Week 6 Post 3

Today is our last day of SCORE and it was a bittersweet experience for me. It was bitter because I have fallen in love with the kids and don’t want to leave yet, I feel like I have so much more work to do here with these kids, but it is sweet because I was able to become really good friends with the staff and the students. I feel like I can walk away from Manchester Essex High with closure as well as knowing where I want to go in the next few years of my life because of this internship opportunity.

Today I am working in a classroom on the second floor purple wing where the fresh kids are. I have been in that room a few times already and really enjoy it because the kids are so cute. I am not sure yet who I am supposed to be following in that class, but hopefully it is Raul – he and I have become pretty good friends in the short time I have spent with him.

Yesterday the girl I was supposed to follow was out so I just hung out with the classroom as a whole. I think the staff is starting to trust me more because they let me be alone with the kids. I am able to take some of them on walks, to the bathroom, and other places as well. Yesterday I took a girl to do her job which happened to be washing dishes. I really enjoyed my internship as a whole and do not want to leave.

Emily: Week 6 Post 2

                Yesterday I worked in my brother’s classroom which was a lot of fun. I worked mostly with a girl named Ayden, she is adorable. I helped her with her morning work, which she is one hundred percent capable of doing she just needs to be reminded to do it. After morning work the kids went to yoga, but I just watched. It is so neat to see my brother in school because he acts so differently than when he is at home. I never knew he was so interested in doing yoga. Out of all the kids in his class he was the most focused on it. Of course it wasn’t like intense yoga, but it is till more than what most kids will do in this school. The two paraprofessionals and I took 3 of the kids on a walk during the day because it was so nice out. I have noticed that the staff tries to keep a one to one or one two student teacher ratio and if there is more than one kid two staff members are needed just in case something happens whether it is medical or behavioral related. I have also noticed that with the kids who have a harder time with behavior the staff takes a walkie-talkie with them.

                Today I am with a girl named Chelsea, I have been with her before she is adorable and all the kids in the class are so nice, so it should be a great day.

Week 6 Post 1

This week is rather different for me. Because it is my last week I got to choose what I wanted to do. I told my supervisor that I wanted to follow the kids around instead of the therapist. Yesterday I was in a class with five kids. I worked mostly with two of them. It was interesting because I did not pick who I wanted to work with the kids picked me. It was really nice to click with some of the kids. They all wanted to hold my hand when we went on a walk and wanted me to help them with their class work. If I was not helping them they had to come show me when they were done. Today I am following my brother in his class which should be interesting for a few reasons. He always gives me dirty looks when I see him in school. It’s also very different today because all of my brother’s teachers are like family friends now; they come to our house and everything. I also know all of the kids in his class and they know me so I feel more comfortable in that class than other classes. It is always an adventure when I am in that class. The last few times I was there we worked on building an ice cream truck for an art show. It was so big, one of the girls in the class was able to go inside it. It was pretty funny.

Week 5 Post 3

Yesterday was a crazy, but fun day because one therapist had three kids out so I didn’t get to spend much time with her. The only time I could spend with her was a half hour session which turned into only fifteen minutes because we couldn’t find each other. I also got to have a session with a boy who is graduating next week. He was really cute. We did the supply orders for each room and then delivered them. I also got to work with my brother again in the clerical room where he did his favorite activity; cutting paper. After that I ran around doing errands for the woman who runs the vocational unit. I helped set up for an art project as well as get the kids set up for their clerical, prime products, and recycling activities. After that another occupational therapist had me go outside and take pictures of the building for her. The last thing I did yesterday was go to a yoga class with one of the rooms. It was really cool to see them get so excited about this class. It was also extremely uplifting to see the kids respect me as a “teacher” even after just being in their class for couple days. I was able to direct them and get an immediate response out of them. I told one of the boys my name once and now every time I see him he says, “Hi Emily!” If we were allowed to have favorites he would be one of mine.

