Looking for Love

One of my students loves Disney movies and books.  One of his favorites is The Lion King.  He carries around a book or a picture of one of the characters all the time.  When we were transitioning between activities, he is opening the Lion King book.  It seemed like he is looking for a certain page. 

Me:  What are you looking for in there?
Student:  I'm looking for love.
Me: Looking for love?

He turns to the page where the adult Simba and Nala are reunited in the forest and he starts singing...

"Can you feel the love tonight..."

My heart melted.  So adorable!  

Getting Ready for a Thanksgiving Feast

This is something a student said to me about how he is preparing for Thanksgiving.

"Ms. Sabio, there is no school on Thursday, so on Thursday I am going to wake up and take a bath because I can't be stinky for my Thanksgiving feast!!"

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! 

Your Grass is Ass

A technique to get little kids to say /r/ in isolation is pretending to growl like a ferocious animal.  So I was having this kid, age 6, growl "grrrrrr.....," prompting for correct tongue placement, etc. 

So then we moved onto words.  I would have him prolong the /gr/ and then complete the word.  So we went from grain, grapes, green, grow, and finally grass.

We're sitting there saying "grrrrrrrass," several times and he finally stops and says, "Wait!  This word has ass in it!"

My response?  "Ok! Let's start working on your /th/ sound again!"

Whoops :-) 

Working Together

I bought this new logic game, which I've been using for giving/following directions.  After solving our third puzzle together, my eight year old clients gives me a high five and says:

"I'm the brains and you're the looks."

That one literally made me laugh out loud!  

Kids Games Vs. Adult Games

While discussing expected and unexpected behaviors to do during lunch, one of my preteen clients was telling me that she "plays" during lunch.

Client:  Some expected things to do during lunch is play!
Me:  Aren't you a little old to be playing?  That's something you do in elementary school, you're in 7th grade now.  Don't you just sit and talk with you friends?
Client: Well, I mean play adult games.
Me:  What adult games do you play with your friends?  (I was afraid of what I was about to hear.)
Client:  You know, like Yu-Gi-Oh!

Her idea and my idea of adult games is VERY different, lol.  

Ross Has a Smell?

During a session, one of my clients stops to admire my Michael Kors purse that was sitting on a table nearby.

Client:  Oh I like your purse!
Me: Thank you!
Client:  Where did you buy it? Target?
Me: Actually I got it at Ross!

She leans over to smell my purse.

Client: Oh yeah, it smells like Ross.
Me:  Ross has a smell??
Client: Yeah, Ross smells like blueberries and doctors.

Haha, I didn't know that Ross had a smell.  And what do doctors smell like?? 

Dressing Up For Halloween

Me: So, what are you going to be for Halloween?
Student:  Oh nothing, I am not going to dress up for Halloween.
Me:  You're not going to dress up?  How come?
Student:  Oh, I don't want to get ugly.

What does he think of the rest of us on Halloween??  lol

Word Finding...again

At the end of one of my sessions, I was just talking out loud...

Me: Oh I have a dull headache right now...
Client:  Yeah, me too.  I have a "grain."

She rubs the back of her neck.

Me (chuckling): Do you mean migraine?
Client:  Yeah, that's what I mean.

She obviously has heard the word before and bless her heart for trying to use it correctly in context.  At least now she knows the right term.

Laughing is the Best Medicine, or is it?

I was working in a small group one day when one of the girls was particularly giggly.  

Me: You're burning a lot of calories right now laughing!
Girl: How?
Me:  When you laugh, you're using your abdominal muscles.  
Girl: What, are you calling me fat?!

Sigh...oh teenage girls, lol. 

TMI

This particular student has shared with me that he and his gf have been on and off and that this upcoming weekend they were going to go away to Marina Del Rey with his parents.  I guess they were back "on."

Me: How was Marina Del Rey with your girlfriend?
Student:  It was good.  We slept together.
Me: ??????

I know he meant they slept together in the same bed, but that is STILL something I DON'T NEED TO KNOW!

Me:  Ok, that is something you don't tell your teacher!

I felt like I needed to clean out my ears after that! :-/ lol

Movie Review

While discussing what we did over summer vacation...

