Second Day in Public Schools

         I wasn't going to write at all today because I felt like I did and saw the same things today while observing but then I looked back at my notebook and saw that I saw some hard children today. I went to the Primary and Intermediate school today. They didn't seem hard at all but they were more complex like complex living situations and/or disorders. I have 3 children that really caught my eyes today and then I learned something new about the whole OT program itself. The intermediate school is where the Special Ed. office is for the whole school so that is where my OT's real office is plus most of her things.
         I got to observe a 3rd grader today that didn't know how to write or cut. She reminded me of a Kindergarden or 1st grader because that is how she was writing and cutting. She has a problem with visual tension and that is when the eyes will not focus on the thing you are doing at hand. They will look anywhere else but what she is doing. It is almost like she is closing her eyes when she is looking down at the table. You can see very little of her eyeballs when you look at her. She cannot cut out shapes. She tears them instead. I also heard a lot of of "I can't do this" or "this is hard" from her when she didn't want to do things and it mostly had to do with writing/drawing and cutting.
         One thing that I learned and love about the school is that they have enough space for the mental challenging children. They have extra rooms where if it gets to wild in the classroom a child can go a be alone for awhile in like a closet space room. I loved their "Special Ed." room because it was a classroom, computer room, and kitchen all hooked together. They did that for children who do not transition well and I got to see a child like that today. He is 10 years old. We had to take games and things for him to do there because he will fight transitions so less is good for him. We even had to make him come to the table to play with some candy because he is that bad at transitions. He gets a hour of OT because he has several disabilities. His family background was really rough on him. He could be very violent and mean if pushed the wrong way but I didn't see any of that today. He was really sweet and said "hi" to me and gave me a high 5. He loves high 5s and jaw pushes (those calm him down). He needs a lot of praises after every little thing that he does and if you don't give it to him right away he will tell you about it.
            It is amazing to see, though, because he did the games very fast and he is smarter then some of the "normal" children I saw before him. He is hard to understand but you can get most of what he is saying out of him. He looks so behind but yet he is so smart when he is calmed down. He did some scratch art which is a great idea for OT. I'm really going to use that when I become an OT. He is my left hander.
            Then I had another little boy with MR and he was really active. He acted like a 4 years old but was really 10 years old. The OT had him do some activities on the floor on his stomach and he could not stay on it for more then 1 min. He also has a hard time holding his body up so that is another reason he laid on the floor for activities, to build that upper arm strength. He had a hard time keeping focus and staying in one spot or one way. He would get up and then lay down and then move to one side and then to the other and so on. He had a very short attention span and has no understanding of personal space. He was one when the OT started with him, he would just "flap" all over the place because he couldn't keep his body still.
             The two important things that I learned about being an OT is RUMBA and a 504. RUMBA stands for Reasonable, understandable, measurable, believable, and attainable goals for each child. You want to make goals for each child so they can reach them and feel proud of themselves afterwards. Then I learned about another way to get a child into OT or any other special classes and that is with an 504. It is kind of like the IEP but the parents have to want it and pay for it. It is where the child is not "bad" enough where they need an IEP but someone thinks that it wouldn't hurt them to have a special class like OT just to make sure they don't get behind.
             A 504 is for one thing and only one thing and if they need help with more then 1 thing then they get an IEP. That is how I understand it at least. Another important thing that I learned today is that school OT is slower when it comes to seeing results then it would be at like a rehab or clinic OT. That doesn't matter to me. Hopefully, I get them for a year or more and if so that is way better then getting them for only about 3 months. If I can see changing in children's behaviors in about 3 months, only imagine what I can see in a whole year or more. That challenge right there is so inspiring to me. I think that is going to be my inspiring statement through grad school and the hard days as an OT. Which one would I rather have and see? Which one means the most to me?