Gearing up for Week 3….

I'm getting ready for Week 3 of my pediatric Level II fieldwork! We go to small Mississippi towns on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, which is exciting to me! I rested a lot this weekend as well as saw a bunch of different friends so I'm feeling ready…my scrubs are clean, my stuff is prepared for tomorrow….and I guess when I get there in the morning I'll figure out what I want to do with my kids! I bet I have them from 9am to noon straight but who knows!

Today at Target I was like in OT heaven although I didn't buy anything, restraining myself though. Crayola has “pipsqueaks” now that are small markers, kind of like “handwriting without tears” – the shorter the markers are, the easier it is for the kid to hold correctly. They also now have triangular crayons which are easier to grip, plus rock like crayons that are great for toddlers/kids with really primitive grasps! And Twistables, which are great for kids who use their pencils so lightly it is hard to see – the twistables are pretty bright/soft so that you still can actually see something!

I was like I want this and this and this and this! Augh!!

I bought a bunch of supplements today – like B12, fish oil, magnesium…and tomorrow I'm unwisely taking a whole bunch of them at once so I'll either be really jazzed up and awesome tomorrow, or really nauseated…I'm going to vote for option #1. LOL.

I think I'm about to go jump in the shower and then go to bed. Tomorrow after work I'm going to go straight to meet Allison to work out, then help her with some random Memphis chores…which helps ME because it means I can't just jump into my bed and take an unhealthy overly long nap!!

I'm behind as always on e-mails and stuff! Don't hate me!!

Oh yeah, my other big thing is that I need to make some major revisions to my OT Practice article. I need to not procrastinate on that! I made some changes then emailed the editor to ask for some clarification…hopefully can get that done in the next few days!!!

I saw on Facebook that the class below us just had wheelchair lab…oooh the memories. I've got to say I LOVE not having homework!!

50,000 page views later

The Clinic Director wants to read my blog! I re-read my entries and I feel like I haven't written anything crazy so I think it's okay! She's really nice and cool and she didn't even pay me to write that, hi director! ::waves::

On a side note, I just saw my stat counter and I just hit HIT FIFTY THOUSAND PAGE VIEWS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Let me clarify that means since the first day my blog was created which is 700 blog posts ago + about a year. Not in one day!!  Right now, since it's summer, I get around 150ish a day.

I'm behind on answering e-mails on my 4 accounts (volunteer, play, school, work), Facebook wall/messages, IMs, voice mails, and text messages, so bear with me. I think it's going to be a while before I'm used enough to my new schedule that I can actually like, do normal things and not be a dork that goes to bed at 930pm.

On that note. GOOD NIGHT.

Week 2, Day 4

I am sleepy and going to go to bed even though it's not even 9pm. By the time I finish writing this it will be 9ish I guess. Today I saw six kids – with some speech co-treating and some assistance from my OT, but the most I've done myself. Three were legitimately mine, three just kind of happened, lol. The day was chaotic but not too bad, although I get soooo hot! I met a friend for lunch and I was burning up. All the kids below I've had multiple times now although each time I write about them they get a different name solely because of my laziness in remembering.

First I had my child who plays dumb. Let's call him Joel today since I forget what I normally call him. He is doing so much better – he can now walk into therapy without accompaniment by grandma. He only had his Mr. Horsie a single day so today I decided I'd substitute a Mr. Spider stuffed animal. That worked really well. We started with Busy Bugs where you match colorful bugs and then the spider would eat them. We also worked on pre-writing skills (vertical, horizontal lines, circles, filling in circles, etc) – by making a gridlock fence to keep out the spider, then when that failed to keep the spider out, making him a juicy caterpillar made of circles. Etc. It worked well. This little kid has a thick country accent and I find myself sounding like him when I play with him….

Second I had Tyler, a boy close in age to Joel. I decided to go the same route with him and so we worked on pre-writing skills with Mr. Spider, and also had him make a spider – I'm not a big fan of pre-made worksheets as they confuse me, so I like to make my own art projects – I had him pick out a body color and leg color, drew the legs as rectangles and body as a circle, using a thick black sharpie, then had him cut them out and glue them to another sheet of paper. We only got four legs done before running out of time, but he did well.

Third was Nancy, a girl with Down Syndrome who is very stubborn and hard to handle. My OT helped me with her session. We worked on making a spider to work on her cutting/gluing, amongst other things. Then when it was time to get in the ball bath, she got overly excited and was poorly behaved when it was time to leave and would not get out. I said fine, goodbye, turned off the lights and closed the door almost all of the way (I stood out in the hallway). That freaked her out I think, as she stepped out a minute later with her shoes on. Neither of us acknowledged what I did. But it worked well/fast!!