Student 1:  I watched Epic over summer vacation.
Me:  Oh, is that a movie?
Student 1: Yeah.
Student 2: Oh I watched Epic too!
Me: What did you think of it?
Student 2:  It was pretty epic.

If you had any doubt whether or not to watch Epic, I hope that cleared it up :-)

Being Asian

Within a week I had two conversations about me being Filipino.

Student:  Ms. Sabio, what's your descent?
Me: Oh, I'm Filipino.
Student:  Ok, that means you're Asian sometimes.
Me: Actually, I'm Asian all the time.

Haha...now that I think about it, maybe he's right.  Sometimes, I don't know if I'm Asian or Pacific Islander.  Filipino's are Asian right??

Here's another conversation I had:

Student: Ms. Sabio, are you Asian?
Me: Yes, yes I am.
Student:  What kind? Like Korean?
Me: No, I'm Filipino.
Student: Oh!  Are you parents Filipino?
Me: Yes, yes they are!
Student:  Are your parents still alive?
Me: Yes, they are still alive.
Student: Do you think they'd like us?
Me: I think they'd like you very much!
Student:  Cool.  Asians are so cool!
Me:  What makes Asians cool?
Student:  They just have awesome faces and they have Asian eyes.  Man, I wish I was Asian.

You can't tell by this conversation, but he is one of the sweetest kids I've ever met!

Take Notes

I was in classroom where kids were working in small groups when one of the girls walks up to me and says:

Girl:  Excuse me, I have a question.

Me: Yes?

Girl:  I want to grow my hair down to here (motions to her waist), how long do you think it'll take? (she has a short do right now, super cute I think!!)

Me:  It'll be some time, but if you want it grow long and healthy, you need to trim it often.

Girl:  Trim it?  What does that mean?

Me:  Cut off the split ends.

Girl:  Do I have any split ends? (spins around to show me the back of her hair).

Me:  Nope you're good.  Why do you want to grow your hair long, you have the cutest bob!

Girl: I just want it to grow long.  How often do I trim it?

Me: about every six week? (I guessed, I'm no hair expert, I get my haircuts at Fantastic Sam's!)

Girl: Ok ( and she goes back to her seat).

A few minutes later...

Girl: How often again do I need to trim my hair so it'll be healthy?

Me: About 6-8 week I would say.

Girl (she takes out a piece of paper and a pencil):  Ok, I've GOT to write that down!

So cute!  I think she is going to be one of my favorites:-)

Presidential Lesson

This entry will not do this anecdote justice, this was definitely a situation where you HAD to be there.  I'll do my best to recreate the conversation.  Try to follow, I honestly had a hard time.  

While discussing how the words "candidate" and "vote" are related to my 11 year old client:  

Me:  Who is our president?

Client:  I'm not sure.

Me:  It's Barack Obama.

Client (with a shocked look on her face): I thought he was dead! 

I was shocked to hear her say that, but after thinking about it, she probably thought I meant Osama??

Me: Not, he's not dead, he's our president.  Before he became president he was a "candidate," someone who runs for office, and people had to "vote," or pick him to become president.

Client: Oh.... Isn't there another president? With dark skin?

Me: No, Obama has been the only president that is African American.

Client: No, what about the one that freed the slaves?  Isn't he president?

Me: He WAS president but he wasn't African American.  That was Abraham Lincoln and he was white.  

Client:  What about the other president,  the one who was on the bus that said "heck no I'm not getting off this bus!"

At this point, I'm laughing out loud!

Me: That is Rosa Parks and she was never president.  

I've got to hand it to this client.  Everyone she talked about in this little conversation had SOMETHING to do with politics, granted she jumped decades and centuries, and had her facts a little mixed up, but she was technically on topic??  I'm just hoping she got the lesson on how "candidate" and "vote" go together! :-)    

No Ordinary Can of Barbasol

One day, while I was working with a group of students, one of them busts out this can of Barbasol.  I knew he wasn't going to start shaving right there in the middle of speech, but I was intrigued to see what would happen next.  He starts unscrewing the bottom of the can...