Week 5 Post 2

A few days ago I was able to go out into the community with a student. We took him to do his “internship” at the Open Door food pantry in Gloucester. This was a really rewarding experience because I not only got to see the child in this setting, but I also got to learn a lot about food pantries in general. I learnt that food pantries will give each other food if needed and that the workers there go through every piece of food item to check if it is edible. There is also a nationwide food drive through the mail system that helps provide food to the pantries. People leave the food they wish to donate out for the mailmen and they pick it up. The food pantry was stock full because of this food drive which really amazed me that there are so many generous people. After the food pantry visit the supervisor and bus driver decided we were going to get coffees and take a little drive before heading back. I was ok with this because the bus driver used to drive my brother and uncle, and the supervisor is in my brothers class, so needless to say we took memory lane back to the school. Vocational is a great part of the school I get to see kids do “live jobs” which means they are actually going to be used for example; mailings for the church or flyers for the school may be put together by the kids.

Week 5 Post 1

This week I am basically doing all vocational activities with different students. This morning I was brought around to the different rooms that I would be working in this week. I was taken to the vocational room which has different jobs like sorting items, packaging, and mailboxes. Right next door is the prim products room where they have taken art class up a notch and the kids in their do arts and crafts that they can sell. They make cards, magnets, pins, etc. Afterwards I was taken to the supplies room where the kids count out napkins and eating utensils and then deliver them to rooms. After that I was shown the clerical room where kids do “live jobs” which means that the jobs they are doing are going to actually be used. For example; the kids will enter data for the librarian, they will put stamps and labels on envelopes, as well as other jobs. Lastly I went to the life skills room which is a really cool room, because it is basically a kitchen. The kids do cooking groups in there as well as laundry.

After being shown around I went to a cooking group with one of the occupational therapist. The kids made chicken quesadillas and loved them. There were three of the older boys in the school there and were very verbal and social. They each introduced themselves to me and were talking to me throughout the cooking group. At the end of the group one of the boys had to go around and shake everyone's hand saying, “Thanks for cooking with us today!” and then when he was done he walked out as he said, “And that’s all folks!” I thought it was adorable.

Week 4 Post 3

Yesterday was my favorite day to say the least, probably because I was where I am most comfortable in this school. In the morning I worked with the kids in the behavioral section again and I actually got to do a whole session with the same boy and cursive writing. He did not seem to be too into it yesterday. We decided to end cursive writing and go on a scooter board around the halls for a few times. He seemed to really enjoy it. After that I was finished in that part of the school and was actually seeing a different therapist. This therapist I was delighted to see because I actually know her pretty well. She is my brother’s occupational therapist and I spent the rest of the day with her. We went to a room in the behavior section of the school also known as the purple wing. In the room there were three very large boys who we were going to work with. With these three boys we made meatball calzones which we didn’t stick around to see them eat. We went to the therapist desk and had lunch. After lunch together we worked on a new curriculum for my brother! I got to see how my brother will be trained in how to do his upcoming job. We took pictures of each step and then did some editing on the computer. I got to then see my brother work on wrapping eating utensils in napkins. This is what he will be doing at Salem hospital in a few weeks. He did very well for his first time.

I agree with others posting about the blog and the paper. Although my internship is constantly changing on a daily basis it is hard to remember and even think of things to say. As far as my rough draft paper, I have a lot done I just am having an extremely hard time to find books on my topics and I am not even sure if what I am writing is right.

Week 4 Post 2

Because this week has some gaps in my schedule I got to work with a physical therapist yesterday. It was really cool to see a different type of therapist. She had a student who is in a wheel chair, but got him out of the chairs so that he could ride a bike around the school, he did all the pedaling while we steered. After that he got to go in his walker and walked around the school. He was a jokester and every time we did a lap around the building he had to say hi to the nurse and then tell the director of the school, Tom, that there was an emergency. After all his working out was done he got to do his favorite thing in the whole world. He walked into the main office and stood there for a few seconds and when he thought the time was right he screamed, “BOO!!” and made everyone in the office jump. He gets a kick out of it.

Earlier in the day I got to work with a boy on his cursive skills. We did a hand over hand technique for comfort, but he really did all the work, thankfully because he is a righty and I am not. We worked on the letter “a” and the letter “d.” after we got those down he did some words such as; add, ad, and dad. We finished up his session with him reading to me. He loves books and like most of the kids here he loves to show off. I also worked with a kid who had his very own classroom for a few reasons. He was very sweet as well. All of the kids except for the one in the wheel chair were in the behavior wing, which was a little intimidating.

