Total Hours: 4 onsite orientation visit
After meeting the Colleen Boyles a few weeks ago I finally got my placement last week and began my internship this week. I know I am a little behind on the process and I only have a few months but I am glad I waited and got my specific site because it is exactly what I wanted to do. I am placed in People Inc. to work with adolescents at the after school program held in Amherst High School. I was also given the option of working at a location with kids at Orchard Park which is held on Friday and Sat. evenings. The program at Amherst High School is run by a young lady named Rachel, whom I spoke with several times this week. I arrived at the program at 2pm Tuesday March 9th and was scheduled to work until 6pm when all the parents usually pick up the kids.
Once I arrived at the location I was greeted by Melissa and another young lady (I forgot her name already!) and they gave me a quick run through of the activities we would be doing with the kids and what it was all about. I was still a little nervous about what to expect because I have never worked with adolescents with mental retardation before but I was excited and sure that this would be worth it and definitely would teach me alot about this area of mental health services. The after school program consisted of about five volunteers and roughly fifteen kids with ages ranging from 14-21. On this day it was just me and the two other workers at first. For the first hour they talked to me about the kids, what to expect, and they activities we would be doing. Today there wouldn't be too many kids in because it was Thursday and apparently Thursday and Friday were slow days. Usually the parents would pick up most of the kids straight from their specific schools. But we would have a good amount of kids. After the first hour the bell rang and school at Amherst High was out. Melissa and I went outside to wait for the bus that would drop off three of the children we would be with.
There we first picked up Alex. He was a fifteen year old boy with mild mental retardation and blindness. At first I was a little nervous about escorting Alex down the halls to our room but Melissa introduced him to me, he immediately held my hand and was very delighted to meet me. I felt really comfortable with Alex and we walked down to the after school room. The other children from the bus followed behind and were still a little shy about meeting me. After about half an hour more and more students came into the room. I tried to be outgoing and approach all of them but it was difficult because they were still reluctant to meet a new person. I could tell there interactions with Melissa and the other aide were very warm and they were all very close. I think it will take some time for them to get used to me. It was only my first day so I didn’t really remember all of their names but I remember Alex, Jon, Angelica, Joe, Jordan, and Lindsey. Angelica was the most outgoing, although she was mildly mentally retarded and completely blind she seemed very bright. She repeated everything she heard and was very aware of her surroundings. Even though she just met me she was already accustomed to my voice and repeated my name several times. I even painted her nails and took a walk with her as she told me about her day at school. She was definitely easy to get along with and I enjoyed her company.
Another girl which stood out to me the first day was Lindsey. She was moderately mentally retarded and I noticed her strong personality right from the beginning. She ran up to Melissa several times and placed her hand on her shoulders. You could tell Melissa was uncomfortable with Lindsey so I asked her why she was so aggressive. Apparently she has the most behavioral problems out of all of the kids and would often lash out at others if she didn’t get her way. I also noticed several scrapes and marks on her hands. Apparently Lindsey would self mutilate her hands if she didn’t get her way. I was a little more nervous around her but decided to give her the benefit of the doubt.
After I tried to introduce my self to everyone we decided to do a little activity where we cut out pictures from newspapers and made stamps with them using a mixture of soup and vanilla extract. While some of us did that activity several others went into the kitchen with Rachel and made cookies. After the snack we watched some videos and talked. After that we took a long walk around the school for some exercise. The kids really enjoyed that activity the most. We headed back to the room after an hour of exercise and sat around and talked while the parents came. It was an interesting first day. I was a little nervous meeting all of the kids but I think that after some time they will learn to get used to me and possible remember me. I am looking forward to coming here in the future. The next time will probably be in a week because I have to finish my orientation hours and get some other stuff done for Colleen Boyles.
Saturday March 11th: First Day of Orientation
Total Hours: 8.5
Today was the first day of orientation at People Inc. All volunteers and employees have to undergo a lengthy orientation process in order to be able to work within the program. Before the orientation we were instructed to complete several other things:
-Drug Test
-PPD Test
-Fingerprinting
These were for everyone involved in order to make sure they had proper credentials and were able to work within the program.