It's a can filled with cotton swabs?  Hmm.... Cotton swabs were the last thing I'd expect to see from a fake can of Barbasol.  

Me: Um, where did you get that can?

Student:  At the International Spy Museum in Washington DC.  

Me:  Reminds of the can in Jurassic Park!

Student: Yeah.

Me:  So what are the Q-tips for?

Student: For when my ears are itchy.

He then proceeds to take one out and starts swabbing his inner ear!  I explained that the best place to probably do that is the bathroom so other people wouldn't be weirded out. 

Student:  Oh all right (as he begrudgingly screws the can back).  

I wonder what else is at the International Spy Museum!  This is photographic proof that you can't just make this stuff up sometimes!  Love my students!!  

Question of the Day

Is it true that squirrels can give you wedgies?

Super random!! Haha!

Beauty sleep

Me:  Are you excited that it's Friday?  No school for two days!
Client: Yeah!  I don't have to wake up early and have my beauty sleep messed up.

Date Nights

Many kids during speech will ask me, "how much time is left?"  And so when one of my clients asked me "what time is it?" about half way through our session, I said, "oh we have about 20 minutes left." 

She said "oh, I'm just wondering because my babysitter is coming soon."
Me:  Babysitter?
Client:  Yeah, she watches us when Mom and Dad go out.
Me:  Oh that's right, Thursday is date night for your parents!
Client: Yeah.
Me:  Why do you think parents go out on dates?
Client:  So they can spend time together without us, get to know each other more, and not get divorced.

So thoughtful and sweet:-) 

Personal, appropriate bread

I got a hand written letter from one of my students today.  Her aide read it over before giving it to me to make sure all the contents of the letter were appropriate.  The period before, she had asked me what I had for breakfast and I told her toast with butter so this letter makes total sense to me :-)

Hey Sabio, How are you?
I just thought about buying ash bread.
Did you ever had ashbread?  That bread is with lavasha.
I was just thinking about buying personal bread.  But it's appropriate bread.   
I was thinking about buying it.
Would you like to have a piece of cheese.
There is a certain piece of cheese I like to eat.  American cheese is what I like.  I love watermelon.
Would you recommend getting watermelon.
We asked questions about watermelon.
One piece of watermelon. 
Do you like watermelon?
Do you love strawberries too?

As I was leaving the room with the letter she had written me, she asked me, "will you write me back?" So sweet! 

Day 2 in the books.  

Night Owl

I need to premise this entry by stating that by sharing this story, I'm not stating my opinion, in one way or another about teenage pregnancy.  I was just disturbed by this conversation but at the same time, it was one of the most hilarious things.

I was teaching a lesson on sleep related idioms.  The idiom night owl came up.  It was defined and one the senior girls in the class (whose disability is Speech/Language Impairment), happened to be about 4-5 months pregnant, chimed in, and the conversation went something like this:

Student:  Oh I'm a night owl!
Me: You are?
Student: Yeah, I stay up until about 3am with my friends just hanging outside in my neighborhood.
Me:  Um, you shouldn't do that, you're pregnant, you should probably get as much as rest as you possibly can right now.
Student: nah, I'll get some rest when the baby comes.

I literally laughed out loud!  Sorry, no you're not.

I truly hope that mom and if baby has arrived, are doing well.    

Ding!

After almost two and half months of summer, I'm not exactly thrilled to go back to work full time.  It's the students that make my long hours bearable, like this student I've described below.  

The student that this post is about has been working on using appropriate voice volume.  I have this app on my iPad (Voice-o-Meter) that dings if your voice is too loud or dings if you're too soft (parameters have to be manually set). This student's voice is very strong.  He always sounds so passionate, but his volume could be bothersome in a classroom setting, especially when he begins to get agitated.  

One day, during a speech session, I had the app turned on to monitor everyone's voice volume in the group, when every time this student spoke, it would ding indicating his volume was too loud.  He would continue, it would ding.  He would keep going, it would ding again.  Finally, after it had dinged a handful of times, he says at the top of his voice, "Ugh! Curse my lungs!!"

Needless to say, the iPad dinged.

Don't be racist...

