Luckily, it isn't usually this crazy!

So many things happened yesterday that I can't even get the events straight in my own head. It began with a file on my desk for a new student with a Speech IEP. Her IEP is due in mid-September so I decided to get hold of her parents to schedule the meeting before school got out. An hour after getting this file, I accidentally find out from some students that one of my former students had moved back to town and was in the school again. This was a shock to me since I had not received her paperwork and should have been servicing her since the day she returned. I checked into her file only to discover that she no longer has ANY speech paperwork. None. I have her working file with every single page saved...but her official file has nothing! Was this a mistake from our school when she left last year? Or a mistake from the school she moved into? I called their records clerk and got a message returned saying they have no record of her receiving any special services. By this point I am frantic and irate that she hasn't been served for an entire school year. Her paperwork is now out of compliance and I have to mop up the mistakes.

In the midst of all of this, I am serving my Life Skills rooms. My younger Life Skills class has several very explosive children. We were down one assistant and the teacher was away all morning. That meant (of course) several huge melt downs and the chaos that ensues. All beginning at my circle time, of course. Now this is almost normal and so I take it in stride...but today we had a prospective family come in to observe the class because their child may be in the room next year. ha ha! What a day to obseve!

Back to the first girl, whose file appeared on my desk this morning. I screened her and discovered that her speech is great when concentrating on single words, but she obviously has a continued articulation difference in conversation. I recognize her last name as the same last name of a child I will be meeting with next week for an Early Intervention meeting. She informs me that that child is her cousin. I then ask about her family. It turns out that her twin brother is the same child whose teacher referred to me for a screening just earlier in the week (and I rolled my eyes at pursuing a screening or testing at this point in the year).

I start going through this girl's file and copying her paperwork. As I go through the stack I find a strange piece of paper. A discharge report from 2/06? What?! She isn't even in speech any more? Then why the heck am I stressing about this child and her brother? But why isn't she in speech when I still notice many obvious errors? When her mother calls me back (after a very strange conversation with her grandparents and an email), her mother says that she has continued speech concerns and wants her back in speech. Although I agree with this statement and think that this is in the child's best interest, I now have to do all of the INITIAL paperwork (after a child is dismissed you have to totally start the process over again to get them back into speech). At the same time, I'll be pursuing initial paperwork on her brother. This is NOT what I had anticipated for my last 2 weeks of work.

At the very end of the day, I screened the girl who was my former student and whose paperwork was all lost. I discovered that she sounds fabulous! I mean great! So she self-corrected during this year in which she should have been receiving services. That is pretty rare! So....now my paperwork is out of compliance for a child who needs to be dismissed! Aargh!

I stay late at work to work on a project for Cal (I'm experimenting with a site word "program" for him this summer based on some ABA teaching I do with my students with autism). I come home to a happy Lissi and Wink, but Wink said that he had had a horrible day because he was dizzy ALL day long. He didn't feel confident driving at all and he couldn't stand for long periods of time. Cal wouldn't fall asleep for the longest time. At one point, Cal ran out of his bedroom needing to use the bathroom at the same time that Wink was trying to pay for airline tickets over the phone and at the same time that his out-of-town friend was saying good-bye after not seeing him for 5 months. Cal screamed bloody murder after using the bathroom because he was exhausted and in the process he prematurly work Lissi up--thus ruining any chance for Wink to rest at all for the day in spite of his mental status.

Lissi is obviously still tired but refused to go back to sleep. So after Cal finally wakes up at 5:45, I quickly get him ready and the 2 of us rush to my school Carnival where I am scheduled to start helping at 6:15. We get there in time for my 1:15 hour shift, but do not have time to get a promised hot dog for Cal. I ask a co-worker to grab one for us. She comes back 20 minutes later to tell me that they had totally run out of food! They were getting more but it would be a little while. So Cal and I snack on candy throughout the shift.

We were running the "Pastry Walk"--basically a very cheap version of the traditional Cake Walk. The winners got a Hostess cupcake, box of mini-donuts, or a nasty imitation pie with gross fake-fruit filling. Everyone got a mini candy for participating. Cal took it upon himself to start handing out candy and was just adorable! He also would participate in the walk around from time to time. But as soon as the music stopped, he would run from the square where he landed back to me (so much for winning!). There was one unfortunate incident during Cal's "shift". He tripped and took a nose dive onto the floor. He started screaming and there was blood all over his mouth. But between his screams and the puddle of blood, I couldn't even tell where exactly he was injured. Finally I realized he had bit his top lip (you can see these 2 little teeth marks in his top lip). He recovered eventually and felt much better with his milk.


When our shift was over, we went to buy a hot dog but instead ended up outside with the police car and fire engine that were parked for public relations. I was so excited to see them there. This is a low income school and many of these kids have parents that have had difficulty with the law. It was really, really good to have some really nice cops and fire fighters that were chatting with the kids and showing a really friendly side. I wonder if their presence scared any of our parents away?

We went back into the food area but Cal insisted he wanted a snow-cone before his hot dog. Fine. So we get our snow-cone and putz around the carnival while eating. We got a tattoo each (surfer for him, fish for me), went back to the cake walk, etc. Finally we finished (aka threw out) the snow cones and went for our long awaited hot dogs....only to discover that the food was gone again and was not coming back (the carnival was ending). Alas, I hope the junk food was enough for him!

We left the carnival, only to be distracted by the vintage car parked in front of the school and accepting "drivers". We got out of the vintage car and into our own car and the first words out of Cal's mouth are, "I gotta go peep!" So out of the car we go. We run back to school and down the hall and into the girls bathroom. I'm telling him "Hurry!" and he says, "Why?" ???!!!! Phew. We made it. We went home. We went to bed!