds of papers, cutting fifty or so flyers, making hundreds of packets, and sorting them into different folders for delivery.  Thankfully, I was allowed to use the common space in the supply room and was thus able to line the packets up, once they were assembled and stapled, so that I could sort them into their respective folders faster than usual.

            My short-term goal for next week is to learn all I can about the twin girl who has be puzzling us so much lately – my long-term goals of making a permanent difference in these children’s lives in what little ways I can has not changed.