A client of mine was telling me about how her family is watching her grandmother's dog while she is on vacation.  Here is the gist of that conversation.

Client:  We got a new puppy!
Me:  You did, what kind?
Client:  Well, it's my grandma's dog, Sophie and we're watching her while is going on vacation somewhere.
Me:  Oh ok.  That's nice that Po (her dog) has another dog to play with for awhile.
Client: Yeah, but my dad doesn't like Sophie, because she shakes (she's a chihuahua), and barks.  Ugh, my dad.  I told him to stop being racist!!
Me (chuckling to myself):  I don't think you mean racist.  Racist refers to people, not dogs.
Client: Oh, like the color of someone's skin?
Me:  Yes, something like that.
Client:  Oh.....

Glad we cleared that up.  If you didn't guess it already, one of her goals is on word finding.  

Little Football Fan

Client:  Do you like USC?
Me:  I watch more pro football.  Do you like USC?
Client:  Yes!
Me:  Why?
Client:  Because they are Notre Dame's rival!

This kid is 4 years old!!  We've had many a football conversations.  I would love him, but he's a Broncos fan, boo!!!! :-)

Joke of the Day

Brought to you by my 11 year old client.

What did the dog say to the other dog?
You're a hot dog.

I laughed out loud :-)

When I Have Kids...

As I sat down to begin a session with one of my private clients, this random comment popped out of her mouth.

Client:  When I have a baby, I'm going to continue breasting.
Me (confused):  What?
Client:  Yeah, I don't want to give my baby regular milk cause they will get sick so I'll just breast my baby.
Me:  You mean breastfeeding.
Client:  Oh yeah that.
Me: And why are we talking about babies and breastfeeding?  Did I bring up babies or did we talk about this last week?
Client:  Well, I might want to be a mom someday and so I have to think about these things.

She's 11, therefore I was speechless.

I took this opportunity to remind her that when she wants to talk about something she needs to introduce it so people (like me) are not completely confused!  She restarted.

Client:  So, I was watching this show, called "So Random" about feeding babies...

Apparently it's a Disney show??

Downfall of Being an Astronaut

This was a brief conversation between me and one of my students with Autism.  You'll find that their answers and explanations make perfect sense sometimes.

While discussing occupations, a card on astronauts came up.

Me:  What is an astronaut's job?
Student:  To go up into space. 
Me:  What do you think they do up there?
Student:  I don't know.
Me:  You think they explore space?
Student:  I think so.
Me:  Would you like to ever become an astronaut?
Student:  No, I don't think so.
Me:  Why not?
Student:  Because it's too far from my house (with a sad look on his face). 

That answer totally melted my heart.  His answer was completely logical, and I am in complete agreement.  

Neighborhood Drama

So this isn't a conversation I had with one of my students, nor it is funny, but rather, it's a conversation I overheard between two, I would say early school age (about 6-7) kids, while I was walking Layla and Bruno.

They were playing with what looked like foam swords (or pool noodles), that required some assembly (I can't remember what they had in their hands). They were trying to grab it from each other.

Kid # 1:  I can do it!  I don't need your help!
Kid # 2:  Fine!  I'm leaving.
Kid # 1:  What? You're leaving?
Kid # 2:  Yeah, because you said you can do it yourself!
Kid # 1:  But, but... I thought you were my best friend...
Kid # 2:  I am, but I just can't talk to you right now.

At this point, I've passed the kids and I turn around to see Kid # 1, standing in the middle of the street, head down, looking completely defeated, and Kid # 2 walking away into his garage.  It kind of broke my heart.  Oh elementary school problems.  

School Spirit

While I was working with a group of 4 students, one student came into my room upset because he did not get a doughnut for school spirit day.  He was very upset because even though he was wearing his black and gold, he was missed for some reason.  It can be difficult to deescalate students sometimes when they are all worked up about something and this was one of those times.  The other students chimed in and the conversation went something like this:

Student 1:  I have school spirit too, I'm wearing black and gold!
Me:  That's awesome, did you get doughnut?
Student 1:  No, but do you want to see my black and gold?
Me:  Yeah, sure!
Student 1:  Here is my black (points to his black shoe), and here is my gold!  (He opens the flap of his jeans to show me his zipper).
Me:  Oh!  Yes that is gold, but...
Student 2:  Oh hey I have gold too! (also opens the flap of this jeans to reveal his gold zipper).
Student 3: Me too!!!!  (does the same)

I realize everyone's hands are on their private areas...ahhhhhh!!!!!