Orientation began at 8:30 Saturday morning at the offices at 976 Delaware Ave. First there was a welcome given by Christine Fischer the training coordinator. She basically gave us the agency philosophy and the mission of People Inc. which is "People Inc. exists so that individual with disabling conditions or other special needs have the supports that they need to participate and succeed in an accepting society". We then talked about professional expectations and qualities associated with being a professional in a work environment. Basically just simple expectations they had for us as employees.
We then went into and overview of developmental disabilities. She talked alot about human growth, physical development, cognitive development, sensorimotor development, language and social development. The developmental disabilities we discussed in length were mental retardation, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, autism, and some neurological impairment. I assume that these five classifications of disabilities are the most common within the program. We then did a small group activities discussing each of these disabilities and ways we could support any one with these difficulties.
After lunch we had a lecture on respect in the workplace. Basically talking about harassment, and other types of negative attributes in the workplace. The last thing we discussed was OSHA- Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Here we talked about bloodborne pathogens, fire safety, Hazardous communication, and lockout tagout. These are several things that all employees must take into consideration working around "consumers". Whether at their residence or at a program similar to my after school program.
continued....
Week one of Orientation:
Monday March 13-Thursday March 16
4pm-9pm daily
Total Hours: 20
initial scip-r: strategies for crisis intervention and prevention-revised
Saturday March 18th orientation 8:30-4
Total Hours: 8.5
-Human resources and benefits
-Safe driving
-basic first aid
-lunch
-sexuality
-rights and abuse
Tuesday March 21 on site:
2-6pm Total Hours: 4
This was the second time that I was at "The Learning Center" thus far. I really like so far and I think it's going to be alot more interesting then i thought. Today I met with some more kids, they still don't remember me and they have a hard time saying my name but I'm sure after a little bit they will get used to it.
As soon as I got there Rachel (the program director) and Rebecca (one of the other workers) went over the days schedule with me. Today we were going to have pop tarts and trail mix for snack. We would also be doing a social skill activity (which is every Tuesday). Other then that Rachel wanted them to take a walk for exercise and possibly work on a spring craft activity. This program consists of about 13 kids and is very relaxed to some of the other programs she told me. The kids are all pretty high-functioning so they come in and do their own thing for awhile before Rachel and Rebecca start them off with activities.
The first student came in around 2:40, his name is Jordan and he goes to Amherst High School so he is usually the first one. Around 2:45 Rebecca goes to pick up Alex from the bus which drops him off from another school (not sure where yet). Alex is one of the least functioning kids at the program. He is blind and has severe MR. He can understand everything but has a hard time communicating. He calls Rebecca "Re Re" and Rachel "Raaac". I'm thinking he won't know how to pronounce my name for some time! Once Alex makes his way down to the program Rachel asks him if he was to use the bathroom and he nods yes. He needs total help to do so. I guess he is just getting over a cold so he was a bit fussy today and had a hard time in the bathroom.
At 3:00 Rebecca goes back upstairs and picks up David, Jonathan and Patrick who are coming in from another school (not sure where). Lindsey walks in by herself around the same time. The boys are all very high functioning probably with Down Syndrome. They immediatly run to the TV and pop in the "Wiggles" video and start their "excersises". Lindsey kind of follows be around a little, she uses her "dynovox" to communicate but it is still difficult to understand what she is asking me. She still does not know my name.
Angelica (Gelli) comes in with her mom around 3:15 she goes to Williamsville East High School. She and Alex are the lest functioning kids. She is blind and i think she has mild MR. I'm still a little uncomfortable with her but hopfully it will get easier. After that Mani comes in around 3:30 then Bridget came in and we started our Social Activity.
Rachel puts me in charge of the Social Activity, which makes me a little nervous at first because I don't know how the kids will act. But it goes alright. Jonathan really helped me out and so did Bridget. The activity was "What is Wrong and What is Right". I read a worksheet of directions for them as we all sat around and we went over scenarios and they told me what was the right thing to do and what was the wrong thing to do. For example: If a teacher tells you that she is missing money from her purse and you know who took it what would you do? Basically we went over cheating, stealing, lieing and how those things were wrong.
After the social activity we had our snack, the kids watched a video and we sat around and talked. Some of the planned activities did not get done but i guess it is alright as long as the kids have something to do. I was starting to get a little more comfortable with them and the whole environment. Today was a good start to getting to know them.