After lunch I saw Lana, an autistic girl who likes to say “Whoaaaaah!” a lot. She did WONDERFUL – I think she was really tired and therefore more docile. With her she has a high skill level and the main thing is just to get her to follow directions/pay attention. We worked with busy bugs and Zingo and she did GREAT. I was really pleased with her – no fighting or squirming. The big thing that is interesting though is her continued refusal to request something – we had a big go-round today over her little blue sunglasses! She would NOT ask for them in anyway and just was unhappy about it. It's really bizarre.

Then I saw a difficult low-level autistic boy, Johnny. He also did wonderful as we spent a lot of time using the tunnel with the ball bath, and he thought this was the most awesome thing on Earth. He was interacting, following directions to a basic level, laughing and playing. He got really pissed off later in the therapy room with the Lite Brite after he had done what he wanted to do and didn't want to keep going, though, LOL. He got swung a while and we did more ball work/tunnel work and he did well again. Overall he did amazing with his level of interaction when it came to the ball work. He also did some basic fine motor tasks by using magnets on a magna-doodle…getting him to do ANYTHING fine motor is great.

Then I saw a little boy who was SO cute I just wanted to eat him. He was a little black boy with braids and his name is impossible for me to pronounce. We did what I would label actual play – playing house and stuff. We – pretend – went to the grocery store, bought a ton of groceries by checking them out, flew to the house, and made dinner for babies, etc. I kept on trying to eat food out of the grocery cart and he would say NOOOO! You have to wait until later!! He was so cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute. We played house a ridiculously long time, and then I had the OT come help me try and take it further because I was kind of brain-dead. It turns out he has NO letter recognition or color recognition…but he was good at pretend and good at sequencing/logic, etc, so he is skilled in some great ways and needs some help academically.

I got to see a session my OT did with a little boy, an art therapy session to work on his self-expression. I also got to see my favorite little ADHD kid who never stops. The day flew by pretty quickly. My OT was grateful I was there since today a new OT showed up to see the place and also there was a bunch of scheduling issues that came up, so it helped I could take on some things. I like that I can do therapy with these kids and self-direct it, yet have my OT around to step in and help me out or guide me when I struggle. I am doing a little tiny bit better with firmness but I still need to keep taking it further. I am proud of myself for being creative with the kids and finding ways for it to be fun to do things like pre-writing skills (how boring is it making lines!!)….a fence to keep a spider in and biting our noses! LOL. Kids are so silly and cute.

Tomorrow we have an eval in the early afternoon and then I have my hair appointment – I'm a little worried I won't make it on time since I made the appointment with the assumption it was a normal Friday and it wasn't. Oh well. Hopefully it will work out. Anyway, today was a really good day overall…so glad I got through a 7pm Thursday….tomorrow is so short it's almost like the week is over…so two weeks down, 10 to go!!

Sybil = occupational therapist.

We had no idea the main character in Sybil  (ie Sybil herself) was an occupational therapist?

Pre Week 2 Day 4 Thoughts

I took off my beloved molecular necklace because the neurotransmitters kept getting stuck in little girl braids! AHAHAHAHAA. Good thing for kids with sensory deficits who are oblivious to getting their hair pulled.

Also, I'm going to try and conserve energy today by not getting there ridiculously early, stuff like that…Thursdays till 7pm are worst day of week for me energy wise. Gonna do my best today.

And, as always, there is always SOMETHING going on wiht me health wise, and for right now it's my right knee. I've twisted it somehow in the last few days – a few minutes ago when I kneeled down to get on my laptop I tweaked it again and it hurt enough that I lowered my head and popped myself in the face with my keyboard, ha ha ha ha

Okay I better run. Byeee

Week 2, Day 3, OT Pediatric Level II fieldwork placement

Is it sad that it is 8:15pm and I am so ready for bed?

Today was somewhat of a stressful day. There was some miscommunication going on yesterday that I feel I contributed to, involving the OT tech and some expectations about a chore, long story, but the bottom line was that it stressed out the boss, which meant it stressed out my OT, which means it stressed out me, LOL. I got to see four kids back to back today which was a little challenging. I saw the two girls of the triplet set for 30 minutes and we made french fry people (what I meant to do with them Monday but they couldn't come), to practice coloring, cutting, and gluing. Then we worked on some other table-top fine motor stuff. At one point I let the girls up for a minute and it was a mistake because it took longer than I would have liked to get them back settled. The little things you learn!

