Methods

I never really thought of blogging this down but it might help me as time goes along...

One of my greatest challenges at work is trying to convince parents and even some teachers that the methods of intervention we propose for our student with autism is the 'appropriate' or even most 'suitable' one. For the longest time, i myself didnt have much clarity on what exactly is the right intervention methods, being new to the job. My basic training back in university when working with children with autism is using the ABA methods, and for the longest time, it was the prevailing method of choice in terms of intervention. But when i started working, i realized that there are a lot of alternative methods as well as 'treatments' out there for the autistic population.

Autism is a tricky diagnosis. No one really knows where it comes from exactly... which genes... which triggers.. even how it affects each individual is different on the autistic spectrum. I guess ABA has the longest history in terms of working with children with autism, stretching all the way back to the time of Lovaas, and the method itself has been evolving as well. Then there is also sensory integration methods, sound therapy, cranial therapy, floorplay, drugs/diet therapy, even acupuncture which is now readily avaliable out there which promises a 'cure'. Then of course, there's TEACCH, the structured teaching program started 40 years ago in North carolina which i went for training in recently. From all the parents that i had worked with in the last 3 1/2 years, different parents/caregivers and teachers have sworn by different methods which they felt work for their individual child.

I am really in no position to say which is the 'RIGHT' methods and at work, we could very well opt for an eclectic approach in our service delivery. However, from past experience, it didn't worked very well, mainly because to be truly effective in having an eclectic approach, i believe we have to be well-versed in the characteristic of autism as well as the various intervention philosophy and methods. If we don't have that, it would be confusing for the child and the one delivering the services.

Personally, i have a few core beliefs in what I can do for a child with autism. I believe in individualization because as i said, different child will have different autism profile. I also believe in utilizing their strengths (in visual learning) to facilitate learning in their weaker areas (auditory processing). And most importantly, i believe in helping the child to be independent. With all these in mind, i felt what's most comfortable for me is to use the structure teaching methods whose philosophy of how they view a child with autism coincide with mine. There is no conflict of interest and i can honestly see how, when applied individually to suit each child, i am creating meaning for the child in his environment.

It was rather amazing for me when i went to North Carolina and see how the methods can work for children with different abilities. Even more so, i am just so impressed by the respect the therapist from TEACCH have for the children stemming right from their philosophy that each child is an individual, hence WE have to take the initiative to go into their world to bring them out rather than attempting to mould them by force into ours like how i see some people attempt to do.

I guess it really bores down to what the therapist or caregiver believe in and ultimately, i do respect what the parents want for their child even though i may not be able to deliver what they want because of what i believe and i am trained in. I think the only thing i can promise is that i will deliver to the best of my abilities in the method which i believe in.

oh ya baby..

What Is Your Battle Cry?

Sprinting amidst the candy store, clutching gilded boxing gloves, cometh Aurorin! And she gives a cruel scream: "I'm seriously going to bruise you harder than God thought possible!!!"

Find out! Enter username: Are you a girl, or a guy ?

created by beatings : powered by monkeys

Sticky Stool

Not quite appropriate material for dinner conversation but somehow it is befitting that i honour the first time i scraped poo off a child's underpants with an entry.

Over the last 3 1/2 years at work, i had been bitten, scratched, punched, and kicked, on top of having to wipe drool, change diapers, and even mope up urine when a child 'shee shee' in my therapy room upon occasions. I guess that's part and parcel of work. Occasionally, the highlights as well because it made my work life quite interesting. A couple of times, the child also 'poo-pooed' but usually i just needed to bring the child back to the teacher or caregiver who will take care of the ermm.. 'problem'.

However, it didn't quite happen that way on monday morning when i brought a 4yr old to my therapy room. He was doing quite well in therapy until i suddenly realized that his pants 'looked' wet. I checked the mat, the chair and the carpet for the tell-tale puddle but didn't find any. Fearing the worse, i brought him back to the classroom only to find it empty and the rest of the class (plus teacher) is nowhere to be found.

In the end, i brought him to the toilet and took off his pants only to find a HUGE lump of stool stuck right to his underpants. It wasn't the runny sort nor the hard kind, it was sticky, similar to the constitunency of clay. Thank god i had a blocked nose and couldn't smell anything. By the time i took off his pants, there were stool on his underpants, legs and shoes. Luckily, most caregivers usually pack along an extra pants and underwear for such emergencies. So i left the dear boy who was quite oblivious to what's happening with another teacher who was there with her students at the toilet and ran to get his bag.

I showered him and changed his clothes before proceeding to try and ermm.. scrap the stool from his underpants and shoes before i wash them. The boy was quite happy by this time, after he was cleaned and dressed while i was busy trying not to think too much scrapping stool from his pants into the toilet. Then i washed the underpants, shorts and shoes while trying to keep the boy away from the sink where he was happily splashing water onto himself. These are the days when i wish i had an extra pair of hands because i had to almost stick out one leg to block him from the sink, while i scrubbed his pants with my hands. It took a bit of coordination but when i finally delivered the boy back to class, he was very happy and looked quite presentable.