Thursday March 23
2-6 total hours: 4
on site at the learning center
Today was an interesting day at TLC. Basically all the same kids were there today except for Bridget i guess she doesnt come in on Thursdays. Jordan came in first as usual and said hi to me. He still doesnt know my name but at least he is making eye contact and asking me questions. He was really excited to tell me about how he is envoloved in track. Apparently his father is very involved in his school activites and tried very hard to get him on the track team. This is his 2nd year of track at Amherst. I guess the coach was very reluctant at first and not into the idea of having someone with Downs on the team but he has gotten used to the idea and welcome jordan. It is sad to think that it's so difficult to get your son into a program that other kids can get into so easily. I really am empathetic towards the parents because it puts so much strain on their everyday lives. It is great to see Jordan so excited about his activity, he feels a little more like the other students i suppose.
Everyone else came in with the addition of another girl. I forgot her name at the moment but Im sure it won't be hard to forget in the future. I think she has severe MR with severe behavioral problems. I think the first day i called her Lindsey but that is another girl with a very different personality. This girl on the other hand is very aggressive. As soon as she walked in she asked Rachel a question, Rachel didnt respond right away which upset her and she went over to Gelly and hit her on the head. I felt so bad for Gelly because she is blind and tottaly helpless. It is our job to protect the kids from eachother and Rachel and I should have done more to help the situation. Gelly was very polite about it and didn't say much, she just went back to her game. The girl on the other hand was given a time out. She didn't want to cooperate so we decided to take all the kdis to the kitchen to make our snack and leave her and Rachel in time out.
I get very nervous around her because she is a pretty big girl and this is the 2nd time I have been around her and noticed her aggresive nature. Im not really sure what to do but the girls told me to just look the other way and try not to make eye contact with her. .. abit hard because I'm afraid she'll hit me!
We all went into the kitchen and Rebecca and Jonathan made cupcakes. Jonathan is a great kid, always willing to help. The other kids sat around the kitchen and talked, played with their games and waited until we ate. After about an hour the other girl (the aggresive one) came out of time out and had her snack. They gave her 2 cupcakes, which i thought was a bad idea because Im sure she doesnt need that much sugar in her system! I was right because after we ate she came up behind me and smacked my arm! Tabitta (another worker) immediatly told her that was wrong and we all just walked away from her. It is such an odd situation because you don't want to acknowledge her bad behavior, yet you wnat her to konw it was wrong. So far I have noticed that they usually ignore her more than anything else.
After snack we had a practice fire drill, which went wrong in every way possible! There were four of us and about 13 kids. Two of which needed assistance outside. All the other kids should have known what to do and for the most part they did.. except for Patrick and Mani. Mani was on his cell phone (he likes to make "calls" all the time) and patrick decided he didnt want to follow us at all! It was a bit of a disaster. Once we were done with the fire drill Rachel sat everyone down in the clubroom and they discussed fire saftey rules for about an hour.
For the rest of the day we watched Mulan and sat around untill they were picked up.
Friday March 24th
2-6 Total Hours: 4 On Site at The Learning Center
Today was a great day at TLC. I finally am comfortable with the kids and they are starting to remember my name!!! David calls me "Sah" and Gelly calls me "Ms. Sahar" Jordan can actually say my name right. So it is a good start! I think it is really importnat to know everyone's names other wise it is difficult to communicate. They really need to be called out, and not just looked at. Especailly Alex and Gelly who cant see.
Today we had a small group: it was Jordan for a short while because he had track. Gelly was there so was Alex, David and Jonathan. Charles (another worker) came in today and Rachel and Rebecca were also there. Melissa is still off this week because she has the flu. We sat around for awhile and played UNO. After that we went into the kitchen and made koolaide and french fries.
Alex was so cute today, he held my hand during snack and wanted a hug afterwards. I really enjoy being around him. Although he is blind you severly MR you can tell that he knows what is going on. During the walk he was very active. Rebecca had to hold him up most of the time but he really enjoyed walking around the school. I was with Gelly during the walk. She loved to run down the hallways. I had to direct her and tell her to turn left and right but mostly she was on her own with her walking stick. Jordan seems really close to Gelly , they walked closely and he really tried to help her out.