Week 4 Post 1

Yesterday was my first day of working with kids in Autism/PDD and I absolutely loved it. I worked with some kids that are about 15 years old. Most of them were verbal to some degree and others had communication devices. The occupational therapist was working on writing and typing skills for most of the kids because that is what they enjoyed doing with her. One boy loved to sing and he would pull songs out of nowhere, one minute he was singing some blues song and the next It was frosty the snow man - he was wicked cute. After he typed about hi day we took him to do his job. His job yesterday was to do the recycling, so we took him to the recycling room. He would look at me and start hysterically laughing; he thought I was the funniest thing.

 

Another interesting experience was working with my uncle yesterday. Everyone thought that he wouldn’t be ok with it because he has behavioral issues and when it comes to me he has really bad separation anxiety, but he did extremely well. I went with Lucy, the OT, to get him from his class but I stayed in the work room when he left. He went back to class with no problems at all which shocked everyone, myself included. My uncle did a big puzzle on the wall of Nemo and his dad. Afterwards he did a book order. He got a list of names of books, took them off the shelf, and put them in a bag. He really enjoyed this because he loves books.

Week 3 Post 3

                Today I worked in a class that I had been in earlier this week. We did pretty much the same routine with the kids with a few variations. Last time I was in this class we had lunch with one of the kids. The therapist fed him food and the boy insisted on holding my hand. This week, we took this child to an occupational therapy/physical therapy room and got him out of his wheelchair. He was placed on his stomach on top of a foam wedge so that his head hung down. The reason for doing this is so that he can work on supporting his head and gaining more control over it. He seemed to enjoy playing on the iPad while working on his head goals. After a little while we let him lay down to relax. I picked a few clips from his favorite movie, Beauty and the Beast, off of YouTube and we watched them together until it was lunch time again.

                Although I loved this part of the school I cannot wait for next week. I will be with the autism/PDD group of kids. I think I am very excited about this because both my brother and uncle are in this part of the school, so I am very familiar with these kids and staff. Although I have been at the school for three weeks I have seen my uncle once and my brother a few times. I believe I will be in my brothers class for a while next week – hopefully he doesn’t mind too much.

Week 3 Post 2

                Yesterday I worked with more kids who are cognitively impaired. The therapist that I followed around in the morning is my favorite one. She has confidence in me and does not make me just sit back and watch. She lets me help her with the kids. One of the boys we worked with we had to lift him in and out of his wheel chair which seems easy, but let me tell you – it is not as easy as it seems. It would be one thing if his body didn’t move and was easily moved around, but with most kids here in wheel chairs that’s not the case. Most of the kids in wheel chairs have some sort of muscle disability. This young boy happened to have one where it caused him to not be able to control his body movements. At times his legs and arms would flare out in all different directions.

                Later in the day I worked with a different therapist. The room she was working in was what they classify as a “low sensory room.” This means that as many stimulations, such as; lights noise, and other distractions, are kept to a minimum. The main goal in that room is to keep everyone safe and happy before teaching them new things. We did a cooking group in  that class, the kids made chocolate and vanilla pudding topped it off with crushed Oreos and dove right in. did I mention that I started my day pirating videos off of YouTube for the occupational therapy room? I absolutely love my internship.

Week 3 Post 1 - Emily

           This week I am working with cognitively impaired kids. This can range from kids in wheel chairs and don’t have any verbal advances to kids who will have a full conversation with you. Tuesday I was in one class who had a girl who had broken her arm and was working on range of motion with it. To do so, the OT that I was with, set up a dance routine for her to perform at a talent show. She is the star of the show, but her classmates are the backup dancers. It was really cute to watch, the girl got very excited over it. Because this week has just been so beautiful, we took the kids on a walk around the school. From the moment I walked in the class a boy named Alex fell in love with me – all he wanted to do was talk to me and be around me, it was adorable, so when we were outside and two of the girls were holding my hand Alex was all upset because he wanted to hold my hand as well.

                I met another girl in that class who is in a wheel chair and has visual problems. We worked with her on typing on a special keyboard for her. She learned a mnemonic for where the letters were and would type a whole word then check if the word was right. Towards the end of our time with her she had the chance to pick a sentence to type – it could be anything she wanted to type. She decided to write, “Emily is a good friend.” It’s amazing how wonderful these kids are and how quickly they will accept new people in their lives.