Then it was time for the little boy who is nonverbal with gravitational insecurity. He is very low level. We spent a lot of time in the ball bath and did a few tabletop activities, but he is easily frustrated, and honestly his gravitational insecurity is his biggest issue, so it was okay to do a lot of gross motor things that work on building up his sense of self. I challenged him several times VERY mildly by putting him in my lap to swing or bounce on a ball. In all cases he would tolerate maybe 15 seconds but it's a start. Near the end when another girl came in (my next client), he actually did AWESOME….the OT was doing some cleaning and had found a tunnel that the boy wanted to play with and it ended up in the ball pit. Now I personally have claustrophobia issues and the thought of being in a tunnel PANICS me….especially a tunnel in a ball pit. Like it seriously makes me sick to think about. But oddly enough this little boy had a great ol' time in the ball bath in the tunnel, throwing balls around and peeking. I was hovering nervously in case he got scared in the middle of the tunnel and needed help getting out, because I personally would have gone PSYCHO…but he did great. Very surprising considering his issues. He's only been coming a few weeks but there is already a big difference in his ability to tolerate things like the ball bath – at first he was scared to even get in it.

Then the girl client had her turn with the ball bath and tunnel thing and then we did a lot of table-top fine motor, which she hates. She has Down syndrome and has classic work avoidance behaviors and can be quite challenging. I have a hard time discipling firmly and threatening things like homework/time-outs but when the OT interjected, she ended up with homework and it REALLY pissed this little girl off. She was horrid for the next few minutes and got threatened with a “spanking with a spoon” several times by her mother, since it was the end of the session. Anyway, with the exception of the last little girl, it went well, and I really really need to work on my firm disciplining behaviors.

Then we left for the tiny town in Mississippi. Those of you that know me know that I ***HATE***** driving other people's cars, ***HATE*** driving in unfamiliar locations, HATE driving in the rain, and more or less hate driving period. Well, due to several odd events, I ended up driving my OT's car to this town, so everyone of my hated events occurred. Luckily it wasn't that bad, straight roads with little traffic. It was the director in one car, me and the OT in the other. We ate at a tiny place on the square and then went to do our home visit with the baby that is deaf-blind. This time the director didn't join us as she had other errands, and so she directed us. Unfortunately neither the OT or I realized her directions were slightly vague until we were lost..we didn't have a street name or the name of the projects or anything…just a vague recollection of what it looked like from the last visit….so we ended up going down each street in this one area and the director wasn't answering her phone and it was like AUGHH lol. Eventually we stopped a policeman and the OT fumbled with asking him about um, the projects. She was like um…I'm a therapist and I need to work with a kid who um, lives in some projects….there are apparently 3 projects in the area and we got it narrowed down…turns out we had just barely missed the right place to go because it was a little confusing. It was funny, trying to figure out what to call the housing projects. Neither of us were sure if projects was a derogatory term. I'm pretty sure the cop thought we were insane, not having the name of the projects or a street or anything…but since we had been there before we didn't realize we'd have so much trouble. LOL.

We walked in with all our toys and my OT did therapy with the deaf blind baby, who tolerated a lot more sensory stimulation than before…a lot of vibrations and oral motor desensitization. It's important to stabilize this baby carefully so that she feels secure boundaries and can focus on other things like sensory stimulation. Like I'd cuddle her in my arms giving her as much feedback as possible on her body so she could be assured of her position while the OT worked on her mouth with a toy.

Then it was time for a chaotic evaluation involving the early intervention social worker + the director + me and OT. The woman had brought two 1 year olds, cousins, and they were a MESS. One of them basically ran around with his pacifier, falling down and throwing things. The other one had a slightly greater attention span, but both only screamed as their form of communication, both were easily frustrated, and both were delayed in their skill levels. It's amazing the various abilities of kids – just in the few minutes we were there the second kid with the attention span learned to pick up small toys with tongs as well as unzip a zipper. At one point one of the cousins got near the other cousin, and that cousin pushed him down into a table. As the child screamed, the woman said mournfully “You have to learn to fight back”…ack. Probably the toys we use most in order to determine skill level are crayons/paper, blocks, a basic puzzle with peg pieces, and a ball.