After the walk we sat around and waiting for the parents. Friday's seem to be really chill days because no one is really there so it was good to relax and get to know some of the kids on a one on one basis. I get pretty close to Gelly today in our walk and to David during our UNO game.
It's interesting because as soon as things wind down Alex starts to get very vocal and alert. He says "GiGi" over and over again. That is what he calls his mom Cathy. If anyone addresses Alex he will call out "GiGi" and we have to remind him that she is not there but she will be coming soon. This started around 5:30 and continued till around 6 when she finally got there. As soon as Alex heard Cathy come in and he heard the sound of her voice he got really excited. He started to yell and clap his hands. It was great to see him so responsive just to the sound of her voice. They seem to have a great relationship. Cathy can really get him to do things that he would other wise not comply and not do with one of the staff. She asks him to stand up, and he does so very well without the need of his walking stick or any of us assisting him.
Today was a good day. I think Friday's are great because there are fewer consumers there and we can really get to know them on a more personal level. But I do miss the other kids so we will see what happens on Tuesday. Hopefully they still remember me next Tuesday!
Saturday March 25th Orientation 8:30-4
Total Hours: 8.5
-Lifting and transferring
-corp. compliance and hipaa, electronic security of information
-lunch
-basic adult cpr
-closing
Tuesday March 28th
On Site at TLC 2-6pm
Today was fun. We went outside and watched Jordan's track practice. It was cool to see him out there with the rest of the kids. We were all cheering him on which gave him a boost of confidence. We also had a snack and went back inside to wait for the parents. Nothing too eventful today!
Thursday March 30
On Site TCL: 2-6
Well today was an interesting day. It started off fine because we got to go outside considering how good the weather was. All the kids got to the school betweet 2:45 and 4 and we basically sat outside waiting for everyone. Then Christina showed up, which was very crazy! She wasn't having a good day at school, which carries over to us afterschool. She started attacking Rebecca and basically hit her a few times. At this point all the kids were sitting outside on the front steps by the parking lot and it was Melissa, Rebecca and myself. According to some laws Melissa isn't allowed to restrain Christina because Melissa is pregnant. Rebecca onthe other hand is allowed to retrain her, and I am not because I do not have the proper training yet.
Christina was really acting up today, at another point of the day while we were outside she ran infront of the street to a school bus and sat down by the wheel. It was scary because she looked like she wanted to hurt herself. The two aides couldn't do anything at that point because she wouldn't get up. Eventually they talked her into going inside. She was crying and obviously upset about something but we didn't know what.
Tabitha eventually showed up which really helped up alot in handling Christina. We decided to walk the kids through the school to the track field to watch Jordans practice. Tabitha escorted Christina behind us so that she wouldnt attack Rebecca again. It seems like Christina just wanted one on one attention. She meet us on the track stands a while later obviously relaxed and ready for a snack!
After the drama with Christina everyone was ready for a little snack. We sat on the benchs and ate pretzels and trail mix and watched jordan's practice.
It was a stressful days but in the end we did a good job of keeping the other kids calm. I dont really have the responsibility to restrain Christina but I think the girls could have done a better job with her. I think everyone is alittle scared of her attiude. And without Rachel her today it was really stressful. Hopefully things will go better next time.
Friday March 31
2-6
Today was a really relaxing day. Amherst HS had a staff development day so the school was empty. Everyone showed up around 2-3 and we headed to the room. We had dounuts that Lindsey's father brought in and played UNO.
After that we watched a video and talked. Nothing else really happened today... probably because Christina wasn't there!!
Tuesday April 4th
2-6
Today we did april fools activities. Almost all the girls were there and all of the boys went home early so it was a very calm day.
We watched a movie (Uptown Girls) after the activities and made beaded jewlery. The girls really enjoyed the craft and were pretty much silent throughout the movie. During the movie we also had a small snack of cheese and crackers.
Overall it was an uneventful day, but it was good day to get to konw the girls and spend quality time with them.
Thursday April 6th
2-6
Today was another interesting day! There werent too many people here today but it we had some problems with paul and christina. Paul did not want to cooperate with rachel today and starting to hit himself several times. It was very difficult to watch but i guess kids with autism dont realize what they are doing to themselves. Also Rachel was explaining how Paul enjoys pressure on his head and shoulders to calm down. Apparently it centers him and makes him feel good. He was repeatedly saying that he wanted a "headrub" so I think Rachel was using that to say if he did something then she would use the pressure to make him calm.