Week 2 Post 3

My internship is going really well. We did another cooking class today and the therapist who took me today actually let me participate. I helped a girl in making brownies. We all added ingredients and the children took turns based on who used their switches stating they wanted to go. While we were making brownies we listened to music and had some visitors. Kids came in the “Life Skills” room to do laundry and empty the dishwasher. The “Life Skills” room has a variety of resources such as a full kitchen and a place to do laundry. This room allows kids to participate in skills that they might be doing in the future or participate in skills they see at home. After putting the brownies in the oven, the kids helped clean up then went back to class. I got some time to talk with the therapist about techniques and other topics.  

I was in a class room while a child was having a seizure and another one was started to have one as well. That is when it dawned on me that in just a week and a have, seizures have gone from a total shocking experience to something that I don’t even really pay attention to. It is just another ordinary thing that happens on a daily basis here at the consortium. Do not get me wrong it is a health hazard and can be very dangerous, but I just don’t find them as traumatic for myself anymore.

Emily Lauria Week 2 Post 2

I am loving this week of SCORE so far, I have been with two different therapist all who have a variety of students that at least have one thing in common; multiple disabilities. One of the kids I worked with is in a wheel chair and has a lot of muscle tone problems; this causes his arms to get stuck and stiff close to his body. I helped loosen the muscles by first massaging them, and then playing a few games with him. We played catch and did some arts and crafts. He is such a sweetheart and absolutely loved me. He showed off to me by driving his chair around and then blowing me kisses, it was adorable. Today I am working with a different therapist and can’t wait to see what she has in store for me.

 

I am enjoying my time here at the consortium and am learning the names of many kids in the school, which is nice, because a number of them come around to the different classes, some of which I am in, and say hello or drop off a message or other item.

One of the things I learnt about is the wonderful world of switches. With these devices kids are able to do a ton of things. Some switches can be used to record messages that kids can hit and then get response from others. another way to use these switches is to hook them up to something such as a radio or a computer which allows the child to control the device. A switch looks like a big button that can be pressed.

Week 2 Post 1

This week I will be working with kids who are in the multiply handicapped category. I was not entirely sure of what this meant and am still not an expert, but my guess is that they have various types of disabilities, or that each individual has multiple handicaps. Before I start my week, I wanted to look up and get a better idea of what it means to be “multiply handicapped.”           

            My research widened my view on this type of handicap. By definition, from Google, being multiply handicapped is, “having two or more disabilities.” In deeper research I found that disabilities can range from, but are not limited to; mobility, speech, vision, and hearing abilities. Issues with humanly functions can be a result of brain injury, developmental stumps, and other factors. Having any disability, or multiple of them can result in sensory loss, lack of self-esteem, behavioral issues, and others.

            I met a few different children today, most in wheel chairs. In addition to being in wheel chairs some of the kids have visual impairments, walking restraints, and others. I helped my supervisor, Linda, today with hand work; we did some arts and crafts with the kids sand played catch. Linda also showed me how she is working on oral movement with a child during lunch. I also got to witness and child using a motor chair – he impressed me on various levels on his ability to be mobile, I think he liked me as well, because he kept blowing me kisses.

Post Two

                I was in a different class for my second day at the school where I met five new kids, each with their own personalities and backgrounds. I worked with a boy from Kenya who’s family came here to give him a better life and so that his dad can go to school. I also worked with a boy from Puerto Rico who came here for better medical care.

                I have learned the small variety in the types of feeding tubes that children have. I have also witnessed how the feedings are done. I find it interesting that most kids eat orally in addition to the feeding tubes, while some eat little or no food orally. Although kids who eat both orally and through a tube are able to have various foods, substances such as nasal drip and saliva upset their stomachs and have to be pumped out. Sometimes their stomachs get full of gas that cannot be passed naturally, when it cannot be passed naturally, the stomach has to be emptied of both food content and then the gas as well.  

                In one of the classrooms I got to work with a little boy and building his upper body strength. There are a few ways that the therapist worked on his body strength in general. She has the boy lay on his stomach over a foam tube; he then pushed himself up so that he could see straight ahead of him. She also had him do some sit ups and roll across the mat. These tasks may see easy, but for some of the kids it comes rather difficult, especially when you have too little or too much muscle tone and or body control.

