I just finished a long term sub assignment for an extreme Special Needs student. Peachtree was in the process of hiring for this position, but they take forever, so i knew i would be with her for awhile. I love all the kids in this class, i have subbed in there before and i was the nurse for the first month of school, so i saw some regularly who came in for daily meds, diaper changes, etc. The student i had was a 20 year old girl who has absolutely no verbal skills, a feeding tube, and requires a diaper change twice a day. My days were long and tedious. She is very smart but would rather just curl up in her favorite chair and sleep and just wander around when she feels like it. I wasn't her favorite person, because we HAD STUFF TO DO!!! I have to document everything we do in 5 minute increments, weather she is engaged, inactive, or in avoidance. My goal is to have her engaged as much as possible. The first week was rough and it was physically, literally, she is strong! and emotionally draining! I got her into a groove and by the end of the week we had a field trip for Special Olympics, Basketball! She was engaged almost the entire day! The Marine assigned to help me with the one on one with her was a fabulous Corporal! Could NOT have asked for a better Marine to be her buddy. We did everything! She participated in all her events with hands on help, she made a Christmas card as well as even let her picture be taken for another card to take home! The second week we were in full mode! We began each day with reading and writing. I would pick stories for her on the computer and read them aloud to her and guide her hand to click the mouse to turn the page. She doesn't like this.... We would do all the activities that followed each story. Than we would go over calendar, her name, her birthday, her address, the weather, the season, etc. By this time she was ready to get up and go for her morning walk. While walking the halls i would just reiterate everything we had done and point outside to things that had to do with the weather or seasons. My right shoulder really got a work out from having my arm around her and than using my right hip to keep her in line and than i was constantly steering her. This is tricky and i know all the tricks! ha ha We would head back to the room and continue to work on her writing. I would have things printed out for her from the stories we had read or about the season or weather and i would let her do free hand and than i would do hand over hand with her. Next class was PE. During PE we would walk a few laps in the gym with her peers and than i would strap her in tight into her bike, especially her feet on the pedals. I think that is the only time her feet are pointed straight is when they are strapped that way on the pedals, otherwise they are completely turned out, and she can run fast like that! It is amazing at how fast she is! I got my daily exercise with her! I would push the bike so her legs would go round and round, so she can get different movement with her body. I would randomly stop pushing and help her legs put pressure on the pedals. She HATES that and would usually start trying to take off her helmet, so i would go back to pushing.....i would talk to her the entire time about her, who she is, the community she is in, lives in, etc. After PE it is time for a diaper change. Week 2 she had an infection on her side that got out of control and needed to be drained every other day and the antibiotics did not make it pleasant for diaper changing....next it was off to the classroom for lunch. She doesn't eat due to her feeding tube and there isn't time for me to eat as she likes to wander and i have to always be at her side or she will knock computers down, etc. She could cause 10's of thousands of dollars in damage in a few seconds unsupervised! Her least favorite part of the day is the Vocational Skills part. I would spend the last couple of hours each day preparing her to (hopefully) someday work an assembly line job. I know she can do this, but she is lazy and has no desire to do something productive. She might not have the mental capacity to know what it means to feel good about being self sufficient or accomplishing something. But we worked every day on sorting Lego's, building Lego's, linking chains, putting combs in and out of pouches, putting toothpaste holders together and taking apart, sorting colors, matching, etc. You name it, we attempted it! I tried so hard to get her to respond to SOMETHING! ANYTHING!!! I failed in this, but it hasn't been accomplished by anyone before, so i didn't beat myself up too bad when my long term ended. I found a book in the room that was not a little kid book and every time she would go into avoidance i would read from Hawkes Cove. I loved the book, so i had no problem reading aloud when she decided she was done. I wasn't sure if she had been listening or what she is capable of grasping.....but a few days after i started the book she brought the book to me and pulled me to her favorite chair! This completely caught me off guard because i really think she hates me, if she is capable of having those feelings! End of day meant taking her to get changed again, backpack packed, and walking her out to the bus. Our schedule was pretty much the same on Red or Gold days, just a slight change on Gold days. During her block to go to Art, which she spent the second half listening to the Chorus class i took another one of the students to PE. He is in a wheelchair. He would do a couple laps with his peers and than much to his dismay i would take him into the PT Room for his Physical Therapy. This way he is out of his chair and getting some stretching and exercise done. I don't think he is out of his chair much. Getting him from his chair to the table is a bit tricky. He isn't fat, but SOLID! He is super social and loves to be with his friends, so that is the motivation during the 40 minutes of exercise we do on the PT Table so he can get back out and do whatever it is his classmates our doing! This is hard work, for both of us! He is really tight, so the positions i put him in are not comfortable. He is a sweetheart and i just keep reminding him that as soon as we are done we can go back out with his friends and PLAY!!! The kids are really good and let him join them for whatever they are doing and just modify for him to participate. From PE i take him to the cafeteria and get him his lunch, and than head back to the room and switch to get my student back and the other aide heads to the cafeteria to be back with her student. We had another field trip on Friday of week 2. It was Christmas shopping and lunch at Ci Ci's Pizza. First stop was the Dollar Store where we did some of her Christmas shopping. She had a few meltdowns and my shoulder was on fire from pulling her up off the floor and being careful of where she is injured and being drained. Next stop was WalMart. She enjoyed walking up and down the aisles and especially loved the kitchen section with all the appliances. CiCi's was next. She loves Coke and had one while we were there, carefully drinking out of a straw. She doesn't have very many teeth left, but she doesn't eat...and a straw doesn't require them. Our last stop was the Mall. She was done. Every time we passed a bench she pushed me toward it and we sat down while her other classmates looked in different stores. By the time we got on the bus, again, i wasn't sure if i would be able to get her off the bus! She stayed awake, YAY! Because we got back just in time for Pep Rally!!! We had front row seats and she seemed entertained watching all the madness going on with the kids getting ready for basketball games and wrestling matches! I think it also helped that her brother is a Senior and had the mic most the time talking....Got the word today, Peach tree has hired someone and i am done. I love the work with her, but wow! It is just exhausting! My only breaks are at diaper changes when i ask someone to watch her for as long as it takes me to quickly go to the bathroom and wash my hands!!! Thank goodness i was put in computer lab the following week because i had a TON of handwritten documentation that needed to be typed up!!! It took 2 days but everything has been typed up, photo copied and all the students work has been copied and everything is turned in!
