I've Had a Bad Day...

I had to have oral surgery to remove all 4 of my wisdom teeth today. I actually felt pretty good. I'm on pain pills, but I felt pretty good.

Until 3:30. Erick just came home from buying me some soup from Leatherby's for lunch. I was light headed and leaning against him... The next thing I knew, Erick was standing over me "Jess.. Are you okay? You just passed out!"

I told him I was fine, but my head hurt a lot. He put his hand under me to provide a pillow when he realized I was bleeding.

So, a 3 hour ER visit resulted in 4 stitches in the back of my head.

I'm fine, but I was pretty embarrassed. Hopefully I won't have any more ER visits while I'm re cooping from my wisdom teeth. And now I'll have a super cool scar on my head.

Holiday Wreath

My class made these SUPER cute holiday wreaths. It was very easy to make, so I thought I would share it with all of you.

Supplies:

1 wire hanger

1 box sandwich baggies (fold down, not zipploc)

sequins/glue

ribbon

Bend the hanger into a circle. Tie the baggies around the circle you created (only need to do half-knots). Squish baggies together to create puffed look. Glue sequins directly onto the plastic baggies. Tie the ribbon onto the hook of the hanger.

This is a great fine motor skills activity. That is an area where a majority of my kids struggle. Some of my kids had a melt-down, but after they figured it out it was great.

Out of the Mouth of Babes...

Kids say the darndest things. Here are some of the funny things I've heard recently:

"It's okay Ms. Jess. It's only a legend and it only happens at sunrise."

"It's loosing it's wet!" (Talking about a clorox wipe becoming dry)

Vocabulary card with "which" - "Witch... EW! I don't like those things!"

"Come see my Jelly Fishing dance."

"It looks like a hurricane is going to happen." (I said, "Hurricanes don't happen in Utah because the hurricane can only start in an ocean and we don't live by an ocean.) "Oh! No wonder I've never seen one!"

"I can count by 15's. Wanna hear?" (And he did!)

We talked about different areas like mountains, deserts, etc. "Hey! I'm in Kobe's habitat!"

We went to see Ballet West's Nutcracker. "The boy who took the nutcracker from Clara is a BIG BULLLLLLY!"

A Day in the Life of a Paraprofessional

I love my job. I love my kids and I love the teacher I work with. I am entertained everyday.

We have a school-wide behavior plan. If the kids are having a good day, we call it a "green day." If they're being a little naughty, it's called a "yellow day." If they have having a completely rotten day, its a "red day."

Yesterday, 5 boys in my class were on red. They were talking and talking and WOULD NOT stop no matter what we said or did. In our class, when you are on red you don't have any priveledges (ie. adult takes you to the bathroom, you don't get drink priveledges during class, etc.) The boys didn't care.

So, I got to teach those 5 boys how to clean a bathroom. It was hillarious. The best part was cleaning the girls' bathroom. The boys' bathrooms are so much yuckier than the girls', but just gong into the girl's bathroom was a problem. haha Eight year old boys are funny.

They did a good job cleaning. And they all had a better day today. No toilet cleaning.

Turkey Bowl

Every year (almost every year) we play football on Thansgiving morning. We had fun today! This is MY kind of football!
Jeff, Erick, Holly

Lorraine & Holly

Erick & Lorraine

Tom

Jeff & Erick

Reading

I've had the oppertunity to read a lot lately. It's been really nice not going to school this semester. I have read several series since August.

I started reading some mysteries by Iris Johansen. So far (and I am only on the second book of her series) I really like them. The books are companions, so you don't have to read them in order. Each book's main character is a kick-butt woman with an attitute. If you are into drama-mysteries and like to read about strong women, this is a series for you.

Social Thinking

This is a phrase I hear almost everyday, but that may be foreign to most.

Our culture is very social. There are social rules that make up our society. Part of having Austism is when that person's brain does not make the same social connections as a person who is "neurotypical".

This week I'm going to a Social Thinking conference. It is so weird to think of our culture in that way. Things like, "You have to start as a nobody to become a somebody" when teaching someone how to join a group that already as several members. She expounds upon this saying things like "You cannot join a group instantly talking, you have to look at the group and gradually focus your eyes to their faces. Then you have to wait for two people to talk before you can talk."

Who knew about these rules? Can you imagine having Autism, being thrown into a situation where you didn't know the social rules? Of course, most of us don't have that problem because our brain makes social connections easily. No wonder some of my kiddos don't know how to make friends.

I think it is amazing that our presenter, Michelle Garia Winner, can break down these "unspoken" social rules everyone is expected to understand in a way that we can teach them to our kids. Yay!

Cancer Sucks

My eyes have been opened in a way I wish they hadn't. I have been blessed to never had a close family member be diagnosed with a terminal illness - until June. My grandmother was diagnosed with state 4 breast cancer.

As you can imagine, it's been a difficult, emotional ride. She was taking a new oral chemo drug that made her really sick. She had to go to the hospital several times a week to get hydration IVs and had several chemical burns on her hands and feet. Then, the last week of August, while she was at an appointment at the Huntsman center she became unconscious and and to be resuscitated. Thank goodness she was at the hospital when that happened.