Post 1

I have had two days at my internship, which is as the North Shore Education Consortium. So far I am a little bored with the internship itself mostly because I am in the preschool wing this week and I do not like working with preschoolers. Although I do not like working with this age kids, I did make a few friends, and even found a child that I really like and who really likes me as well. Needless to say, the children in this class are adorable. The week after April vacation I will be working in a different area of the school I will be working in the multiply handicapped area. Following that week I will be with autism/pdd and then vocational.

                Today I met several different kids who all contain varying personalities, disabilities, and strengths. It is amazing how different each kid is in the classroom and how then can still all find qualities in each other that pull them together. Every kid I met today used at least one of the same tools, but in different ways and at different abilities. I enjoy meeting the variety of kids, but wish that it were more hands on. I do not enjoy the countless minutes sitting and taking notes. Hopefully when we come back from break, the experience will be altered in a few ways. I got to assist in therapy for a child who is in a wheel chair today, because she has troubles with movement and speech she uses her eyes to indicate what she wants – it was very fascinating.

Emily Lauria's Outline

SCORE

Outline & Thesis

 

Thesis: Various types of mental and physical disabilities are emerging more often in the twenty first century. With these new issues early intervention is an extremely helpful way to improve the daily lives of children as they enter the adult world.

What Early Intervention is and why is it important?

“Early skill development is crucial to laying the groundwork for lifelong education. Secondly, these interventions assist parents and siblings, helping them deal with feelings of stress or helplessness, while learning to maintain a positive attitude.”

-help parents keep sanity, lower divorce rates within homes including a disabled child

http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/why-is-early-intervention-of-great-importance-543277.html

 

History

 

How is it used?

- Center-based, home-based, hospital-based, or a combination

-with family and child, or just child

http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource/content/early.intervention.html

 

How are people selected? And why?

-Medically diagnosed condition

-Auditory/visual impairments

-Developmental delay

-Battelle Developmental Inventory tool

http://www.dars.state.tx.us/ecis/eligibility.shtml

 

How effective is it? Long term vs. short term – measures of success.

-Programs with better-trained caregivers appear to be more effective. In the context of center-based programs, this may take the form of a lead teacher with a college degree as opposed to no degree. In the context of home visiting programs, researchers have found stronger impacts when services are provided by nurse home visitors as opposed to a paraprofessional or lay professional home visitor.

-In the context of center-based programs, there is evidence to suggest that programs are more successful when they have smaller child-to-staff ratios.

-There is some evidence that more intensive programs are associated with better outcomes, but not enough to indicate the optimal number of program hours or how they might vary with child risk characteristics.

http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB9145/index1.html

 

Does it affect your pocket?

Researchers have conducted benefit-cost analyses, using accepted methodologies, for a subset of the programs we identified as having favorable effects. For those programs with benefits that could readily be expressed in dollar terms and those that served more-disadvantaged children and families, the estimates of benefits per child served, net of program costs, range from about $1,400 per child to nearly $240,000 per child. Viewed another way, the returns to society for each dollar invested extend from $1.80 to $17.07. Some of the largest estimates of net benefits were found for programs with the longest follow-up, because those studies measured the impact for outcomes that most readily translate into dollar benefits (e.g., employment benefits, crime reduction). Large economic returns were found for programs that required a large investment (over $40,000 per child), but returns were also positive for programs that cost considerably less (under $2,000 per child). Programs with per-child costs in between these two figures also generated positive net benefits. The economic returns were favorable for programs that focused on home visiting or parent education as well as for programs that combined those services with early childhood education.

http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB9145/index1.html

What strategies are used? (Types of programs)

 

 “AT Device”

-assisting audio/visual

Mobility

Computers

Daily living aids

http://www.dhs.state.il.us/OneNetLibrary/27896/documents/By_Division/DCHP/EI/EIAssistiveTechGuideandAttach.pdf

 

Tech Tools

http://www.wiu.edu/thecenter/finalreports/FinalReport%20TechTools.pdf

 

How does early intervention affect children with autism?

- http://depts.washington.edu/isei/iyc/corsello_18_2.pdf

 

Examples? (Case Studies)

-interviews

 

Advances in the programs, where will EI go?

http://occupational-therapy.advanceweb.com/archives/article-archives/what-will-happen-to-early-intervention.aspx

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