I know Paul has autism but Im not sure if he has any other neurological problems. At this point his parents have him wear overalls to school everyday because of his "problem". Apprently he enjoys the feeling of touching his rear end. It was very unusual to see a teenage boy walking around with one hand in his pants.. but we just have to remind him to show us both hands. He rarly listens and if he does he quickly does it again. I think its somekind of stimulation he enjoys from doing that. It is very difficult to get him to comply. It would be interesting to see if we could find some other kind of stimuli which he would enjoy and not think about his rear end. Not only is it akward to watch, but it is unsanitary for us and the other children.
After a few incounters with paul, christina needed our attention as well. She really needs that one-on -one attention and often retaliates if we dont provide it. Today she was very amused with Rachel yelling at Paul so she just sat on the couch watching and laughing. I guess that is better than assulting the staff.
After we had pizza bagels we went for a walk around the school. Angelica really enjoyed that today... she loves walking and excersiing.
Friday April 7th
2-6
Outside to watch Jordan's track practice.
Tuesday April 11h
2-6
Today we worked on social skills and had a light snack of pretzels and lemonade. Nothing too interesting happened...
Thursday April 13th
2-6
Today was the anniversary of the Titanic so Rebecca thought it would be fun if we celebrated that. For snack we would have "subs" and then we would watch the titanic movie.
The kids really enjoyed the subs but i think it might have been too much for them considering they alreay ate lunch and would soon go home for dinner. Christina, Lindsey, Patrick, Alex, and Mina were there today. Christina was very well behaved. The behavioral specialist from People Inc. came in on Monday's meeting and talked to the staff about ways to address her and her problems. She lashes out alot so the specialist suggested that we agnowliedge her presence before she gets a chance to hit us or to act out. We are supposed to be very anamated and verbalize verything. "I see you christina, Thank you for throwing away the garbage"... or "I see that you are hungry, we will eat in a few mintues"... "You need to pick up your chair and not slam it".. i think these are some methonds that we worked on in B.mod. Alot of them seemed to be working this week because she was enjoying the attention and she was following rule without getting too loud or inappropriate.
It will be interesting to see if she catches on to us, or if this doesnt work anymore and she gets used to the way we talk to her.
I also spent alot of time with Mina. I beleive he has MR, he attends the high school that i went to and it was really nice to have something in common with him. I think he's a bit shy of me but once i started remembering my high school teachers and talkign about them to MIna he started to open up. He is 17 i think, and very nice but he can exaggerate certain things. For example he carries his cell phone around all the time.. he has several girlfriends.. he travels alot... I think they are things that he says to try to impress others but he needs to learn not to lie so much, and to be himself.
Friday April 14
We have no program for the follwoing week so Rachel said that I could plan the week of 05/01 in order to recieve 4 hours.
Here is an outline for the week that i have planned: The general theme is Cinco de Mayo so i will be doing some mexican activities based on that
Monday 5/1:
-Workout day: Watch Richard Simmons and excersice. This will be led by Jonathan (because he loves to exercise!).
-Snack: fruit and orange juice
-Go for a walk
Tuesday 5/2:
-Social skills day
-Go outside if the weather permits and work on the weekly social skills activity
Wednesday 5/3:
-Craft day
-Make mexican flowers with tissue paper
-Work on Cinco de mayo coloring activities, and crossword puzzles
-Snack.. make Sangria (non alcoholic...grape juice with spakling cider)
Thursday 5/4:
-Cooking club
-Make taco's
-make signs for jordan's meet
-go outside and watch Jordan's track meet
Friday 5/5:
-Movie day.. watch a mexican themed movie
-cookies for snack
TOTAL HOURS: 97.5
Tuesday April 25th:
4 hours
-Today we had a very good day... angelica came back from Respite house which was good. We hadn't seen her in awhile. Apparently her mom takes her there often.
This program makes me wonder how accessible these programs are to the kids. I asked Rachel some questions about it. I guess each child is given a certain number of hours they can use the facilities. Rachel didn't really tell me much else. This makes me wonder if parents who are overwhelmed at home take advantage of these programs and let their kids go away for days on end. It seems like that is something that is going on with Angelica's family. But who knows.