It's interesting how the Lord works. So, she had to spend several days in the hospital after her little "episode" as my family calls it. The only department that had an ICU bed available was the "Burn Unit" at the University Hospital. What a blessing that turned out to be. They were able to give her an ointment specifially made for the burn unit for the chemical burns. Yes, she hurt REALLY bad after having CPR performed on her, but in the end the relief she received from the oinment may just have been worth it.

The chemo was working despite how sick it made her. At the appointment she was supposed to be having instead of CPR, the results from a test shows some secondary lumps (tumors?) in her neck and liver were gone. She was taked off chemo so she could recoup from her experience.

She is back on chemo now, and they found some cancer that has spread to the skin on her chest. The area is too large for surgical removal, so she has to go in for 33 radiology treatments - every weekday until Christmas.

I know everyone has trials and family problems. I just needed to vent.

SL Trib

I have the greatest job in the whole world (at least for me). I love it. I work at Spectrum Academy, a charter school for kids with High-Functioning Autism. 

So, last Thursday some guy from the trib came to our school. He took a bunch of pictures, asked very few questions, and that was that. Well, guess who got into the newspaper... a picture of me doing vocabulary drills with one of my kids!   http://www.sltrib.com/ci_10813783 I'm in pic 2. The article isn't specifically about Spectrum, but about charter schools in Utah. (which, we just got approved to start making way for a "Spectrum" high school! yay!

Here's my 15 seconds of fame.

Throw-Up Shoes

So, I got these WAY cute brown sandals for my birthday! I love them! They are so practical and I wear them often.


A few weeks ago, I was wearing them to work (Spectrum Academy). I was helping some students heat their lunches up in microwaves, when another paraprofessional said, "Jack, you need to sit down." She was not standing near him, and when he didn't follow directions I walked over to him. I touched his back and said, "Jack, lets go sit down." He turned around and PUKED all over my shoes.

I got them all cleaned up and had been wearing them for about 2 weeks when we went over to my parents' house. I took them off (because I HATE wearing shoes). While we were eating dinner, my parents' cat PUKED all over them.

They're not my favorite shoes any more.

My Kids

I work at Spectrum Academy, a charter school for children with autism. I love my kids. Here is a hilarious story that happened today.

My dear friend (aka the boy who is a tough one to teach), lets call him Mike, decided he wanted a blue folder for his social studies project. Well, he wasn't making good choices and he had to wait until the kids who where making good choices picked theirs. Mike let us know he wanted the only blue folder. In fact, he screamed it in my ear.

My other friend, lets call him Adam, was having a great day! He was following directions and he was being a nice friend! He was great! So, we let him choose which folder he wanted. He chose the blue folder.

Mike was VERY angry. He hurt a student and was yelling "The blue folder is mine!" I sat him on a chair to get him away from the group, and he said, "I hate you." I said, "That's fine. It doesn't hurt my feelings." He kicked me and said, "Does kicking you hurt your feelings?"

Mike and I walked, holding hands, to the Principal's office. The whole time he said, "The blue folder is mine! I'm going to get it back."

While I was with Mike at the Principal's office, Christina talked to Adam. She said, "Did you know you made him mad?" Adam said, " Well, he was making me mad acting like that." Christina said, "Do you feel a little bit good for making him mad?" Adam's face went red. Christina said, "You're not in trouble."

I think it's hilarious! Adam did a great job giving Mike classroom justice. Getting punched wouldn't have hurt him as much as taking that blue folder!

Woodland Park

I was asked to give a talk at a nursing home called Woodland Park which is in our stake. Every few months our ward is in charge of sacrament meeting at 3 different nursing homes.

It was a great experience. Everyone is under the assumption the church is the same no matter where you go, but going to Woodland Park today just reassured that knowledge I had. It also changed me perspective a little bit. Heavenly Father loves us. He doesn't care if you can where Sunday best cloths or even get yourself to church. The church was brought to the people who wanted to be there! It was awesome.

I was a little sad. The bishop came and talked to me before the meeting started. He told me that everyone can undestand what I am saying, even though some of them cannot communicate back. Of course, that had not crossed my mind. I knew they would understand me (working with special needs has instilled that in me). It's horrible the bishop would need to tell people that! Of course the residents there do not want to be talked to like they are stupid. I don't know why people would do that.

Twilight

I started reading Twilight on Thursday. I read the whole book in 2 days. I am half way through the 2nd book! This is my new favorite series.

At first I was sceptical. I really don't enjoy the "Mormon" movies that people have made in Utah, and I was thinking "A vampire, Mormon book is not going to be very good." After hearing all the hype and seeing the books on Best Seller lists, I decided to see what I was missing. If you have not read them, I highly recommend them. Stephanie Meyer has not mentioned anything about religion, but the characters have values! It's great. FYI... it's a chick flick book!

Simmons Reunion

Brandi said blogging is fun... so here I am!

Erick and I had lots of fun at the reunion! I took lots of pictures! 

Be patient while I learn how to do this!