Not quite the glamourous idea of what a psychologist do eh? Actually, all those pre-conceived notions i had before i started work are almost, if not all, demolished. But it is not too bad doing this... it only became quite sad when scrapping sticky poo off underpants was the best thing that happened to me on monday. Ah well... i always knew i much rather be with kids who is not toilet-trained than stuck in a meeting with adults who are busy trying to push away blame and responsibilities from themselves.

Swept away

It has been a while and truly quite swept away by... things.

Didn't quite managed to do what i had set out to do... and got a little stressed in the beginning (and stressing him out at the same time) trying to keep to the 'biblical' timeline of organizing the *cough* event for next year. Thankfully he has been wonderfully sane in contrast, a little laid back perhaps but i think it was a good balance. I think we finally hit on the right dynamics and pace *eureka!* Yes.. at least a person who can keep me grounded AND tolerate my special brand of anxiety.

Work hasn't been going quite the way i expected. Tons of curve balls thrown our way and if not for my colleagues, it would have been difficult to stay focused and sane. It was a nice break today when we had our children's day carnival. It was a massive party and we had free flow of candy floss, ice cream, pop corn, drinks, balloons sculptures, magic shows, bouncy castles, games stalls, motorized rides and so much, so much more... Some colleagues and I wore clown costumes sponsored by a costume shop and had our face painted for the carnival. They entertained the crowd while i was the emcee for the event. Most of the kids really liked the clowns though a few were quite frightened by our painted faces. The parents were tickled and we got quite a lot of request to have our photos taken.

We really had to thank the sponsors for coming up with the money and students from SMU for volunteering their time to do up the stalls and dress up as barney. We also had real clowns from the same costume shop who juggled and made balloons animals for the children. The kids had a wild time watching us and playing the games and jumping on the bouncy castles. It rained for a while and the castles were wet, but the kids didn't mind though. By the end of the event, we had a lot of muddy kids running around. In any case, it was really a great day and i had tons of fun (at the expense of losing my voice for shouting so much).

I guess life has a way of balancing out the good and the bad. Each day is a special brew that propels me to want more for the next day, heck the aching bones!

On why Sept 9 is special...

Conspiratory colleagues
Big aluminium box
Opened
Envelope
10 Fluttering Yellow Papers
"meow meow meow"
"Would you be with me "jiu jiu"?"
Smaller aluminium box
Opened
2 bags of scented dried flowers
White T-shirt "yeah! Cos mm love xmm"
Put on T-shirt
Parking lot
Him, tanned & sweating in grey-blue shirt
Blue bouquet of red-tinged roses
One Moshi Mushroom
A locked car
A blue gift box in white netting and blue ribbon sitting in driver's seat
Opened
A ring box tied with a blue-heart hair band
Put on hair band
Opened
A neo-print "mm & xmm" on blue background
A personally designed diamond ring

Could the answer be otherwise?



All i have to say is...
FINALLY... and... thank you...

How do you spell B U S Y?

Sometimes i wished that i didn't go off for training for 3 weeks and having work pile up on me like that. 3 weeks of overdue work and it HAS to be the semester where there are more assessments cases (reports reports reports), PLUS being the year where i had to be incharge of program for D&D, having my co-incharge being sick, AND conducting training sessions on what we had learnt in the US.

Tired & stress doesn't quite describe how i am feeling now. I even dream the night before that it was the first day of school in term 4 and i had forgotten about my assessment case for the day. I had having things overdue and over my head. Bad for my karma and temper. Didn't help that he went off for reservist now too. Sigh. I need a miracle!!!

Okie.

Ranting over and jobs still left to be completed. I am happy to have gone for training despite the work i had to do when i come back.

I guess i'll manage somehow...

The Young'uns

In the new term of school, we suddenly seems to have a influx of young (and pretty) therapists here. There's the two new OTs down the corridor, a very quiet SW and of course, our chatty new psych here in the office. There's a very nice and dynamic feel about the place and it sorts of energizes me. Looks like a good bunch to work with, on top of the other wonderful colleagues i have here whom i already work well with. Most of them are here on their first job and it is really refreshing to see them and of course, at times i do feel a tad (just a tad, mind you) bit... old. Like Angela said, in two years time, i wont be in my twenties anymore. But that's okie. The good thing about aging is, everyone has to go through it with you. *grins* So i am just going to wait on the otherside of the '30' door and wait for the rest to catch up... as always.

Competition...

It was probably 2 weeks ago (gosh, where has the time gone?) when me and him were at a dinner and one of the girls there openly flirted with him.. She was really pretty and had big sparkling eyes and a sweet friendly smile. I could tell she was quite smitten with him and when she sat next to him, she kept looking and smiling at him. On top of that, there was the constantly offering of food. It was quite evident where her attention lies. It was quite blatant and effective, since he had his eyes on her too.

I guess i should be infuriated with both of them. But then, how does one get upset with a absolutely adorable 18 month-old? Gosh. Before the evening was over, baby Joelle had the both of us eating out of the palm of her hand, just like how she did to her parents. A clearly devious little baby but Oh-so-adorable. Sigh...