I think Im going to research it a little further and figure out exactly what requirments are taken for families to use these programs.
Thursday April 27th:
4 hours
-Today was a cooking club day. Melissa and I prepared apples with caramel for the kids. Jonathan and patrick came into the kitchen and helped us set the tables and make the kool-aide. Jonathan is behaving much better towards me... for awhile he didnt listen to alot of things that I asked of him but lately i think he's used to me and i listening to me alot more. Patrick is still very quite. Apparently when he wants the attention of the female staff he pretends like he is sick. So today he kept rubbing his eyes and saying that he was sick.. His eyes were a little red so at first I was very concerned but Rachel let me know that he had bad allergies and that I shouldn't worry too much. I think maybe he just wants the female staff to pay some attention to him.
-Jonathan was very excited about tommorow because it is his birthday! He keeps requesting taco's so I made sure to include that on the menu for next week (which i planned). We will be having chocolate cake.
-Christina was pretty well behaved. She has the most behvioral problems out of all of the consumers in this program (followed by Paul) so she needs the most attention. I sat with her in the kitchen while everyone ate. She has this notebook that she carries around and draws peoples faces in with their names on the top and for the whole time i have been in this program she has drawn this girl Amy. I guess Amy works at Respite house which she attends oftern and she really likes Amy alot. Today I got to meet Amy because she came in to help the staff. Christina was verrrrry very excited to see Amy... And i must admit i was also excited because I have seen so many drawings of her. Suprizingly she didn't go up to Amy too much. We did have an incident went we were walking back from the track field. Christina ran into the middle of the track where Jordan's team was practising. I guess she wanted to participate too. It was very funny.. but at the same time she was being disobedent. The whole time i sat with her on the bleachers she was fine and very attentive. She started to misbehave towards the end of the day, i think she was just getting tired.
-Other than that i really didn't mind spending all of my time with Christina today. She really need to individual attention and she is finally warming up to me. Im just not sure if that is a good thing considering the fact that she can be very violent towads the other staff which she is veyr familiar with.
Tuesday May 2
4 hours
I planned this week so I was very excited to see how Rachel would incorporate some of my ideas in the plans.
For snack we had popciles.. Christina was veyr excited about Amy being with us today.
Today we were supposed to work on social skills so Melissa Amy and I went outside with Jonathan, Patrick, Christina, David and Lindsay. Rebecca had an emergency and went home and Rachel stayed inside for awhile longer with Alex.
I was expecting it to be a little crazy on the walk outside but eveyrone cooperated and we made our way over to the track to watch Jordan's practise... the weather was great today.
I decided to give Melissa and Amy a break today so I sat alongside Christina and watced the practice.
We didnt get a chance to do social skills because alot of the kids went home early.
Thursday May 4
4 hours
Today we did cooking club... we made taco's as a part of the Cinco de Mayo week.
Another one of the staff from Respite was here today to help us, her name was Valerie and she was also one of the staff that worked with Christina in the past. It was good to see her and talk with her to get another perspective of what is going on the Christina's behavioral problems.
We all made taco's and then decided to go outside for Jordan's game. This was the first actually meet that I was going to see and I was very excited to see the progress that he has made.
Total Hours: 113.5
Tuesday May 9th: 4hours
Cooking club day...
Today we made sandwichs and watched a movie. It was a slow day because not too many consumers were there. Overall things went well. Im getting along well with everyone.. im going to miss them all next week!
Alot of the behavioral problems wiht christina have subsided but she still tends to act up when she isnt getting what she wants.
Thursday May 11th: 4hours
Today was rainy so we decided to stay in side have snack and watch a movie. JOnathan picked the rugrats movie so we watched that for awhile. Melissas sister and Valerie, my self and Rebecca were all here today. And most of the consumers were there. Alex was having a good day..it is so rewarding to see him be able to say my name! Paul was having some behvioral problems becase he wanted mac n cheese and we didnt have any. He has autism.. so today he was really having a rough day. I feel awfull because i dont know what to do at some points. I try ot ask him questions to get his mind off of the things that are bothering him but its hard.
I will be in again next week and I might actually stay with this program for the rest of the summer. Plans are still underway.
Total hours:121.4
PracticumExperiences