Me: OK everyone, I see the gold, but let's keep our hands away from our pants!!

Just then, the teachers distributing doughnuts for School Spirit day walked in to give everyone a doughnut.  Thank goodness, lol.

Speaking of zippers, I was working with another student and I noticed that his zipper was down.

Me:  Oh, your zipper is down, you should zip it up!
Student:  Naw, I'm ok.

You just can't make this stuff up! 

The New North Pole

A student of mine (Justin "Beaver" hater), who is seventeen with Autism, has been perseverating on the existence of Santa Claus these past few weeks.  Several times he has mentioned to me that he gets very upset when people tell him that Santa Claus doesn't exist and that he is really our parents.  This is how a recent conversation went with him.

TJ:  Ms. Sabio, are you looking forward to December?
Me:  Well, I'm looking forward to my summer first and then I look forward to the holidays in December.  Are you looking forward to December?
TJ:  Yes I am.
Me: How come?
TJ:  I'm excited to prove a rumor wrong that has been going on for millions of centuries.
Me:  So what are you going to prove wrong in December?
TJ:  That Santa is NOT actually our parents!
Me:  How are you going to prove that?
TJ:  Well, I'm going to go to Lancaster with a group of people.
Me:  What's in Lancaster?
TJ:  Where we'll see Santa and his sleigh take off.
Me:  Why can't you see that here in Santa Clarita?
TJ:  I have a better view in Lancaster.

There you have it folks.  Santa Claus begins his Christmas eve in Lancaster.  Lancaster has been described as dry, dirty, bleak, the second armpit of California, and even the methamphetamine capital of the US.  Why Santa Claus would choose to begin Christmas eve from there is beyond me.

Hidden Rule # 313: Never Assume a Woman is Pregnant

Sometimes, I'll go down to PE to see the kids in their "natural environment" and after signing some yearbooks, I was approached by one of my most, let's say colorful students.  Let's call him, David. 

Let me preface this by saying I was wearing a fitted, striped tank top and a long skirt. 

David:  Ms. Sabio, looks like you're having a baby! (all smiles, he was!)
Me (looking down at my stomach and sighing):  No, I'm not actually.
David:  I'm just saying, looks like you are having a baby!
Me:  Nope, that's just my pooch, which means I must pull up my skirt a little bit now.   

He said this in front of other students and 4 other staff members.

#mortified

It's time for me to workout EVEN MORE!  Or take chocolate out of my diet completely.  

Parent Responsibility

I'm not even going to set up the scene, the exchange will speak for itself.  I was working with two students and here goes a conversation I will NEVER forget.

Names have been changed for privacy, as always.  Meet Tom and Bob.

Tom: Ms. Sabio, did I just masturbate?
Me: What?!  Why would you ask me that?!
Tom:  Because I just touched myself and you looked at me.

(My mind is spinning...)

Me:  I looked at you because I was talking to you!
Tom: Oh.

(I have no idea what's happening right now...)

Bob:  What's masturbate?

(Before I could wrap my mind around where this conversation was going...)

Tom:  It's when you touch yourself (so matter of fact).  Ms. Sabio is it ok to touch myself?
Me: No, not here in the speech room.
Tom:  Where then?
Me: Um...in the bathroom, at home?  You should most definitely talk to your parents about this.
Tom:  Oh ok.

Oh, my, goodness.  Yes this really happened.
I am not trained to explain this stuff to teenage boys.

Lesson to parents:  Please educate your teens about sexual maturity, please!  This is most definitely beyond my scope of practice.

Bieber versus Beaver

Every Wednesday, I go into a classroom to do a speech lesson on various higher level language or pragmatic language topics and before I began my lesson one day, one of my students, we'll call him TJ, initiated conversation with me by saying:

"Ms. Sabio, I hate Justin Beaver.  Sometimes I just want to go on Facebook and spray paint his face."

