Day 1

I feel exhausted, and I hope my post won’t reflect my low level of energy. But I do hope that it reflects my anticipation as I type these words and try to recapitulate my much busy day. The really exciting part is that I am more of a teacher than I had thought I would be. Though there were four trained psychologist-therapists for the nine children who came, there was an awful shortage of hand. Therefore, my presence was much welcome. Informally, I was in charge of a number of children, always attentive for any incident that may arise. I had come thinking I would be an observer and assistant; I realize I will be an actual teacher as well as being a secretary and assistant.

           As a whole, my day was divided into two parts: 1:1 lesson in the morning and group activities in the afternoon with the highlight of the day as baking (ready-made vanilla pudding). Of course, the first part of the day was much more manageable and under control. The second part of the day, I and the other therapists had all been expecting a chaotic afternoon. Due to a new addition, To, the dynamic in the center has been disrupted, with changes made in the classes in order to hopefully have more efficient classes in the future. Furthermore, our newcomer is a little troublemaker; he appears to be an angel and behaves wonderfully, until he finds something to swipe off and on the floor. To requires the attention for an equivalent of five children in total, and the therapists are having trouble getting a grip on the new changes they have to adjust. Also, it has been only a week since T came to the center (he had been homeschooled until then), and today was the first time he had stayed at the center for an entire afternoon from 12h00 until 17h00. By 15h00, he grew restless, wanted to go back home, and openly misbehaved. It was even harder because T wasn’t used to listening to orders, having his way through with his parents. Josefina explained to me the first few weeks were crucial to assert authority, to establish his obedience to our desires, make him understand the basics of social learning (whether sitting down to work and eat or properly ask for things). Basically, I wasn’t the only one who was on my first day today, adapting to and learning from my new environment. Virtually everyone at the center was in a similar position as I.

I’ve spent much time describing To, as he was the most distinct case at the center today. Despite the overwhelming diversity among the nine children I met today, I think To was the one who stood the most out because he has just begun the rehabilitation therapy. T is like a tabula rasa, a blank slate on which the therapists are starting from scratch. Today, I’ll proceed with an introduction to my nine pupils, as a start for my blog. I think it is helpful to know and understand the people in order to follow my following daily posts. I think I’ll especially focus on M today, because I spent the most focused time with him due to the 1:1. Thus I can also explain a little bit of the rehabilitation exercises (most share the same, with varying levels of difficulty). I’ll try to keep it concise, for I do not want to scare away any of the readers of my blog. Okay, well, here goes!

Psychologist-therapists

Josefina

Abril

Lori

Ana

Pati

|  Mu has a more severe case autism, with difficulties in making eye contact and no form of speech whatsoever. Today, Mu behaved differently. As soon as he walked past the door, he immediately went to lie down on the mattress; he was obviously feeling sluggish and sleepy. Whereas he was usually jumpy and loud every day, he was weirdly quiet and uncooperative today. Josefina later told me and Abril that Mu's out-of-norm state was due to medication, not illness as we had worried. Even when he was given cookies (which he usually devours) during the desayuno, he put one cookie in the mouth and spit it out before throwing away the cookies in his plate in the trashcan upon the order. The desayuno exercise consists in practicing table manners and cleaning up after a meal. Agus and I would check off the things Mu did correctly alone, with ayudo parcial (partial help) or ayudo masivo (massive help), or forgot to do. Today, Mu needed a lot of ayudo masivo and needed many reminders such as wiping the table and bringing the plate to the sink.
After much encouragement and cajoling, Abril and I convinced him to sit for work. Examples of exercises were: identification of non-identical objects (e.g. placing a spoon in the basket with a spoon when there were two “distractor” baskets with a knife and a pencil); responding to his name;; imitating gestures (e.g. a fork and a spoon are placed beside a plate and if we put the fork in the plate, he has to emulate the action); and colouring within the lines. At around 10h30, M left for school (I wonder how he is in a “normal” environment… I guess he’s okay, if his parents keep sending him).
Overall, Mu's performance was poor; this might have been due to my presence. Mu was the only one who was really affected by my coming out of the whole bunch. He is a very jealous type, seeking to be the center of attention for all the caregivers around him. Because Abril and I spent much time talking with each other, he might have felt left out and thus misbehaved purposely to receive our attention. His way of catching attention is to stand up and escape from the room, expecting the caregivers to follow him and hug him before guiding him back to his place. In order to not reinforce his behavior, Abril and I did not give him the satisfaction of affectionate pats and hugs every single time; we did only as a reward for good behavior.