Then it was time to head back to the clinic, in the rain…the office drama of the day was rehashed some and finally we left around 5:20pm. Phew. I'm tired! Tomorrow is an 830 to 7pm day, augh. I'm not sure I'll survive it. Plus I think I have a bunch of kids scheduled tomorrow. Luckily Friday is a short day, which is good since I have a hair appointment and a babysitting job. 🙂

I've heard some stories from my fellow OT students about their fieldworks and they are all mostly really hilarious, with a few really sad stories as well. One of my friends is in a pediatric psychosocial setting and she talked about how this one child, who had been sexually abused, would freeze and look down with despair whenever they tried to work on basic dressing skills. 🙁

Other stories were more along the lines of veterans saying or doing funny things (like wandering in for groups just for coffee, then claiming a restroom break to avoid actually joining the group, multiple times a day). One girl has a really awesome but really hard OT who gives her hours of homework nightly.

I'm trying to think of some of the funny stories we've heard but honestly my mind is blank and/or they were the type of story where “you had to be there” facial expression wise for it to be amusing. Hmmm.

I guess that's it for today…seeing a bunch of patients back to back was hard but I think I try too hard to do lots of things – tomorrow I'll try to be a little slower and maybe not end up getting so hot! And then if I can just get through tomorrow, I can handle Friday easily and then can recoup this weekend, phew. That will mean two weeks down, 10 to go. 🙂 I like my placement and I like my people, but I don't like wanting to go to bed at 9pm every night! LOL.

My
OT was asking me today if I feel like I'll learn a lot. The answer is mostly yes –  learning office dynamics, Medicaid basics, billing/insurance, juggling back to back patients, dealing with parents, interdisciplinary communication, etc are all great skills to learn about…and I'm definitely gaining tips and tricks for dealing with kids in terms of discipline and/or things to do/not to do (although i feel I had a really strong play therapy background compared to most after years of doing it 2-3x a week with a special little girl)….so yeah overall I'll learn a lot overall I guess. 🙂

Okay, good night!!

And this little piggy went wee wee wee all the way to occupational therapy

Week 2, Day 2, Peds Level II fieldwork

Today wore me out!

Today I saw a young boy with a massive no-teeth grin, a “skills baby”…meaning exposure was the thing he needed most. He was about 3 or 4….We mostly did table-top activities. We had gotten this new toy – a bunch of clear magnetic circles and a magnetic wand to pick the pretty circles up with – that he really liked, so he did this a long time. I'd spread out the circles so he had to do reaching and manipulating with the wand, and we also did some of it by color. We also did some basic cutting with modified scissors and then some gluing. You know, I'm a horrible cutter/gluer, but it amazes me to see how hard these things are for some of these kids. Staying anywhere near the line, holding the paper in the right place, getting glue on all the right areas…it's hard sometimes to not be like “Let me do it!” LOL. We also tried to look at an “I Spy” book, but it was a little advanced for him – even I had some trouble finding the things it was talking about. And one of the things was a sea horse. A skills baby like him has probably no idea what a sea horse is, even! He picked out a starfish sticker at the end which we put on his forehead much to his delight. He got a quick turn in the ball “bath” or pit before it was time to go, and dude, his shoes were on sooo tight that it would have taken me all day to get them back on…..I walked him out in his socks and was like, here are his shoes …….LOL. I think it's interesting that they don't blink an eye at this stranger holding their kid's hand…I'm in scrubs and look the part so they are just like okay thanks bye. ot

My OT was in the room for the session working on her computer (she has an OT desk in her office) and she complimented me on the session afterwards, which I thought was kind. Especially since I wasn't expecting to see him and had no treatment plan in place, it was just kind of a “hmm let's do this!”. (Minus the cutting worksheet she had planned for him). I appreciated hearing her feedback – it really makes me self-conscious to know someone is listening to me babble to a kid so I'm glad when the feedback isn't “You're on crack.”

I also was supposed to see a little girl with Down Syndrome but she didn't show up. I went to lunch with the clinic director and billing chick (my OT went to the gym) and they are sooo funny. We went to some Mexican restaurant ($2 margaritas…!!)  Some of the talk was definitely not appropriate (I was more or less behaving btw, much to the shock of those who know me well) and they were teasing “Wow you're going to have a lot to blog about” but I assured them I wouldn't share any details. AHAHAHAHA. Somehow perfect strangers will tell me intimate life details within a few minutes, hours, or days of meeting me. I have no problem with it, it's just amusing. They keep hinting at me working there when I'm done but I have nooo desire to work in outpatient pediatrics…I'm just too easily fatigued for such things. Nor do I have the desire to work in Missisippi, even if it's a great place to make a difference. Everyone who works there is really nice.

