The First Real Day of School

I thought maybe Open House night might count as the first day of school. And as nice as it was to meet all my students' parents, that's really all it was: a meet and greet.

I was asked to come in the Friday before school started for pre-planning. It was not without its interesting moments! I sat through an hour-long meeting on the Code of Ethics (which had its perks because the lawyer giving the lecture was young and handsome and without certain jewelry on his finger). But mostly the day consisted of swapping stories with my mentor SLP (who is really great) and learning my way around the school. I also got to meet a lot of the faculty on Friday and I think I am really going to enjoy working with them this semester.

So I was completely geared up for the first day of school. Alas, it didn't really feel like it after nine hours of being there. I didn't get to see any of my students. However, I did get to read a lot of their IEPs and eat lunch in the school cafeteria for the first time in years. It is amazing how the smell will completely bring you back! All the food looks, smells, and tastes exactly how I remembered it. I probably enjoyed my chicken nuggets, applesauce, and carton of milk much more that I care to admit.

Today was really the day that made me realize that this profession may be exactly where I belong. Our school is very fortunate in that it has two entire classrooms of children who receive A.B.A. on a one-on-one basis all day long. So this morning, I got to introduce myself to each of the children in these classrooms and help them decorate their "speech folders." I have got the GREATEST group of kids. Most are on the autism spectrum, but some have some problems that were due to overcrowding in utero (I think it's so wild that I have a triplet as well as a quadruplet!) Although I haven't seen my students from the general ed classrooms yet, I am expecting my caseload to be around 50.

After lunch (again in the cafeteria and let me tell you--those hamburgers taste exactly the same as they did 15 years ago!), I got to go to a meeting for all of the county SLPs at the Board of Education. It was so weird to sit in a room full of people that were professionals in the school system where I was working and know that somehow, I am a small part of that. The meeting was to discuss the new RTI protocol for the school system, which I found to be very easy to understand! I received my own manual and it is chock full of what to do at every single tier as well as the referral and evaluation steps at each level for each area of children that we serve. I am so excited to put what I learned in the meeting to good use.

Anyway, long day. But I am so fortunate to be a part of this school system and working with the people that I met so far. Here is my daily list of funnies:

• I wore plastic "jelly" shoes to school today = BIG blisters.
• One of my students' reinforcers is to give him his shoes back!
• I witnessed a child EAT a crayon.... and I'm pretty sure I gagged every time I heard it go "crunch" inside his mouth.
• Apparently, I am a hug magnet.

Seriously?

Seriously.