Kindergarten 2014-2015/ Part Two

Here's a look at the end of year gifts I received from students, parents, and Mrs. Johnson's (OEK) class...

The OEK children wrote thank you notes to me on flower pedals. Pretty cute idea, huh?!

OEK stands for Optional Extended Day Kindergarten. It's in place to help children who are low and need the extra assistance. I spent an hour each day helping these kids learn their sight words, letters and sounds and writing skills. It was amazing to see each child's progress. 

Here is the "POLISHing us up so we can shine" part.  

I love, love, love my job! 

Special Friend of the Day- Two

Every child in Mrs. B.'s Kindergarten class has the opportunity to be Special Friend of the Day and, since all of the children have had a turn, Mrs. B. chose me to be "Special Friend" this morning. 

Last time I was Special Friend of the Day was in 2012. (Click HERE to see portraits of me from that group of students.) By comparison, I think the Kindergarten graduates from 2012 have more artistic talent than our students this year, nonetheless, they drew some pretty cute pictures. Take a look...

Never mind that I'm pig nosed and built like a box. This little girl is a future calligrapher! 

I'm sure it's obvious, but I'm going to tell you anyway. This is me getting out of my green car at Disneyland
 and Mickey and Minnie Mouse are there to greet me. 

The fact that this little guy took his time drawing my picture makes my heart melt. Usually, he is either daydreaming or hurrying to get through his assignments. (By the way, it was 'wear your school t-shirt' day.
I don't typically sport shirts with roadrunners on them.)

Here I am, riding Toy Story at California Adventure Park. I don't know what's going on in the crotch area. I was afraid to ask. 

This is me riding California Screamin'. The two girls in the box are waiting in line. IF ONLY lines were that short! 

Once again, I'm at Disneyland. This time I'm riding Pirates of the Caribbean. In Ethan's words...
"It's the dark part before you go up the hill. The box is where that thing flashes."

 I sure am going to miss Mrs. B.!

Back to School Teacher's Aide Gift

Mrs. B. spoils me! She is a wonderful person and I am blessed to be able to work with her again this 2014-2015 school year.

Gift Idea for Teacher Assistant

I know what I will be sipping my Diet Coke and iced tea out of this summer. :)

...and I'm totally stoked about the candy.

Look at this cute little pocket on the card,

---with a note tucked inside.

It's very nice when parents are thoughtful enough to remember aides during Teacher Appreciation Week. This made my day! :)

Valentine for Para-Professional

This is my Valentine's Day gift from Mrs. B...

The feeling is mutual. I love working with her!

Post-it Notes Gift Idea

This is what I found on my desk the first day of school. Thank you Susan. I have a feeling it's going to be a great year in Kindergarten. :)



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Teacher Assistant Gift

Today was the last day of Kindergarten and Susan gave this to me...

Wrapped up in the middle of the beach towel was this matching insulated cup.

Thank you Susan. You are an amazing teacher and friend. Now that school is out and the wedding is over, "Chill Out" is exactly what I intend to do!

Seriously? Just Help the Kid Open the Damn Door!

I have wanted to share the following story for a long time, but when I think about it I tend to get angry all over again. Today, instead of pushing it to the back of my mind once more, I have decided it's time to share. After all, April is autism awareness month. After reading this post, I believe that those of you with children on the spectrum will understand why reliving this has been hard for me, and those of you who know little about autism will hopefully gain some valuable insight.


I worked as a middle school para-professional in the special education department from 1996 until the year 2000. I really enjoyed my job. Our department had a great team (the best in the school district and I'm not just tooting my own horn) and inclusion was of the utmost importance to us. Our students thrived to the point that we almost hated to send them on to high school for fear that everything we had helped them achieve would be thrown by the wayside.


The respect I felt for Mrs. M, the special education teacher that I worked with, changed however the day that I walked into the classroom and found her and Conner, one of our non-verbal autistic students, in the room. 

Conner was completely stressed out. His lunch tray was on the teachers desk, untouched and Mrs. M informed me that she wasn't allowing him to eat his lunch until he opened the bathroom door by himself. She told me she knew he could do it. She'd seen him open the door on his own before, therefore, she refused to give in and open it for him.

Conner was told he could eat his lunch after he opened the bathroom door by himself. This, alone, made me very upset, but when I looked down and saw that Conner's Pull-Up was so wet that it had ripped and fallen to the floor, I came unglued! The following thoughts raced around in my mind: Wasn't it enough that Conner realized he needed to go to the bathroom and went to the door? Was it really that big of a deal if he didn't turn the damn knob all the way? He was reaching out for help. So what? I didn't believe for one minute that Conner was refusing to turn the door knob just to be spiteful. Somewhere, inside his brain, he had a valid reason; we just didn't know what it was! In my eyes, his behavior certainly was not such to withhold his lunch from him.


In the sake of my rising blood pressure, I will skip a few details and let you know that I ended up in the principal's office with Mrs. M.  She justified her actions by saying that she had discussed the situation with Conner's foster mother and "It wasn't like he couldn't go to the bathroom. He was wearing a Pull-Up." The principal listened graciously and told me he understood why I was upset, but he also had total and complete faith in Mrs. M. (Of course he did! Even if he didn't, he wouldn't admit it in front of me. That's what "good" principals do; they back up their faculty.) Mrs. M and I ended up agreeing to disagree, and I quit at the end of the school year.


Mrs. M retired a couple of years later. I often wonder if she ever looks back and regrets the way she handled that situation. More importantly, I wonder how many children/adults with autism we, as a society, unintentionally hurt because we just don't understand what is going on in their heads.

As for me, I still work for the school district, just not in the special education department. I have the best of both worlds. Each weekday I get to work with sweet little Kindergarten children for a few hours, then come home and be the best mom ever to my autistic son Cody. Now I'm tooting my own horn!

Angiogram: A Child's Perspective

John, a co-worker of mine in his early sixties, was recently assigned to work with a boy in 4th grade. A couple of days ago, John told his 4th grade student he wouldn't be coming to school for a couple of days because his doctor wanted him to have an Angiogram. The little boy looked at him sympathetically and said, "So......you're going to have your uterus taken out?"


John called me this afternoon to let me know that the
procedure went well. He said, "I'll be back tomorrow, uterus intact!"