I was talking to my little OT sib Talli today, she started back to school yesterday…I do not envy her one bit. I invited her to come observe my fieldwork placement some free afternoon as it might put her mind at ease to see it's not as scary as it looks…especially at a really laid-back place like mine.

This afternoon I saw a little boy with autism who is very low level – at about the level of a 1 year old instead of the 5 years old he is. Relatively nonverbal, prone to tantrums, and can't stand to hold a writing utensil – mostly likes pretty lights and playing in the ball pit. We did work some in the ball pit with ball colors and stuff, and then we worked in the speech therapist's room for a while for co-treating. He looked at a few books, touched a pencil for a few lines, then flipped out. Not even a spiderman sticker would get him to calm down and do some pencil work or crayon work. Then we introduced him to the Lite Brite that everyone had as a kid – he loved that and was actually doing some great fine motor work by putting in the pegs. Also, since his mom said she wants to give him a haircut, we worked a little on desensitizing him to his head and I have no idea why the mom is concerned, because I was running my hand through this kids hair and “clipping it” with my fingers the way a barber would, and he wasn't flinching a bit…wasn't even paying attention to me. Also one of his goals was to fingerpaint some – I got out the shaving cream to see how he'd tolerate it on the mirror and he did great. He got shaving cream all over his hands and we smeared it all over the mirror. He was even willing to write the first letter of his name with his finger in the cream. It was fun overall. He was a little wild at times but tolerating the shaving cream was big and the fine motor work with Lite Brite was also big, so a good session overall.

I got to write in-house progress notes on my two kids today plus two kids yesterday…my OT had to leave at 4pm so I did that while she was gone. I felt so official, sitting at a desk writing progress notes while the tech bustled around and I could hear the COTA rocking her bad self with her kids….the COTA is really really good. I like watching her because I think she is good with her disciplining – firm but not mean. I need to be more firm.

By 5pmish I was becoming a zombie, and since my OT was gone and I had done all I could do really, I watched the COTA until 6pmish and then I left with her permission since the last kid had canceled so it was time for her to go as well and there'd be no OT-related people left. It was nice getting home by 6:15ish but then I napped for like two hours really hard. Bad me. And I'm still tired!

Four other kids to note today:

1) A little girl with a hard Arabic name with autism who is really cute and says “Whooooahh!!!” constantly. We did some great work in the ball pit with various colored balls and also did some pattern matching. She was verbal with straight-forward facts like “Yellow ball” but wasn't much to talk otherwise. I really wanted her to interact – for example I wanted her to request something of me. I grabbed all the squares she was playing with in the pattern matching activities to try and provoke her to say something to me, even if it was just to get angry. I said say “please” and I'll give these all back to you. I repeated this in various ways…I know she knows she could have said a word to get it back, but somehow her brain wouldn't let her do it…she got mildly upset but refused to say anything…even though I had previously been able to prompt her to say things. She is pretty strong-willed and my OT has encouraged me to provoke the kids (a little bit) to try and work on valuable social skills, so I didn't feel bad upsetting her a little. In the real world, she'll have to get used to things not going her way and having to use her words to try and get back some control!

2) A little boy with Aspergers who I think is so cute…he walked in today and said brightly “Hi Miss Karen” even though he has only met me once before…a smart kid.

3) The little boy with ADHD was back…this kid CRACKS ME UP. He's cute so his constant buzzing around isn't quite as annoying as it could be. Look at this rock! Oh look at this one! Oh look at that one! Oh look…oh look at that one! Oh look at this wall! Hey how is this turtle going to get that present! Oh look at that! Oh scissors, I want to try! LOL. When I left he wanted a hug. He also wanted us to see the cool van his dad “boughted” with a “thang” (dream catcher)  in the front

4) A older boy with autism who is very difficult. He makes wailing noises, falls on the floor, screams, can't tolerate much of anything. The OT uses a lot of holding methods with him. His mom ap
parently came back then left again for a while and he freaked out, screaming Mommy for a ridiculously long time. I didn't see his session but I sure did hear it.

——————-

Today was an okay day except that the long days are sooo fatiguing. Yes I know it involves bright lights, ball pits, drawing, and other fun things, but all the kids are a handful!