As funny as I thought that was (because I myself am not a Justin Beiber fan), I had to use this as a teaching moment (so many of those!).  You can't do that to people on FB, blah, blah, it's a form of cyber bullying, he never did anything to you, etc...  Then I asked him why he hated Justin Bieber.  "I hate him because he has all of this money and I don't have any of it."Another teaching moment on jealousy was discussed. 

Me:  Well, he worked really hard to earn all of that money.  You've got to do the same if you want to be successful.

TJ:  Ok (he said begrudgingly).  

Another student chimes in, "yeah, I don't like Justin Beaver either, he looks like a girl!"  and other students proceed to go on "yeah, looks like a girl," or "I really don't like Justin Beaver!"

Me:  You guys know that it's Justin BeiBer with a "b" right? Not Beaver?"

Student (in a very annoyed tone):  I bet he has a beaver...

I immediately ended the conversation and began my lesson.  That could've gone a whole 'nother direction :-/


  

Hummus and Pita Chips

One of the foods I'm obsessed with eating for a snack right now are pita chips and hummus.  I was munching on some when one of my favorite students comes in (Korean student with an interdental /s/).  Let's call him *Bryce.  So Bryce sits down at the table and the other two walk in, sit down, and I join them.  And this is my brief conversation with Bryce.

Bryce:  Ms. Sabio, you should chew your gum.

Me:  Oh, is it my breath?

Bryce:  Yeah, you just need some fresh breath (as he backs away from me).

Me:  Oh, I'm  so sorry, I was eating pita chips and hummus.

He was saying these things so matter of fact!  It was actually quite embarrassing in front of my assistant and the other students:-/  Immediately I popped in a mint, came back to group and he said "much better," and gave me a little smile.

Gotta love these kids and their brutal, endearing, honesty.  

Filters

A lot of students I work with have difficulty using filters during conversation, which is one of the characteristics of a pragmatic language disorder.  While I'm sharing this story for the purpose of humor, these incidents are prime examples of student difficulties with social language and also an example of teaching moments. In these teaching moments, i explain why their comments were inappropriate and it's also a chance to discuss better choices of words next time around.

I was working with a small group one day, and we'll call them *John, *Mike, and *Jim.  All of these students are on the Autism Spectrum.  One of the DIS counselors came into my room and asked to see John for a quick second regarding some paperwork.  A lot of the students I work with such as John, can be highly anxious at times, and likes routines.   When there is a disruption in their routine, they can be thrown off and as a result can become very distressed to the point of meltdown.  

With that being said, John didn't hear the quick second, jumped up out of his seat and yelled quite loudly, "I don't want to go with you, you old hag!"  My first thought was, "that's a first, I've never heard "old hag" used as an insult before," my second inappropriate thought was "hilarious!" but because I HAVE a filter, I did not laugh and thought, " a teaching moment has presented itself."  I explained to John that what he said to the DIS counselor was not nice, and that he needs to apologize, which he did, quite sincerely.  The DIS counselor explained to John why she needed him for a short period of time and his response was "oh."  He left with her and when he returned, I used this opportunity to work the group and help him come up with alternatives way to react, versus what he did.  

Another instance with John was when I was once again working with him in a small group.  He comes in and immediately says:  

John: Ms. Sabio, hi. I'm not in a good mood today.

Me: I'm sorry John, how come?

John: It's because I'm tired.  I'm tired because I had to wake up early.  My mom woke me up early and now I'm tired.  That curse-d woman!!

He seems to be an old soul when it comes to insulting others, calling them "old hag" and "that curse-d woman."  I had to use my filter and not laugh, because, once again, I thought it was hilarious.  This was another teaching moment and I had to redirect his choice of words.  As always, he was apologetic and begged me not to tell his mom.  John really is a sweet kid, but I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of his bad mood.  Who knows what he would call me!!