|  Fe also arrived in the middle of M's 1:1, interrupting it abruptly. He usually does not come, but sometimes his parents leave him at the center when they need a babysitter. (You can guess Mu became even more jealous.) Fe does not have autism; instead, he has a dysfunction in the section of the brain known as corpus callosum, meaning he has difficulties in coordinating the left and right hemispheres of the brain. Since the intervention methods for his disorder are similar to autism, he attends Centro “2 de abril.”
Fe engages in much more social behavior including eye contact and asking for and holding my hand when he wants comfort (and when he wants to watch the TV, which is literally all the time). He has severe difficulties in retaining attention and gets distracted extremely easily. Oh, and anyone who has something against saliva will have to overcome the disgust, because Fe salivates always.

|  Ta is a pupil who pays a lot of attention to details. He has finer motor skills compared to the other children. He also cries a lot, for that is his way of asking for attention. He engages in some speech, though it is incoherent (mostly “tikki tikki tikki), and his shyness makes him avoid the eyes of the speaker. Abril and Josefina say that I must seem worthy and precious in his eyes, because he looks at me when I call his name and speak to him, and occasionally even when he doesn’t have to. Personally, I believe it may be because I’m a novelty in the house. But I’m not the expert psychologist.

|  Br is one of the most extroverted and shameless of them all. He is loud and enjoys speaking, although it is a non-functional form of speech. He always repeats, whether a phrase that stuck to him (i.e. “Se ensucio!” and "Quiero mas tostaditas o algo asi.") or something he heard. There are two things B loves to do apart from hearing his voice: running out of the house and around the garden, and eating, even off of other people’s plate.

|  In contrast, Jo is the shyest and most introverted. Even though he understands everything, he cannot speak. He is so affectionate, and so attentive! He is always willing to help and, actually, seems to look out for ways to help the people around him. According to the therapists, Jo seems to consider me very pretty, making him extra shy around him and even more on the lookout for me and ways to help me.

|  Now, Al is the oldest student coming to the center. He is very calm, or at least appeared to be very calm today. Supposedly, he can have his outbursts randomly, as he does some days. He is like a teddy bear, very big but with the heart and spirit of a baby. Ana and Lori affirm that Al adores me. They claim that he never watches a person so tenderly and blushingly; his holding out for my hand to rub it against his cheek before running away, shrieking excitedly, only added to the “pila de evidencia.” Oh well, I think it’s sweet. It’s weird to think I’m his teacher crush though. The most impacting feature of him, though, is that he is always feeling hot, meaning he was wearing a short sleeve t-shirt today, even without the heating on (It broke! And I hope they fix it soon, because I was freezing! L)

|  Fr has compulsive aggression issues. He has already hit three five people in the center, two classmates and three teachers. As a punishment (he had hit Josefina, the director, on Friday), he was deprived of the pudding during the merienda (which we call “tomar leche” – the terms indicating different activities, actions, etc. are fixed in order to enforce the learning and avoid confusion). He understands what we say, and he can answer somehow to our requests. A and Fr both understand when they are spoken to; however, A rarely speaks (except for the squeaking shrieks, I did not hear his voice) while Fr does make attempts with groans and babbling. He obeys me the best, supposedly, out of us teachers. After so many cases, the therapists decided I am a very pretty and gentle person for the boys to fall under my charm and try to please me.

|  Si is the most hyperactive. He does not eat anything (he barely touched his lunch and his pudding), yet he is full of an intense energy I ignore the source. He always prances around when he has the chance, jumping and dancing like a harlequin and never keeping still for longer than five minutes. Santi may be mischievous but he is so adorable and sweet! When he feels he has done something wrong, he comes to tug at my arm and hand and asks for a hug, which for him signifies forgiveness. He can be very, very, very loud, though these moments of angry outbursts of protests are short-lived. Short and loud, hates to work and loves to play, that’s his way of being. At first, he was flustered and embarrassed around me, but by the time he left, the barrier had shattered and he was quite literally climbing on top of me as a monkey does along the trunk of a tree.

|  And last but not least, To whom I introduced earlier. T can be so sweet when he wants to, and really the only problem is his compulsion to swipe things off the table, shelves, etc., which is annoying because nothing can be left in hand’s reach if we do not want it ending up shattered on the floor. He tried to get at me with the easy way, using his tears (these children are such talented drama kings, they truly are!) as pathos against me. But I knew to hold my ground, and he does not do it anymore. He does seek the most comfort from me though. Josefina, his main teacher, can be very tough and demanding, and since I spend the most time with compared to the other teachers, he seems to think I am the most accessible and nicest. I have to continually remind myself that I cannot be lenient, but it is difficult when anyone is as cute as To.

I think I’ll stop here for today. So much to write! But I promised I’ll keep it to an introduction to the children for today, and I’ll keep to my words. I hope you enjoy this essay of a post, and that I am not tiring not boring you. Good night, and see you tomorrow! J