Tomorrow I think I see the two girls of the triplet set plus at least one other little kid in the morning, then in the afternoon we head back to a small Mississippi town to do some home visits and clinic visits….I think all my best stories will be coming from this town! LOL

Start of Week 2 of Pediatric Level II fieldwork

Today was a rather abnormal day. I woke up at 7:52am and I was supposed to leave at 8am! Luckily since I had prepped the night before, this wasn't the disaster it could have been. I ate my yogurt/almonds/blueberries in a cup as I drove on the blissfully empty freeway. I wanted to get ready for my first session – the two little girls of the triplet set. Unfortunately the triplet set didn't show up, although I didn't discover this until I had prepped for them. Oh well, flexibility. 🙂

Then it was 10am and time for hmm, Bob, to show up. Bob is a nonverbal 3 or 4 year old who is very gravitationally insecure – swings, jumping, anything that doesn't allow him control, scares him. He is hypotonic and things like moving around in a ball pit are very hard for him. He is delayed in all areas. He has the cutest grin!! We played a lot in the ball pit since it challenges his sense of balance and gives him some slight resistance. We also did some fine motor work and a few other things to challenge his vestibular/proprioceptive systems. I also worked on a little sign language with him – trying to teach him to put his hands together and sweep them apart when he is done with an activity….he could put his hands together but doesn't like to separate them. LOL. I had him for an hour all by myself! My first!

Then it was 11am and time for my next kid, hmm Larry. I warned his sub speech therapist that he plays dumb and not to fall for it. Our first goal was to get him to leave his grandmother at the door instead of forcing her to walk with him. He resisted at first, but when we had her walk in about two steps so she could wave at him as he left, he was fine, so this was the first time he didn't get door to door service. Yay! Another goal met! I stayed in the room with the sub speech therapist for a minute, being silly, and then he opened up to her and so I left. When she brought him over 30 minutes later, she said that he would say “I don't know” to things before even seeing it, until candy was brought in as a very powerful reinforcer. 🙂

I had him do what I had prepared for the girl set – my favorite – FRENCH FRY PEOPLE! I used a thick black marker to make a long rectangle on a yellow sheet of construction paper and gave it a happy face. I also drew a thick wavy rectangle for ketchup. I wanted him to color the french fry people, then cut them out as well as the ketchup, to put on another sheet of paper. It came out looking really cute, he liked it. 🙂 It sounds so stupid but I've adopted it as my favorite art project because the kids think it's hilarious.

Then we did some heavy work like pulling a rolly board, playing with cars, etc…he is also gravitationally insecure so it's hard to get him on a scooter board or anything….I gave a few stuffed animals a turn, slowly, and eventually he was willing to try it! 🙂 He wanted to paint and so we did that for a while as well. I'd say he behaved pretty well! I had him for an hour as well! I was proud!

Then it was lunch time and the director, billing chick (don't know her title), and my OT, and I, went to a local restaurant….I just brought my lunch to the restaurant, lol.

we didn't end up going to another town after all – instead we did organizational work. I organized her two big things of OT stuff so that it was like snap/zip, fine motor, painting, gross motor, baby stuff, etc etc…plus put a bunch of songs on her computer for the kids….

Tomorrow I see the child with autism who is very low level….I haven't really directly worked with him before so this should be quite an experience. :X

I've gotten some comments/e-mails about my fieldwork blogging…thanks for the feedback, glad that sharing my own experiences helps others feel a little less scared! It really is so much more do-able than you think!! Okay I'm sleepy…but freshly showered and have my stuff prepped…so going to bed….

One last thing….my friend Burt is fixing a beloved wooden stool used for kids to prop their feet on, that got broken at the clinic…I brought it to him and he is working on it just because he is such a nice guy!! Thank you!!!

And now for my impression of ADHD

This is my impression of a six year old kid I saw in the clinic a few days ago..name changed.

Hi!MynameisJoeywhatisyourname?!OhhiMissKarenn
icetoMeetyou!!Watchmeswingdidyouwatchme?
LookatthisyeahIamreallygood!
OkaywatchmeagainIamgoingtoswinghigherthistime!
Wowthatwasamazing!
WatchmeagainMissKaren!Ohwowlookatthisfish
!Ohmygosh!
Thisfishisreallycool!Wowitisfloating!
Lookattheredone!Ohwatchthis
Icanthrowaballreallyreallyhigh!
Ohyoumissedtryagain!Heydidyouseemeswing?
Yeah?MissKarenwatchthis.Iamgoingtorunreallyfast.
Reallyfast.Likethis.Watch.Reallyreallyfast.Didyousee?
HereI’lldoitagain!!BouncebouncebounceIlove
bouncingonballs!Bouncebouncebounce!
Thisisfun!Ilovebouncingonballs!