Skinny Jeans and Pink Eye...all within one conversation

I have the privilege of not only working with students in the high school setting, but also kids within the private practice setting.  This is a HILARIOUS conversation (at least it was to me) between me and one of my kiddos (9 years old) working on word finding.  He saw a picture of my pugs Layla and Bruno, and proceeded to tell me that he was a dog person and not a cat person.  The conversation was supposed to be about how he was not a cat person. but turned into this...

C:  So one of my friends thinks that I'm her boyfriend, but I'm not.  She just likes me.   But her older sister, likes to hit me and slap me and run away too.

Me: Oh, she likes you too.

C:  No she doesn't!  She hits me!

Me:  That's what girls your age do to show you that they like you.

C:  Well, I guess those sisters like me.  You know what else?  These 2 sixth graders like me!

Me:  Oh really?  Wow!

C:  Even girls I don't know like me!  Especially when I'm at the mall and I'm in my skinny jeans...

(I start laughing out loud!)  He goes on...

C:  I have two pairs of skinny jeans!  Anyway, about those sisters, they have cats and I'm not a cat person.  I get invited to their house, but I don't like going there.  Not because of them, but because they have cats and every time I go there, I get pink eye!

Me:  What?  Pink eye?  Gross!

C:  Yeah!  My eyes get all watery and I sneeze.

Me:  Ooohhh, you mean allergies, not pink eye!  (I'm laughing my a** off at this point).

C:  Oh yeah, allergies.  Oops.

Yeah...  don't confuse the two, lol.  Glad I could help him differentiate...  Word finding indeed.

Feeling Loved and Rejected. Mostly Rejected.

This post is about one my favorite students.  He's a ninth grader of Korean descent.  He has a slight interdental /s/ (lisp) and due to Korean most likely being his first language, his syntax is, for a lack of a better term, all screwy.  BUT he gets his message across most of the time, so not much concern there.

This is not about one specific instance, but just his "-isms" in general.  I see him twice a week (students LOVE that! #sarcasm).  I'll go into his classroom to pull him, and he's talking to one of his buddies and he sees me.  His face drops from a smile to a frown and some of the comments I've gotten are:

"Oh, it's you again."

"I just saw you yesterday!"

"What do you want this time?"

Oh, I feel so loved!!  What's funny is, on days that I didn't pull him out of class, I'll bump into him after school or after the class I normally pull him from, and he'll say:

"Hi Ms. Favia, (had a hard time saying my name at the beginning of the school year), you are the breeze of the love!"

Now that warmed my heart, until I heard I wasn't the only teacher he says that to.  

Recycling

One of the things that I work on in therapy is categories.  I was working with a group of students and we started discussing the word recycling.  The kids defined it and then we proceeded to come up with different items that can be recycled.  The conversation went something like this:

Me:  What are some things that can be recycled?

Student # 1:  Not sure.

Me: How about cans and bottles?

Student # 2:  Yes!  

Me: How about newspapers and magazines?

Student # 2: Yeah, newspapers and magazines too!   

Student # 1:  Magazines?  You mean like the ones with the swimsuit models on them?

Me (with what I think was a shocked look on my face): yes, those can be recycled as well.

Student # 1:  Yeah, my dad brings them home for me and my brother, but we don't tell mom.

Me:  Ok!  Let's move on to another category...

...things that make you wonder why dad is bringing home those types of magazines for his teenage sons??  Maybe it's a father/son thing?  

Why I created this blog

My name is Krystle and I've been a Speech Language Pathologist for 6 years.  I must preface this blog by saying that I LOVE my job and all the kids with whom I have had the pleasure of working.  What I love most about my job is that everyday is different.  While the job can be frustrating at times with paperwork and meetings, my joy comes from actually getting to sit down and working with these kids and listening to the things they have to say, and boy do they have things to say!    

The kids I work with have a variety of special needs such as Autism, Down's Syndrome, cognitive delay, Speech or Language Impairment, etc.  The "-isms," as I'm calling them, can be a result of pragmatic language disorder or language disorder.  And while most of the time, these "-isms" make me laugh, a lot of the time, these moments turn into teaching moments.  We're able to discuss the appropriateness of what to say in that situation and what to do next time.

Either way, hope you'll be as entertained as I was by the "-isms" of my students.