To explain the HAAAT!! on the comment....

MG is quite obsessed with hats. I usually wear a hat when I go get her from the bus in the morning. It's cold here during the winter, so I need it. BUT as soon as we get inside the hat needs to be put "AWAAAY!"

It's very cute. If someone wears a hat indoors, she will point to them and say "HAT! AWAAAAY!"

Well, another day.

When I first came into this class the girl that they called me in to work with was a MESS. She's not potty trained and it took 2 or three people just to take her to the bathroom. She was biting and pinching and throwing fits and all that during the day. The original teacher had been diagnosed with cancer early in the year and she had left within 2 weeks. The permanent sub they brought in to replace her had run the district program at a middle school. As far as I know she had never had kids who were as low functioning as MG (the girl I work with).

Within a week after I got her, she told me, "Don't bother trying to teach her. She can't be taught. Just keep her out of everyone's way." Those of you who know me know that I'm NOT the best person to say that to.

I was making a little progress with her here and there. But nothing significant. She was still very defiant. I knew that she wasn't going to make any improvements till that teacher left.

About a month ago that teacher left and we got a different teacher. This teacher and I get along much better.

Within a week after that, MG would do everything for herself in the bathroom except change her own pull up. That may sound like a small victory, but you have to remember that she's 15 years old and mentally about 2. She's going from being very violent and basically screaming in the bathroom from the time you tell her to come to the bathroom to doing most of it herself. HUGE step.

Her academics are improving as well. She's starting to recognize icons and pick them out of groups.

All in all, it's very encouraging and I'm hoping that its will continue.

In the class I'm in, the kids watch a movie after lunch. Right now they are watching "Buddy." Some of them like it, but many of them don't. A lot of our kids can't talk or walk.

It's a district program for severely handicapped and mentally retarded high school age children. We have 5 in wheelchairs and of the ones who can walk, only 1 can walk with no noticeable defect. 2 of them have cerebral palsy. Others have downs syndrome, seizure disorders, and other issues.

It's a challenging job. I never knew being stubborn would pay off so much.

Ok, Not so much with all the good posting often enough to keep this up. But I have a computer at work and it might be a little easier to do now.

I'm still in the same classroom. The girl I work with is getting a lot better now. A lot of it has to do with the fact that the evil teacher who was in the class is gone.

I will try to post at least once a week now.